SLO Film Festival just landed on this top-50 list for the sixth time
The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival has landed on a prestigious list for the sixth year in a row.
MovieMaker magazine recently named the San Luis Obispo festival as one of its Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. The list features the best festivals for movie lovers around the United States and the world, including events in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Poland.
In an article published Monday, MovieMaker calls the San Luis Obispo film festival “a festival with international pull.”
“Its 2020 dates fell mere days after the first (coronavirus) lockdown orders, but it quickly pivoted online, becoming one of the first festivals to do so,” the magazine says in an article published Monday. “The SLOFF team used the rest of 2020 to perfect the conversion of the full-film program and its signature outdoor events (like audience talkbacks and distributor meet-and-greets) to a new virtual platform.”
In March, the San Luis Obispo Film Festival boasted a fully revamped format focusing on virtual screenings and at-home experiences. (Only one event, Surf Nite in SLO, was held in person.) The festival also offered live Zoom discussions and online question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers.
Speaking to The Tribune in February, festival director Skye McLennan described the move to an all-virtual format as “coming back to the bare bones of who we are.”
In addition to praising the festival’s flexibility, MovieMaker highlighted its Central Coast setting.
“SLO is a notoriously happy, laid-back city,” the magazine noted, “and the festival has a long list of alums who return in droves.”
According to MovieMaker, those alumni include festival board member and “Avengers: Endgame” actor Josh Brolin, who grew up in the Templeton area and still owns a ranch on the Central Coast. Brolin, the son of actor James Brolin, received the Film Festival’s highest honor — the King Vidor Award for Career Excellence — in 2017.
The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival returns in March 2022. For more information, visit slofilmfest.org.
