The Paso Digital Film Festival l

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE PASO DIGITAL FILM FEST STREAMS ON THE INTERNET, AND

PAYS TRIBUTE TO MUSIC, AS IT TRIES TO SPARK A LIGHT ON THE

DARKNESS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE UNITED STATES

The Paso Digital Film Festival last year was on the cutting edge, this year it was the sword...

first two day's theme was 'Music in Film'...next two days were on the "State and Fate of

Children, and covered the sad and dark truths of child abuse, autism, runaways, adolescent

suicide, sexual molestation of children and other dark cracks that suck up our kids.

The Monterey Weekly reported, "Do a Google search on "digital film festival." Topping the list

of returns is the Paso Robles Digital Film Fest, the second installment of the forward-thinking

and, by contrast, rural event that debuted last year with fanfare and appearances from Clint and

son Kyle Eastwood, ten top level friends and staff at Eastwood's Malpaso were joined by Kevin

Bacon, National Medal of Honor recipient Ramblin' Jack Elliott, mega producer Nigel Sinclair,

Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin, Johnny Rivers, festival Honoree and editor Joel Cox and

and many other greats in music and film."

This year's Digital Film Fest was not only shot in Hi-def for a future DVD/TV Cable show, but

four hours a day for two days of the festival were streamed live, with interviews of filmmakers,

musicians, and those working on the front lines to help children and youth. Kathleen Quinlan,

Gary Busey, Luke Perry, Robert Carradine, Ken Kragen, Botso Korisheli, Max Gail,

Joel Diamond, Dr. Lois Lee, Ann Dandridge, Steve Mason, Oscar Arslanian, Vicki

Roberts, Arthur Andelson, Dan Jones, Chris Montez, Gary Conway, Maggie and Alton

Warwick, Keith Potger, and Festival Troubadours Jack Tempchin, John Andrew Parks,

Dave Somerville, and Kacey Musgrave joined others in film and song.

more on names thePDFF.com/09talent.htm

Sunday and Monday was on The State and Fate of Children, with two days of documentaries

that expose and chronicle child abuse, autism, homeless, runaway, and missing children, child

abductions and other issues revolving around kids, with special recognition given to filmmakers,

journalists and producers who cover those topics. At the Paso High School on Sunday a very

special and important forum set the stage for the movies that were to be screened later in the

evening. With presentations by Dr. Lois Lee of Children of the Night, Phillip Hain of Autism

Speaks, Dr. William Bronston from Tower of Youth, played a cell phone call on the PA from

Congresswoman Diane Watson, who chairs the Congressional Entertainment Industries

Caucus, and is a long time spokesperson for children and education, gave an address to the

forum of parents, children, filmmakers, and professionals. All day the Singing Hands Choir,

a group of kids that perform music in song and ASL, stole the show with their performances.

Ken Kragen, a former Paso Robles resident who co-created the We Are the World and

Hands Across America charity mega-events, received the festival's Humanitarian Award, and

gave some great words to the group, and showed the We Are The World music video. The

Paderewski Life Time Achievement Award was given to Dr. Wachtang "Botso" Korisheli,

who from 1957 through the mid-’80s, brought music into the lives of countless youth with an

unparalleled sphere of influence. In 1965 Korisheli founded the San Luis Obispo Youth

Symphony.

Saturday at the Doo Wop Concert at Sylvester Winery the Music In Media Award was given

to 56 gold and platinum record producer Joel Diamond, by his daughter, Briana Diamond, during performances by Dave Somerville, of the world famous Diamonds, Buddy Holly band member Sonny Curtis, early rock n' roll pioneer Chris Montez and a special performance

of some Buddy Holly songs with actor/musician Gary Busey, all backed by the all star band

of music legends, the Diamond Heads.

With six Premiers, including Challenge of Champions, Little Devil, Boyhood Shadows,

Driven By The Sound, Nico's Challenge and Girl's Night Out, films entered from 21 foreign

countries including Iran and China, a film work in progress shown by Director Burt Kearns of El

Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story by Frozen Pictures, and a

special showing of Remembering Nigel, getting the nod for Best Foreign Film and Best Music

Soundtrack, with a slew of other film and digital awards to be announced at the next festival with

some of the award winning film makers to be flown to one of the locations, thePDFF is venturing

out in new digital territory again in 2010, with festivals different locations including Las Vegas

in 2011. Dates for the wild west film fests listed soon.

With a festival website that is exceeding the daily traffic of the Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Malibu,

Carmel, Atlanta, Monterey, LA Reel, Indie Fest and other established film festivals, thePDFF

is announcing that the festival will be held two times a year, with festivals being produced online

and in other states, and linked via the Internet. Reason being, in "digital time" a year is eternity,

and to be truly a "digital" event and stay ahead of the curve, we are not only going to present two

(maybe more) festivals a year, but will soon launch a new website that will make thePDFF 24/7

in cyberspace. During the year thePDFF will host some mini film festivals at some of the Paso

Wineries, and use the website and multi-platform Social Network sites like YouTube, FaceBook,

MySpace, Twitter, B-side, Withoutabox, IMDB and other digital and VOD sites. The basic idea

is to have the festival become part of the promotion and distribution planning and strategy for a

film and a platform for their release, and help the filmmakers use new technologies to distribute

their films, via the Internetwork of multiplatform marketing and streaming the festival to the world.

Media and entertainment is in a historic paradigm shift, and we are exploring new ways that film

festivals are evolving into the digital age and becoming a platform for new enterprises and

ventures in the business of entertainment.