SAFILM San Antonio Film Festival Needs Your Help

My name is Adam Rocha, Executive Director and founder of the San Antonio Film Festival. I'm also a high school teacher in the San Antonio School District, where I've been teaching cinema for the last ten years, these days at Thomas Jefferson High School. I also teach cinema at San Antonio College and Northwest Vista College. My passion has always been cinema, so I started the festival in 1994 because there were no opportunities for people interested in learning about the film industry in our city. 

I'm writing today to enlist your help with SAFILM-San Antonio Film Festival. SAFILM is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization working to bring filmmakers and film industry leaders together in San Antonio for almost 18 years. We work hard to expose great talent from the Alamo City and filmmakers all over the world, creating a tremendous showcase for the filmmakers, a great experence for film buffs. all kinds of opportunities to network and a huge positive economic impact for San Antonio.

SAFILM has a strong reputation for uncovering cinematic treasures every year with an amazing lineup of narrative, animation, documentary and experimental shorts and even features -- with a keen eye for the idiosyncratic, the unique and the untold.  

In the business - the gradual release of a film to a limited audience in carefully chosen select theaters is known as a platform release. The crux of the platform release is to get a film noticed by eyes that matter, an audience who will certainly spread the word and increase interest and demand for an even wider release.

The highly anticipated 18th Annual San Antonio Film Festival (SAFILM) from June 18 through June 24 this year serves that very purpose -- it's a micro-platform concentrated release -- and because it's even more targeted, films screened at the SAFILM-San Antonio Film Festival get a great deal of attention and are ultimately noticed by other, bigger film festivals and film distributors -- a priceless opportunity not to be missed by any filmmaker.

Already one of the largest festivals in South Texas, the seven-day event garners extensive media attention and rave reviews. Industry and community leaders champion the festival for its diverse and exciting program. In fact, the San Antonio Film Festival was just mentioned by PremiumBeat.com as "one of the best emerging film fests in the US!" 

SAFILM-San Antonio FIlm Festival nurtures, fosters, and develops indie filmmakers of all ages and offers an array of opportunities to showcase films to diverse audiences, including film enthusiasts, local and national media, professional film critics and bloggers, and radio and television stations. Filmmakers and fans from across the country attend SAFILM, and filmmakers and enthusiasts alike find the experience intimate and inviting. The energy level can only be described as electric, uplifting and inspirational. 

SAFILM Alum Director Chris Brown (Fanny, Annie & Danny) recently explained how instrumental SAFILM was for the success of his own film:

"Without the early and passionate support of the San Antonio Film Festival, "Fanny, Annie & Danny" may never have enjoyed the success that it's had.  The whole SAFILM team couldn't have been kinder or more welcoming. They made us feel like family from the moment we arrived," Brown said.

Our new home at Santikos Theaters means that this year, we'll be screening festival films at the Bijou, Palladium, & Rialto Theaters, simultaneously. We are about to turn the corner and make this festival a first-tier international film festival and with your help, we can make it happen!