A Festival in Downtown Bryan

Brazos Progressives is proud to announce that this year’s Evening of the Arts, a program to celebrate GLBT Awareness Week at Texas A&M, will include a screening of Julio Olivera’s “Thursday Nights…and the Fridays That Follow Them.” You may remember “Mock Date” and “My Best Friend’s Hat,” which we showed at Red Wasp 2009. “Thursday Nights…and the Fridays That Follow Them” combines both of these films into one. Julio will also be at the Evening of the Arts for a question and answer session after the screening. Brazos Locavores will also be providing tasty treats for the show’s reception/intermission, which will begin around 7:00 pm.

The Evening of the Arts will be Friday, April 3, 2009, at Downtown 202,  which is part of Old Bryan Marketplace (202 S. Bryan Ave.) in downtown Bryan. The program starts at 6 pm. Evening of the Arts is organized by the GLBT Resource Center at Texas A&M University. Admission is free.

Brazos Progressives is pleased to be partnering with Village Cafe & Art979 Gallery for an Independent Film Series! The series will begin on Sunday, March 22, 3:00 pm, at Village Cafe & Art979, 210 W. 26th Street, in downtown Bryan, TX.  Each month, the series will feature films from past Red Wasp festivals.

For our premiere on March 22, the screening will feature local filmmaker Julio Olivera’s “Tragedy of the Fallen Cherub,” the Audience Favorite at the 2007 Red Wasp Film Festival. Julio will also be there for a Q&A with the audience.

Finally, this series, like Red Wasp, is intended for adults, so parents should keep this in mind. Many of the films contain adult language and themes. We have had teenagers (and some younger kids) attend Red Wasp with their parents, but…parents really need to make this choice for their kids.

You can  find the Facebook event page at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=67743078054#/event.php?eid=67743078054

On Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, 2008, Brazos Progressives presented the 6th Annual Film Festival at StageCenter Theater in downtown Bryan. The following awards were presented on Saturday night:

• Red Wasp Best Film: “Dirty Girl” by Jennifer Clary and Kevin Haberer.
• One to Watch: “Violet” by Bernard Garceau III.
• Audience Favorite: “4th and Long” by Timothy Vandenberg.
• Most Entertaining Film: “Mock Date” by Julio Olivera.

Artist Theodora Saladino Krc created the “Red Wasp Best Film” trophy presented to Jennifer Clary and Kevin Haberer, and downtown restaurants Square One and Caffe Capri donated bottles of wine and gift certificates for the other prizes. The festival, which was attended by almost 200 people, screened eleven films that were entered in a competition for festival prizes, as well as the highly acclaimed film “Whaledreamers,” directed by Kim Kindersley, produced by Julian Lennon, and distributed by Monterey Media.

Thanks to all of our sponsors, to everyone who submitted a film to Red Wasp, and to all who attended the festival. Watch this space for more information about Red Wasp 2009!

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