Each year, Kodak sponsors our Film Festival Filmmakers Brunch, which offers an exciting opportunity for the talented minds behind all fourteen films to get to each other and network a bit. Everyone always has a great time, and this year's glamorous venue, La Bottega at the Maritime Hotel, also afforded the opportunity for some stargazing, in the form of David Arquette and Ethan Hawke, who just happened to be there, too.

Watch the exciting video below—we promise it will make you crave a plate of French toast.

At the closing night gala of the 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival, Gen Art and Acura awarded The Acura Grand Jury Feature Film Award for $10,000 to Rob Stewart for Sharkwater and The Acura Grand Jury Short Film Award for $5,000 to Phillip Van for High Maintenance. Both filmmakers were also honored with the coveted Gen Art Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature and Best Short, respectively.

The Stargazer Award, which honors breakout talent for excellence in acting, was given to Troy Schremmer, the star of Mike Akel's feature film Chalk. Watch the video from the ceremony, here!

Frank Cappello, the director of He Was A Quiet Man, the closing night feature of our 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival explains to LX.TV about how he came up with the movie's plot when he was pissed off one day—and how Christian Slater literally stalked him to score the lead.

Don't worry, Christian explains what made him want this "really bizarre and dark" average guy role...complete with fake teeth...in the video below. Check it out now!


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The world we live in was the hot topic at the green night of our film festival Saturday night. The three documentaries that played each highlighted a different area of our environment that's in need of a lot of help in order for us to survive on this planet.

The short film, Gimme Green, looked at our American obsession with lawns, and the filmmakers, Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg, talked afterward about how they set out to raise awareness about water consumption.

Next came Higher Power, the winner of the Gen Art Online Film Festival. The NYU filmmakers Brandon Deese and Darrell Allen explained that they feel it's important to be aware of the environment now, because there may not be time down the line to learn and prevent what may happen.

The night's feature, Sharkwater, captured the audience's attention and revealed how sharks are mistreated around the world. Filmmaker, Rob Stewart, loved sharks when he was a kid and after he was given a photojournalism assignment in the Galapagos Islands, decided to make a documentary about how they have been misunderstood for centuries.

At the fabulous after-party at Arena, there was a blue cocktail in honor of the movie, named "The Sharkwater," complete with a gummy shark swimming in it. When we asked Rob what we could to do help save the non-gummy sharks, he suggested we visit www.savingsharks.com, a site where everyone can dive in and take action.

- Charlotte Brown

Watch as Rylan Eslinger, the director of film festival feature, When A Man Falls In the Forest (and is pictured here with one of the film's stars, Timothy Hutton, and our VP of Film, Jeffrey Abramson), parties with the rest of the beautiful people, and our friends LX.TV, at New York nightlife hot spot, Room Service. Watch it now!


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It was Friday the 13th, and, appropriately, the feature at our 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival was a science fiction horror flick that had exploded this year at Sundance, The Signal. Even though all hell broke loose on screen, the audience got the inside scoop on the real horror involved in shooting a scary movie when the filmmakers and actors did a Q&A following the film. They discussed the complicated and dangerous stunts, their fears of not having the "perfect blood" and how their tag team directing style—rather than resulting in total chaos—allowed for three visions in one film.

Director Dan Bush has described life on set as the ultimate collaboration: "...from the writing to the sound design. It wasn't an army, so much as a tribe. We have all worked together here in Atlanta for many years. We all knew each other—the grips, the art department, the producing team, the a.d., the actors. We workshopped each act of this movie while in preproduction. It was like boot camp except we called it Terminus Camp. We literally camped out for three days with the actors and worked every scene."

To see pictures from the night or find out more about this year's festival, click here!

- Charlotte Brown

In their weekend coverage of the 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival, LX.TV caught up The Signal's Justin Welborn, who revealed that he thinks cell phones and TVs are making us mad, Acura Grand Jury Prize winner Sharkwater's director and star, Rob Stewart, who explained how attempted murder charges nearly sidelined his film, and mockumentary director, Mike Akel, of Chalk, who talked about about how he came up with the idea behind his hilarious movie. See the video below!


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WCBS Radio's Jeremy Hassell caught up with Jeffrey Abramson, Gen Art's VP of Film, at the 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival and asked about what it takes for a movie to make through our vigorous selection process. You can listen to the entire interview here!

If you have Sirius Satellite Radio, be sure to tune into Channel 114 at 11 p.m. tonight for The Lazy Environmentalist's show. Host, Josh Dorfman, will discuss Gimme Green and Sharkwater, two of the films shown at the "Green Night" of our 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival. Enjoy!

Henry Pincus, the director of last night's Film Festival feature, You Are Here, thought that money would be the reason his film didn't turn into gold. Once he found a good casting director, who helped lure in bigger name actors, the filmmakers ended up taking a different approach. He discusses the Los Angeles club scene and his unbelievable cast, which includes Bijou Phillips, with LX.TV below. Take a peek and let us know what you think!



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NY1's Society Reporter, George Whipple (pictured here with our VP of Film, Jeffrey Abramson), who is the host of "Whipple's World," stopped by the opening night of the 12th Annual Gen Art Film Festival. Click here to read his red carpet interviews with Crashing director, Gary Walkow, and stars Campbell Scott, Izabella Miko and Lizzy Caplan, and watch the video here.