The Bacon Brothers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
‘VIP CELEBRITY GUESTS LINE UP FOR NOVEMBER DEBUT OF NEW
DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL IN WINE-COUNTRY’S PASO ROBLES, CA’
Contact: Benford Standley
323-850-8919
|
The Bacon Brothers |
|
There may be no place more likely than in Central California’s town of Paso Robles, for
the birth of a brand-new, world-class film festival, in this historic area with its roots in the
Old West, population 29,000, surrounded by hillsides covered with thousands of acres
of premium wine grapes. Boasting a host of Hollywood VIP personalities, famous
musicians and guests from all over the world, will be the city’s first full-flavored film
festival, known as the Paso Robles Digital Film Festival (PRDFF.com).
Scheduled for November 20 through 25, 2008, seasoned event promoter Benford
Standley, some SLO County PAs, Film Makers, and students, and an extended network
of friends and associates from the North to Nashville, to Austin, Hollywood are going
to show up here in cowboy wine country, with what promises to be a first-class film
festival debut. The kick-off theme is ‘Music In Film’, which means that aside from
dozens of digital screenings of films and documentaries with the music front-and-center,
there will also be a number of outstanding Jazz, Rock and Country-Western
performances by well-known personalities and bands.
Headlining acts include The Bacon Brothers featuring actor Kevin Bacon and his brother
and musician Michael Bacon, recipient of the President’s National Medal of Arts and
Grammy-winning legend Ramblin' Jack Elliott, the ‘Kyle Eastwood Band’ (featuring the
son of film-star Clint Eastwood), as well as a special guest appearance by The Brubeck
Institute Jazz Quintet. Also featured will be gigs with musician Jack Tempchin, (songwriter
singer and recorded by the The Eagles), legendary guitarist Norm Stephens (who played
with Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard), Harold Jackson, (the only surviving member to be
recruited by the original ‘Ink-Spots’), Grammy Winner Louie Ortega, and many other
award winning and notable music-makers. Other ‘big surprise’ musical guests To-Be-
Announced. Aside from cozy venues like Level Four, Hotel Cheval, Firefly Gallery, Matt’s
Music, Paso Robles Inn, Franklin’s Hot-Springs, and others To-Be-Announced, where
the music and screenings will take place, the festival will feature a 2,000-seat circus-
tent stage for musicians and bands, and the Wild West Film Fest and Awards Concert.
In addition to world-premieres of films by emerging filmmakers from all over the globe,
with films already submitted from over a dozen foreign countries, a number of classic
films and music documentaries will be viewed on a rotating schedule, during the festival.
A very special ‘Make My Saturday’ screening, paying tribute to the musical and
cinematic genius of Clint Eastwood, will screen Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends,
with director Bruce Ricker, and Academy-Award-winning Editor Joel Cox attending the
screening, as well as the Martin Scorsese Presents/A Film by Clint Eastwood and
producer Bruce Ricker, Piano Blues. Bruce Ricker will also serve as advisor to the film
festival. Adding to this special tribute, along with the great list of folks from Eastwood’s
Malpaso Music Machine, the festival is honored to give a Lifetime Achievement Award
to Joel Cox, the Academy Award-winning film-editor. The festival is fortunate also to be
joined by Piano Blues co-editor, Gary Roach; also Lennie Niehaus, Emmy-winning
composer and conductor/arranger/musician, who played with Stan Kenton and now is
Eastwood’s long-time composer; Joe Hyams, legendary PR-man at Warner Brothers,
who began doing Eastwood’s press in 1971; and others from the Malpaso Music Machine.
On Saturday during the festival, the festival will screen the 1980 Clint Eastwood film,
Bronco Billy, for kids and family, and Honkytonk Man, directed by Eastwood and
starring himself and son Kyle Eastwood.
Other classic documentaries to be screened are Martin Scorsese’s 1978 film,
The LastWaltz
, with some of rock-n-rolls’ most well-known talent, along with film-maker D. A.Pennebacker’s Don’t Look Back, on the legend of Bob Dylan (and other films about
Dylan). Jonathan Demme’s film, Neil Young: Heart of Gold will be viewed, as well as
the 2004 film, The Festival Express, which chronicles a concert-tour with Janis Joplin,
Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, The Band, and other rock-legends. The 2006 film,
Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads from director Hector Galen (in at-
tendance at the screening), will be viewed, along with The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack
from director Aiyana Elliott (2000), with Jack Elliott himself also on-hand. Other films
will be announced, with some special surprises and rare documentaries and features,
part of event-promoter Standley’s commitment to what he calls “the unknown history
of the music world”.
‘Digital’ is a big part of the festival theme, as per the name. Most of the screenings will
use the latest home-theater and digital-projector technologies, or flat-panel HD screens
with high-quality sound. An exhibition-display of state-of-the-art digital film and video
technology is planned as a ‘Mini-Digital Expo’. Likewise, the panel-discussions will also
‘go digital’, on topics such as Video-On-Demand, Multi-Platform Digital Distribution,
On-line Social Networks, Webcasting and Podcasting, 3D, and other concepts related
to the cutting-edge of the digital revolution.
Event-promoter Standley wants the atmosphere to be open and encouraging for young
or emerging film-makers, with plenty of opportunities to rub shoulders with very successful
award-winning film-artists, actors and entertainers, and to ‘talk-shop’ about films and
career-dreams, or the future of film-entertainment. Standley produced one of the world’s
first Internet webcasts in 1995 from Hollywood’s Troubadour Club, and in 1997 created a
historic Internet webcast with Country-Western artist Willie Nelson. He has worked with
music-world royalty such as Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Les Paul,
Waylon Jennings, Hoyt Axton, Emmylou Harris, and many others, over the course of a
40-year career.
“Our target audience is from Hollywood to the Silicon Valley,” Standley said. “That fits
in with the tank-of-gas vacation. This is a small-town, Norman Rockwell setting, but it’s
a very rich environment. On the local level, this festival can serve as a catalyst to help the
tourist-industry, and bring the movie business into town. It’s kind of an infusion, and the
second Paso Robles Digital Film Festival is already on the drawing board.”
Standley, with advice from local authorities on children and youth, is planning to donate
a percentage of all proceeds from the festival to benefit some to-be named youth
programs in Paso Robles. He is already setting up a link with Kevin Bacon's charity
organization, www.sixdegrees.com, paypal.com and ebay.com, to network with this
charitable element of the event, and direct other funds and donations to charity. Area
youth from the High School will be involved with the actual production of the Festival.
Paso Robles, California, is located about 210-miles South of San Francisco, or 230-
miles North of Los Angeles, and is historic for its natural hot-springs, Old West history
(such as the legend of Jesse James), and 26,000-acres of California’s best wine
grapes. The town is located directly on U.S. Highway 101, with numerous high-quality
hotels, fine restaurants, wine-tasting venues, and the popular California Mid-State
Fairgrounds.
Registration for members of the press who wish to attend the event is available on the
PRDFF.com website. Interviews and more information are available by contacting
Benford Standley at studioclubnews@yahoo.com or 323-850-8919.
Media access, press passes to events, parking, celebrity interview and photo
opportunities during the festival, an on-site press-room with materials and refresh-
ments, and more, are all extended to qualified working journalists who wish to take
part. See the PRDFF.com website for weekly up-dates and announcements.
CONTACT US FOR HIGH RESOLUTION PICTURES
Benford Standley at studioclubnews@yahoo.com or 323-850-8919.
-30-