The 32nd San Luis Obispo International Film Festival has officially kicked off! People packed the Fremont Teathre, to catch the opening night film ‘Give me the Ball’. A film that showcases the life of legendary tennis player Billie Jean King. Maria Kelly, SLO Film Board Chair, told me it takes a team to make this event happen.
"I'm most excited about opening night because the energy's always really high," said Kelly. "Everyone's coming into town."
One of the popular events is “Surf Nite” taking place on Friday night at the Fremont Theater. There will be more than 100 independent films shown throughout the next couple of days. One of these films is a documentary about a Vietnamese American artist’s journey recovering her late grandfathers lost musical recordings. KSBY spoke with the Khoa Ha, director of 'Y Van: The Lost Sounds Of Saigon'
“We're we're bringing it to a new audience and a new crowd," said Ha. "I'm super excited for people to get to experience this Vietnamese story that has a reach that's bigger than just where it started."
The team behind this film told me it took them a decade to complete their project.
This year's festival added two new elements! The first one, is a special award for the best genre / horror film. The second, an episodic category, for web-based or traditional TV pilots. Submissions for this could either be a 30 minute episode or multiple episodes with a total runtime of 40 minutes.
These additions Kelly said were added with the hopes of attracting younger audiences.
