That's a Wrap!

The Philly edition of the 6th year of the Backseat Film Festival was the best yet! We had so many great movies it was hard to decide which ones to show, and even harder to decide who should win the awards.  We finally made our decisions, which you will find below, congratulations to all the winners, and to all our participating filmmakers!

Our first award of the BFF 08 was announced at the closing ceremonies at the Manhattan Room on Sunday, it goes to EAT YOUR HEART OUT for Best Feature Film, and the prize is a full week theatrical run at the brand new 941 Theater in Northern Liberties this Summer!
 
For those who didn't hear, our big announcement for 2008 is that we are OPENING A FULL TIME THEATER IN PHILLY! The 941 Theater will showcase independent selections of all genres, not just Backseat Film Festival selections…we will be hosting all kinds of special screenings and events, check out the website for more details at www.941theater.com!

The Official Backseat Film Festival 2008 Stats

19 Awards
84 Shorts
14 Features
17 screenings
38 Hours of Movies
36 Cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon
34 bottles of hard booze

BACKSEAT FILM FESTIVAL 2008 AWARDS

Best Feature Film - Eat Your Heart Out – Dir. James Tucker

Best Featurette - Seven Signs – Dir. J.D. Wilkes

Best Short Film- Bitch - Dir. Lilah Vandenburgh

Best Documentary - Blood, Boobs & Beast: A Documentary about B-Movie Director Don Dohler – Dir. John Paul Kinhart

Best Animation – Puppet - Patrick Smith

Best Music Video - Riverboat Gamblers "Don't Bury Me…I'm Still Not Dead – Dir. Christopher Rose                                    

Best Local Filmmaker (Feature) – The Last Stand – Dir. Lucas Sabean

Best Local Filmmaker (Short) Gemini Rising – Dir. Gina Andreoli

Best Soundtrack - Cannibal Flesh Riot! – Dir. Gris Grimly

Best Movie Title - The Lord is My Shotgun – Dir. Gabriel Dowrick

Best Drinking Movie - Zombie Blood Chaos – Dirs. Albert Cook & Tim Cronin

Best Breasts – Female Cast of “Eat Your Heart Out”                                            

Best Zombies - Naked Ape "Fashion Freak" – Dirs. Eric Althin & Shannon Henegan

Best SPFX (Visual) - Razor Sharp – Dir. Marcus Perry

Best SPFX (Creature) - Demonology of Desire- Dir. Rodrigo Guidino

Funniest Film - Phone Sex Grandma – Dir. Jack Truman

Most Disturbing - Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! – Dir. Chad Ferrin

Most Original - Tyger - Dir. Guilherme Marcondes

Staff Favorite (Feature) – Nobody – Dir. Shawn Linden

Staff Favorite (Short) - Zombie Western – Dir. Tor Fruergaard

Thanks to all!

Prizes for awards supplied by Sire Press, Mirror Image Duplication, Pabst Blue Ribbon, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office, Fear.net, TLA Video, Coldstone Creamery, Backseat Conceptions and more!

We were also very proud to host a very special screening of...
"Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation"
About the film: After seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, three 12 year old friends, Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb, began filming their own shot-by-shot adaptation in the backyards of their Mississippi homes. Seven years later their film was in the can.Fourteen years later, in 2003, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema uncovered the film, and with approval from Steven Spielberg, this amazing film can only be seen at select film festivals for a limited time.This will be the Philly Premiere and will likely be the ONLY screening in Philly for a long time. Producer/Star Chris Strompolos will be in attendance for interviews and Q&A. More info here.

And of course many thanks to our tireless Backseat Film Festival staff:
Jack Verrelli, Nick Esposito, Chris Fitzgerald, Kelly Cheezum, Jennifer Taylor, Autumn Eget, Evan Meszaros, Tim Cronin, Joe Zang, Deb Long, Mark Principi, Jeremy Theopulos, Tiffon Turner, Gina Izzo, Gigi, Orby, Tommy and Sabrina (Disgraceland) & Mike Smith

Reports from the festival staff

Also thanks to our generous sponsors and advertisers who made this all possible:

Pabst Blue Ribbon, Bside.com, Philadelphia Weekly, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office, Gray Kangaroo Personal Liquor Filters, M3 Printing, Goodie Goodie, Sire Press, Burning Angel Entertainment, Hotmovies.com, TLA Video, Sparks, Monster Energy Drink, Fear.net, 215 Magazine, Coldstone Creamery, Paolo’s Pizza, Liberties Bar, Mirror Image Duplication, Wonka Vision Magazine, Yelp.com, as well as our afterparty venues, Silk City, Manhattan Room and Murph’s!

Also, stay tuned to the BFF website for the next events of 2008, we'll be touring with the festival to NYC, Baltimore and several other markets, and we'll be back in Philly throughout the year at our new theater with more movie madness!

BFF 08 PRESS COVERAGE

BFF 08 PICTURES ON FLICKR

BFF 08 SCREENING SCHEDULE