A Festival in Downtown Bryan

Thanks to Thomas Liberty for designing us another cool Red Wasp poster this year! You can download it here.

Please post and help spread the word. Thanks!

The screening schedule for the 6th Annual Red Wasp Film Festival is now posted.

Brazos Progressives is proud to announce that we have received a mini-grant from the Arts Council of Brazos Valley for the Sixth Annual Red Wasp Film Festival! Thanks to ACBV and all of our sponsors for their commitment to local film in our community!

We like to close Red Wasp with something that might plant some seeds for positive change in our community by spurring people to action, encouraging those in our community who are already organizing to keep going, or even sparking some creative ideas about ways to deal with both community-level issues, as well as larger global problems. “Whaledreamers,” a new release and winner of numerous awards at various international film festivals, is just this type of film.

In conjunction with Monterey Media, we’ve arranged to show “Whaledreamers,” at the end of the festival. “Whaledreamers” is directed by Kim Kindersley, and it tells the story of an aboriginal whale-dreaming tribe in New Zealand that is struggling to stay alive and reaffirm connections with each other and to nature. This effort by one tribe builds over time, and other indigenous people join in this effort. It’s really quite a breathtaking film, and is beautifully shot. It also includes music by Bunna Lawrie, a song man from a dispossessed aboriginal tribe, as well as appearances by the musician and activist Julian Lennon (who helped produce the film) and the Australian actor Jack Thompson.

The Red Wasp Film Festival will screen “Whaledreamers” at the end of the close of the festival on October 25.

Thanks to all of our sponsors. Our most recent sponsor is Madden’s Casual Gourmet. Thank you, Madden’s! We appreciate all of our sponsors. None of this would be possible without them. They are dedicated to sustaining art and diversity in our community.

Also, the film submissions are arriving. Thanks to all of you who have submitted a film to Red Wasp. The judges look forward to screening them. There’s still time to submit something…the deadline for submitting is September 21.

Please contact us if you have any questions, and watch this space for updates!

We have setup the Facebook book event for festival. If you are a Facebook user, it may be handy to RSVP there so you won’t forget.

Link: Facebook Event

BRYAN, TX–It’s October in the Brazos Valley, which means that it’s time to celebrate independent film! If you’re tired of the most recent corporate offerings from big Hollywood studios, then this is an event that you don’t want to miss. Brazos Progressives is proud to announce the Sixth Annual Red Wasp Film Festival in downtown Bryan at StageCenter (201-B W 26th St.), October 24-25, 2008, from 7:30 until 11:30 pm. Tickets are available at the door: $15 for one night or $25 for both nights. There is also a special student rate of $10 for one night and $15 for both nights. Concessions will be available for puchase, and there will be a cash bar staffed by Revolution.

The Red Wasp Fim Festival attracts local filmmakers as well as artists throughout the state and the nation, and organizers expect this year’s Red Wasp to be a great success. “There is so much talent out there and too few venues,” said RWFF founder Carol Conlee. “If you make film as an artist or director or photographer, it’s hard to find a place to show your work. Festivals provide that format, and their popularity is gaining in great numbers across the country. We simply want to assist artists’ interface with the public. It’s like having a temporary electronic art gallery.”

The Red Wasp Film Festival is open to all filmmakers and especially encourages Texas filmmakers to submit films. Additionally, RWFF 2006 has created a student competition and will be accepting submissions from Brazos Valley area high school students. Short films of 30 minutes or less are especially encouraged, but RWFF will also consider longer feature-length films.

At the Red Wasp Film Festival, audience members have an opportunity to vote for their favorite film of the festival. In addition to the Audience Favorite award, there will be a Red Wasp Best winner for the best film overall as selected by the festival judges. Local artist Theodora Saladino Krc is sculpting this year’s Red Wasp trophy, which will be presented at the end of the festival late Saturday night.

Local Brazos Valley residents are working now to ensure RWFF’s future successes, and we encourage anyone in our community who would like to help with this event (volunteers to take tickets and help with set-up during the festival, anyone willing to help with publicity, etc.) to contact Krista May.

Many thanks to Lori Luza of As You Wish for taking photos at last year’s Red Wasp Film Festival and letting us use them here on the web site. We’re pleased to have As You Wish as a sponsor again this year.