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NC Film Officials Return from Annual Sundance Film Festival
January 28, 2015
RALEIGH - Guy Gaster, director of the North Carolina Film Office, has returned from a 4-day trip to Park City, Utah where he was promoting North Carolina during the Sundance Film Festival.
The annual festival, a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute, has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades and showcased the cinematic works of many of the industrys great artists.
While at the festival, Gaster met with industry leaders and film professionals to discuss filming in North Carolina. Highlights of what the state has to offer to filmmakers include world-renowned crew, an established industry infrastructure, vast variety of location types, and the states new $10 million grant program. This marks the seventh consecutive year that North Carolina has actively marketed the state at the Sundance Film Festival.
In addition to various meetings, the NCFO partnered with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), as well as the Wilmington Regional Film Commission, Inc. and the Charlotte Regional Film Commission, to host a filmmakers reception on Saturday, January 24. The event, which goes hand-in-hand with the states marketing campaign of relax, gave filmmakers and producers a chance to interact with state film officials and each other and learn more about the North Carolina film industry in a very laid-back and relaxing setting. The gathering also served as an opportunity for alumni from UNCSA to gather and reconnect with classmates. All told, over 350 individuals attended the event.
The 2015 Sundance Film Festival feature at least twelve films with UNCSA alumni and/or student connections. Those features include: A Walk In The Clouds, Last Days In The Desert, Ill See You In My Dreams, Don Verdean, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Z for Zachariah, People Places and Things, Advantageous, City of Gold, It Follows, 99 Homes and H.
Established in 1980, the North Carolina Film Office is part of the states new formed Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. Its primary responsibilities are to recruit productions to the state, thereby creating job opportunities and economic development within the state. In addition, the NCFO assists productions with permitting and other logistics during production and works hand-in-hand with regional film commissions in the Wilmington, Research Triangle, Piedmont Triad, Charlotte and Western regions of the state. Since its creation, more than 400 projects have filmed in North Carolina, directly spending over $1.5 billion and creating more than 100,000 job opportunities for crew, talent and background extras. In 2014 alone, the efforts of the NCFO resulted in productions spending an estimated $316 million directly in the state and creating more than 19,000 job opportunities, including approximately 3,000 well-paying crew positions for the states highly skilled film professions over the course of more than 3,300 production days.
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