This Weekend’s Must-Go: Anaheim International Film Festival, New Media Market

Pencil this in for the weekend. If you’re anywhere in Southern California working in new media or online video it’s worth a trip down to Orange County for the Anaheim International Film Festival. The five-day festival kicked off with an opening night gala on Wednesday at UltraStar Cinemas at Anaheim GardenWalk.

Web series creator Canyon Prince, behind comedies First Edition and The Romantic Foibles of Esteban, is one of the producers of the festival and a big reason for this year’s heavy push into new media at the fest. Emerging independent films are the mainstay of the festival, but Prince was able to program a lineup that’s refreshingly more than a passing nod to the internet’s impact on entertainment. It’s a mix of screenings, panels and even a New Media Market for creators to showcase their works to prospective buyers and distributors.

Sunday night is the world premiere of ChadMattandRob’s latest interactive adventure series, The Treasure Hunt, which I’ve been jonsing to see since the trailer dropped back in August. (It screens at 6:00 PM on Sunday.)

Tickets to the festival are pretty reasonable, with most screenings and workshops set at $10 each for those that want to go a la carte. The New Media Expo pass covers all the new media events on Sunday and is just $25.

Here’s a cheat sheet of must-see new media events at AIFF this weekend:

Sunday is the New Media Expo day, so if you can only make it one day that’s the one to be there. We here at Tubefilter are presenting a panel with some top web series creators all about the merits of criticism in this new medium of online entertainment.

FORGED IN THE FIRE – presented by Tubefilter
The fundamental need for a town crier.
4:00PM-5:30PM

With today’s ever evolving technologies, the need for traditional gatekeepers in the world of new media is becoming more and more apparent. How can consumers sift through the endless seas of content being created daily? Are content creators ready to be judged and guided in the same manner that their network and studio brethren have been for years? In this panel we will hear from creators and critics alike and try to determine if the same rules even apply in today’s market.

Moderator:
Marc Hustvedt – Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter

Participants include:
Sean Becker – Director, The Guild
Hayden Black – Creator, Goodnight Burbank
Joy Gohring – Creator, Date A Human
Jenni Powell – Producer, Black Box TV
Stephanie Thorpe – Producer, Apocalypse Wow

THE BUCK STOPS HERE presented by Web TV Workshop
What new media needs in order to become an industry.
10:00AM-11:30AM

Day after day content creators attempt to crack the code between art and industry. Once the creative process is complete, what can be done to get the most success
and longevity out of your project? In this panel we will discuss the direction that new media needs to take in order to become the new and improved network system.

Moderator:
Damian Pelliccione – Owner, Web TV Workshop

Panelists include:
Adam Chapnick – IndieGoGo/Distribber
Keith J Knee – Producer, Blue Movies
Alec McNayr – McBeard Media
Taryn O’Neill – Producer, After Judgement

New Media Market – presented by Celebrate the Web
2:00 – 4:00 PM

Web shows slated to attend :
The Alibuys
Apocalypse WOW
Asylum
Blue Movies
The Clean Up Crew
Comics On Comics
Damsels & Dragons
First Edition
Geekscape
Groupidity
Hard to Swallow
Hero’s Quest
Hot on the Red Carpet
I Am Not Infected
Kill Floor
League of S.T.E.A.M.
Lemons
Make It Happen
Man-Teen
The Maybelline Girls
The Romantic Foibles of Esteban
Stalker Chronicles
Workshop