Welcome to Method Fest

The 9th Annual Method Fest (www.methodfest.com) starts today and continues until April 5th. Named for the famous school of acting, this year's festival will screen 28 feature films and 45 short films to be shown at two locations, the Louis B. Mayer Theatre in Woodland Hills, and the Carlson Family Theatre in Calasbasas, California. To get a glimpse at some of the selected films, check out the Method Fest 2007 trailer, provided by ImageAlive.net.

During the course of the festival, I will be attending as many screenings as I can and take some pictures (not of the movie, of course), and give you the lowdown about them the next day. Are the films worth watching, and if so, what makes them good? If a film turns out to disappoint, it's probably "back to the cutting room," but I'll be more specific than that if that should be the case. The line-up of films looks promising as you can see on this webpage.

And that's not all. There is more to the Method Fest, and what better way to tell you all about it with a press release:

Waitress, the late actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelly's romantic comedy starring Keri Russell, has been selected as the Opening Night film of the 9th annual The Method Fest independent film festival. The film will screen Thursday, March 29, at 7 pm at the Motion
Picture and Television Fund's Louis B. Mayer Theatre.

Waitress had its premiere at the 2007 Sundance film festival only a few weeks after Shelly, who also stars in the film, was found dead in her New York apartment, victim of an apparent murder. The film was acquired by Fox Searchlight at Sundance and will be released later this year.

Also added to The Method Fest lineup was director Andrew Currie's Canadian film Fido, starring Carrie-Ann Moss and Billy Connolly, a public favorite at both the Toronto and Sundance film festivals.

The Method Fest -- the annual celebration of performance, discovery and independent film -- will open its ninth season with the strongest lineup ever, one that reflects excellence not just in American cinema, but worldwide as well. Strong storytelling, always a hallmark of The Method Fest, will be found in such standouts as Jindabyne, starring Laura Linney and based on Raymond Carver story, Lonely Hearts which features Salma Hayek, Jared Leto and a revelatory performance by John Travolta; and Man in the Chair, in which Christopher Plummer shows why he's been the acting legend he is today.

World Premieres include, Divergence, Charlie, and Schooled. U.S. premieres include Bridge 13 from Iran, El Carnaval de Sodoma from Mexico, and the Bulgarian film, Trade Routes.

The Method Fest is the only major film festival in the U.S. focusing on acting, celebrating breakout acting performances in story driven independent films. In only eight years, more than 80 films that have played / premiered at The Method Fest have gained theatrical release and/or TV and home video distribution.

*Short disclaimer: A few sentences from the press release have been omitted for this reproduction. For the full press release, visit the festival's website.