Organizers of the Offshoot Film Festival today announced that the event will have a new name and an updated mission when it returns for its seventh season.
The event was recently renamed as the Fayetteville Film Fest as part of a consolidated effort to propel the annual film festival and help it become a leading player in the growing cultural landscape of the region.
“We feel that this branding change will help clarify our identity for our audiences, which have grown steadily over the past seven years,” said board member Jason Suel. “Banking on the continued success of the festival and the ever-increasing quality of our programming, we are sure that The Fayetteville Film Fest will continue to be an exciting weekend for film lovers in our region and we will see even more excitement in the national filmmaking community.”
Dan Robinson, executive director of the event, said the board of the Seedling Film Association, which has run the festival each fall since 2010, recently voted to consolidate their identity under the new name and mission, which reads:
The Fayetteville Film Fest is a cultural leader in our region, bringing world class film to our state, developing meaningful relationships with filmmakers, and nurturing the art of filmmaking by uniting a community of creators and supporters.
The organization has added several new board members, and now includes: Dan Robinson, Jason Suel, Gary Berger, Hannah Withers, Amanda Robinson, Jules Taylor, Randy Dixon, Hazel Hernandez and Morgan Hicks.
Filmmakers may submit films for the 2016 festival in a variety of categories from March 1 through June 31.
To help spur interest, the board agreed to waive application fees for all films submitted before April 30 that have some connection to Arkansas – either by location, talent or subject.
Films accepted into the competition will be announced on Aug. 7. Submissions will be accepted through the Film Freeway online platform.
The 2016 Fayetteville Film Fest takes place Sept. 6-10, at various locations around the Fayetteville downtown square.
For more information about the event or to volunteer, visit fayettevillefilmfest.org.
