Catalina Film Fest Celebrates 8th Annual Fest with Long Beach Expansion

Catalina Film Fest (CFF) is excited to announce it will celebrate 8 years of cinema on beautiful Catalina Island by expanding to a new sister city by the sea: Long Beach. The inaugural partnership will connect the island festival experience to the mainland Sept. 26-30, 2018, bookending CFF with "launch" and "landing" premieres, parties and panels Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday in Long Beach. Catalina Island will play host to CFF Friday and Saturday, with Festival-chartered party cruises to and from Catalina Classic Cruises' Queen Mary Terminal daily.

Academy Award winning actor, Richard Dreyfuss, will be honored at Catalina Film Festival, Saturday, Sept. 29, with the Stanley Kramer Social Artist Award for his work with The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative -- a non-profit, non-partisan organization that aims to revive the teaching of civics in American public education.

Actress and filmmaker Rosie Perez (White Men Can't Jump; Untamed Heart) and director Ramon Rodriquez (The Affair; The Wire) will receive Catalina Film Festival's Humanitarian Award for Pa'lante, documenting personal stories of Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria on Wednesday, Sept. 26. Opening night's party is at The Harbor Long Beach (130 Pine Ave), benefiting the nonprofit 100roofs.org to help Puerto Rico rebuild.

The 8th annual fest include:

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 26 ?Opening Night at the historic Long Beach Art Theatre, honoring actress and filmmaker Rosie Perez (White Men Can't Jump; Untamed Heart) and director Ramon Rodriquez (The Affair; The Wire). The pair will receive the Humanitarian Award for Pa'lante, documenting personal stories of Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Opening night's party is at The Harbor Long Beach (130 Pine Ave), benefiting the nonprofit 100roofs.org to help Puerto Ricorebuild. Wednesday also features documentary, Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, and opening night film, Love, Possibly, with filmmaker Q&A's after each screening.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 27?Thriller Thursday takes over Long Beach with the Wes Craven Horror Block. The only competitive Festival to have an award sanctioned by the king of horror himself, filmmakers will be vying for the annual Craven Award. The Film & New Media Summit hosts an afternoon spotlight interview with honoree Richard Dreyfuss by Deadline'sGeoff Boucher at the Courtyard Marriott Long Beach at 1:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 28?CFF heads to Catalina for a full day of screenings, the annual Lion's Den Pitch Panel (featuring angel investor, James Sower), and a red carpet tribute at the iconic Avalon Casino. Comedic actor, Rob Riggle, whose work includes The Hangover and Step Brothers ("The F*&%$#G Catalina Wine Mixer") will receive the Spotlight Award. Kevin Hart(Ride Along, Get Hard) will receive the Mack Sennett "King of Comedy" Award. Friday's feature film is Miss Arizona, starring Steve Guttenberg, Missi Pyle, and Johanna Braddy(cast and crew in attendance). Justine Bateman (Family Ties) will also be in attendance with her short film, Five Minutes.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 29?CFF honors Academy Award™-winning actor, Richard Dreyfuss (Mr.Holland's Opus; American Graffiti) with the Stanley Kramer Social Artist Award, presented by actress Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg;Krippendorf's Tribe). Ashanti (Coach Carter;Resident Evil: Extinction) will receive the Avalon Award. Saturday's feature is VirginiaMinnesota.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 30?Best of Fest at the Courtyard Marriott Screening Room in Long Beach.

CFF will also host the annual Film & New Media Summit for filmmakers Wednesday-Thursday at the Courtyard Marriott Long Beach, featuring a Marvelous Money: Film Finance Workshop and Indie Directors & Screenwriters panel. Full schedule and to purchase tickets, visit www.catalinafilm.org.

About Catalina Film Festival

Catalina Film Festival is an annual celebration of film in Southern California and on Hollywood's island just 22 miles off the Los Angeles coast. Sponsors include IEX Helicopters, Catalina Candle, Catalina Express, Island Spa Catalina, Tony's Limo, Catalina Flyer, BIG, Sprint and The Cafaro Group. Past CFF honorees include Nicolas Cage, William H. Macy, Andy Garcia, Sharon Stone, Jon Favreau, Emmy Rossum, F. Gary Gray, Stan Lee and more.

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