The Vail Film Festival is a four-day film festival that has taken place annually in late March or early April in Vail, Colorado since 2004. The 2011 Vail film festival took place March 31 - April 3 in Vail, Colorado. The 2012 Vail Film Festival will take place March 29 - April 1 in Vail, Colorado.
Held in the largest ski resort in the United States, the festival draws attendees and filmmakers from across the United States and around the world. The festival has drawn more than 14,000 attendees and over 300 filmmakers, including high-profile celebrities and international media attention.
In 2007, MovieMaker Magazine rated the Vail film festival as one of the top 10 best destination film festivals in the world. It is also the only one to have partnered with Bono's Product Red initiative, whereby the festival donates 25% of pass sales to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.
Films screened at the festival have included Before Sunset, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and the directorial debuts of David Duchovny (House of D), Luke Wilson, (The Wendell Baker Story) and Tiffany Thiessen. The festival has also screened a number of studio films, including Knocked Up, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Past award recipients include actor Josh Lucas, actor Kate Bosworth, actor/director Michael Imperioli, producer Edward R. Pressman, actor/director Luke Wilson, actor William Forsythe (actor), actor Sophia Bush, actor Hayden Panettiere, actor/writer/director Harold Ramis, actor/director/producer Tim Daly, director Tao Ruspoli, actor Olivia Wilde, actor Jesse Eisenberg, actor Jeremy Davies, actor/director Zach Braff, actor/producer Jane Seymour (actress), actor Adrian Grenier, actor Michelle Monaghan, and filmmaker Kevin Smith.
The festival was founded by Sean Cross and Scott Cross. The Cross brothers serve as co-chairman and co-directors of the festival, with Megen Musegades serving as associate director, under the auspices of the Colorado Film Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting local independent film.
Famous quotes containing the words film and/or festival:
“You should look straight at a film; that’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”
—Werner Herzog (b. 1942)
“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 16:16,17.