Big Bear Film Festival to Launch in September, Led by Former Outfest Director Damien Navarro

The Big Bear Film Festival — formerly known arsenic nan Green Jack International Film Festival — is launching September 24-29, nan brainchild of nan recently inaugurated Big Bear Film Institute. The famed California mountaintop destination, which has been seen successful galore films and tv shows dating backmost a century, will big what nan BBFI is calling a “boundary breaking celebration” that encompasses not conscionable film, but animation, podcasting, gaming, stand-up comedy, Indigenous storytelling, experimental sound design, and AI.

CEO Damien S. Navarro, who antecedently served arsenic nan executive head of Outfest, noted that complete 400 titles person utilized Big Bear arsenic a backdrop, including “Magnolia,” “The Last of nan Mohicans,” “Creep,” “Gone pinch nan Wind,” and “Old Yeller.”

“Its alpine terrain has doubled for nan Rockies, Appalachians, and moreover European forests —making it 1 of nan astir versatile and under-celebrated locations successful movie history,” Navarro said.

Festival features see a “Peak Pitch” marketplace for original projects to link pinch imaginable buyers, a “Music Village & Audio Pavillion” lakeside retreat, an expo for gaming and animation content, an outdoor and drone cinematography showcase, and plans for a early 5-day “Alpine Story Lab” residency.

“The Big Bear Film Festival is unapologetically built for nan adjacent procreation of storytelling,” Navarro told IndieWire. “Attendees tin expect an eclectic mix: elevated genre films, climate-forward documentaries, Indigenous and Latinx voices, immersive experiences, gaming [and] animation showcases, audio storytelling, and outdoor/adventure films. We’re particularly excited astir spotlighting IP crossed mediums — from podcasts to schematic novels to AI-created narratives.”

Navarro added that BBFI wasn’t conscionable launching a festival; “we’re launching a movement.”

“Backed by nan recently formed Big Bear Film Institute and Film Office, this is simply a year-round ecosystem for creators and culture-shifters,” he explained. “With partners for illustration Utopia, we’re planting a emblem for what a future-forward, community-rooted movie civilization tin look like. Think Sundance-meets-SXSW pinch boots, brains, and a view.”

BBFI’s partner Utopia was founded by Robert Schwartzman successful 2018.

“Our ngo astatine Utopia has not only been to support really independent films scope audiences done nonstop acquisitions and afloat distribution support, but to supply filmmakers pinch alternative, empowering self-distribution devices and to situation our manufacture by providing further meaningful, viable outlets for monetization,” Schwartzman said successful a property release. “Partnering pinch nan Big Bear Film Institute and Festival allows america to do precisely that — giving a scope of creators and distributors a meaningful caller situation to prosecute and motorboat their activity wrong an energized and thoughtful community.”

For information, sponsorships, and submissions, sojourn the festival’s website.