International Short Film Festival 2008

Recap
The inaugural A3F Short Film Festival took place over an exciting two days in Phoenix, Arizona. Twenty-six films were screened from over 75 international submissions. Audiences were treated to comedies, dramas, horror/sci-fi's and documentaries -- something for every indie-film enthusiast in attendance.

Highlighting the festival were the Jury Award winning films. These three movies delighted the capacity crowd on the final night and took home several honors for the directors and cast and crew of the films.

Sympathetic Details - Outstanding Cinematography (Evans Brown & David Insley), Outstanding Direction (Benjamin Busch), Outstanding Musical Score (Benjamin Keddy), Outstanding Performance (Domenick Lombardozzi & Clarke Peters)
Code 7 - Outstanding Direction (Andrew Hutchings), Outstanding Editing (Drew Guajardo), Outstanding Performance (Natale Maucelli)
For A Few Marbles More - Outstanding Direction (Jelmar Hufen), Outstanding Story (Jelmar Hufen)

In addition to watching some truly great films, audiences were treated to Q&A's after several of the movies by the film's directors. Benjamin Busch, from the critically acclaimed HBO series, "The Wire" spoke about his project, "Sympathetic Details" as did Andrew Hutchings and Paul Young from "Code 7."

Also in attendance was Christopher Leps, an accomplished Hollywood actor and stuntman premiering his directorial debut, Ed & Vern's Rock Store. And LA filmmaker, Lisa Thompson, showed her labor of love, "This African Life" and spoke of her experiences making this moving documentary.

Short Film Press
Benjamin Busch on News Channel 3.

Filmmaker Feedback
"You are the only festival that has given such a kind and helpful consideration to all of those who have submitted. It is a generous extension of collective appreciation for the art and craft of filmmaking and we are glad to see a festival that has that feeling again. Others have lost it. You have renewed it." -- Benjamin Busch, Sympathetic Details and HBO's The Wire

"The A3F is the kind of event that all filmmakers hope to experience on the film fest circuit. Not only is it the type of environment that generously supports film viewing, but it also creates the inspiration to make films. The A3F is done for filmmakers by filmmakers, who keep the true spirit of independent filmmaking at the forefront of their festival mission. We were proud and honored to screen at the A3F and hope to be a part of its film community in the future." -- Christopher Leps, Writer/Director, Ed & Vern's Rock Store

"I am writing to thank you from the bottom of my heart: from me, the crew, the cast, supporters and friends of CODE 7 for allowing us to screen at your festival! I will always remember the Almost Famous Film Festival and be sure to keep up with it and spread the word to everyone that I know." -- Andrew Hutchings, Director, CODE 7