Hillsborough Community College - Ybor Campus to Host Week-Long Film Festival

February 26, 2003

For Immediate Release

HCC-YBOR'S FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE will be held from Monday, March 31 through Saturday, April 5 at Hillsborough Community College - Ybor Campus, located at Palm Avenue and 15th Street in Ybor City.

National, regional and area filmmakers and artists will be in attendance to present a wide range of film and digital works exploring traditional as well as new approaches to the medium. This will include digital sculptures, live performances, computer generated animation and site specific installations. A number of panels will discuss the state of the art.

Filmmakers and artists premiering new worksat the festival include Frank Ragano and Mariannah Amster from Santa Fe, NM, Miami artists Shahreyar Ataie, Charles Recher, Gustavo Matamoros, Carol Jacque, Judith Robertson, Elizabeth Hall, Marilyn Gottleib-Roberts, Michael Betancourt, and area artists Jeff Whipple, Ted and Charles Lyman, Phillip Harris and the Mindbomb group, Gary Bass, Elizabeth Coffman, Ted Hardin and Peter Melaragno.

The festival will open Monday evening, March 31, 7:30 PM, with the premiere of "Radiopaque" by Gary Bass. The screening will be held in the parking lot of El Pasaje (Cafe Creole) 'drive-in' style. Attendees can park and watch the film as WMNF Radio 88.5 FM broadcasts the soundtrack. This event is free and open to the public.

Screenings and events will be held throughout the week, both on campus and at nearby locations, including Muvico at Centro Ybor, Don Vicente de Ybor Historical Inn, Ybor Square, and El Pasaje.

The festival will present programs from the acclaimed series "Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893- 1941", with curator Bruce Posner in attendance. Many of these films have not been available for public viewing since their creation over a century ago, some have never been previously screened in public, and almost all have been unavailable in pristine projection prints until now. One program, "Cinema's Secret Garden", features films by the American sculpture artist Joseph Cornell.

A group of documentaries will provide perspectives on current issues. Peter Melaragno's "Cuba: The Forty Year's War" addresses attempts at reconciliation. Elizabeth Coffman and Ted Hardin look at Southern Europe in "Wedding in Croatia", "Fire of Life", and "Love Film". Nancy Yesecko's "Jazz is Spoken Here" explores the art of teaching music through interviews with Ellis Marsalis, father of Branford, Wynton, and Delfeayo Marsalis. To honor the Columbia crew, "Growing Up With Rockets", Ms. Yesecko will present here personal homage to the birth of the space program through the launch of the first space shuttle.

General admission for the public is $5.00 per screening, $3.00 for seniors, and $2.00 for students. Panels, forums, and art exhibitions are free.

More information at is at the festival website, http://www.yborfilmfestival.com. You may also contact Carolyn Kossar, HCC-Ybor at 813-253-7674, or David Audet, festival director, 813-253-7674.