Allen attends LR Film Festival Su Su
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/News/24926/
LITTLE ROCK — Last month marked the second year of the Little Rock Film Festival and Siloam Springs was represented by local award-winning film producer David Allen.
As a self-made filmmaker and mentor to others in his field, Allen, a Siloam Springs native, sits on the Advisory Board of the Little Rock Film Festival.
The weekend also consisted of various workshops and events.
Allen served on the panel for the “ Mobile Film School Pitch Session” in which aspiring high school student directors were given an opportunity to pitch their film idea and receive feedback from industry experts.
Allen’s recent work, “ Death Valley, ” was among the 55 movies shown, and was heavily attended on both of its screening nights.
“ The Little Rock Film Festival continues to amaze me in not just the quality of its overall film lineup, but also the size of the fest and the amount of public support it receives, ” Allen said to festival attendees. “ I’ve been attending and participating in film festivals around the globe for over a decade, and the LRFF looks in it’s second year, what the Sundance Film Festival looked like in it’s 12 th year. ” This year’s festival had over 5, 000 attendees from around the world. Gov. Mike Beebe welcomed the crowd of international filmmakers and festival attendees. Harry Thomason, known for having created and produced the sitcom “ Designing Women, ” gave the keynote speech. The festival was founded in 2007 by Arkansas natives Craig and Brent Renaud, Owen Brainard, and Jaime Moses. The Renaud brothers, originally from North Little Rock, are awardwinning documentary filmmakers.
They are known for their television mini-series “ Off to War, ” about the Clarksville branch of the Arkansas National Guard being called up to serve in Iraq, and the effects it had on family members back home.
Allen is working with the Renaud brothers on their next documentary, called “ Warrior Champions, ” about American veterans disabled in Iraq who will again be fighting for the United States as athletes at the Olympic games in Beijing.
Allen’s next film, “ Death Valley, ” a desert survival thriller, will be released on DVD on July 22.