FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Inside The Loop Film Festival announces Call for Entries – New Ohio-based fest makes its debut in October

The Inside the Loop Film Festival today announced a Call for Entries for the inaugural edition of the film festival which will take place at the Sharonville Cultural Center in Sharonville, Ohio on October 6-8.

The new film festival’s name is derived from the fact that Sharonville is located in an area that’s considered “inside the Interstate 275 Loop.” The description “Inside the Loop” is very familiar to anyone in that community, as well as the Cincinnati and Dayton areas as well. Therefore, the name was chosen to unify each of those areas in addition to pinpointing the film festival’s hub.

Led by Executive Directors Lana Read and Nancy Pushkar, the Inside the Loop Film Festival will be a highly curated film festival with a focus on independent film and individual filmmaking vision with an emphasis on highlighting and promoting the work of filmmakers and films that hail from the state of Ohio. Inside the Loop FF will also organize a host of activities for the festival focused on the craft and artistry of independent filmmaking, including moderated Q&As with filmmakers, panel discussions, networking events, and a red carpet gala.

Lana Read

Read said, “While a number of films have been shot and produced in the Sharonville and Cincinnati area, as well as elsewhere in Ohio, independent films and filmmakers have not received the respect and attention we have long felt is due them for their talents, their vision, and entrepreneurial spirit. We saw a need to create a home for the work of those filmmakers, placed alongside the best of truly independent filmmaking that our programming staff has discovered via submissions or that they have seen at the top festivals around the country.

Nancy Pushkar

Pushkar added, “The Sharonville community has demonstrated a great appreciation for film and the arts and the Sharonville Cultural Center has been described a wonderful jewel box of a theater, newly retrofitted with state-of-the-art sound and projection. It’s a perfect location to host an event like this and bring local Ohio film fans together with the artists that make those films. We look forward to being a matchmaker of sorts between talented filmmakers from around the country and the very enthusiastic film fans of Sharonville and Cincinnati.”

Sponsored by ArtsWave, the Greater Cincinnati region’s local arts agency and the nation’s first and largest community campaign for the arts, the Inside the Loop Film Festival has also quickly received strong support from top business and industry leaders in the Cincinnati/Sharonville community with an eye toward not simply celebrating film, but also working to encourage more film production and spur additional interest for outside film interests and production companies to look to the area as an attractive location to shoot their films – thus benefitting local businesses and economy.

Justina Walford (Photo by Steve Duffy)

Justina Walford (Women Texas Film Festival) has been brought on to supervise programming alongside Read and Pushkar, and John Wildman (Dallas International Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, and many more) has also joined the team as a consultant and publicist. Local filmmakers themselves, Read and Pushkar have also already begun building a grassroots network of local filmmaking talent through their “Local 10” screening series of short films and works-in-progress at the Sharonville Cultural Center as they work to strengthen the support and ties within that community.

A director with numerous short film credits, Lana Read recently made her feature film debut with the stylish western, WESTERN WORLD. Under the tutelage of noted acting coach Silvana Gallardo, she appeared in nine films as an actor, prior to moving behind the camera leading to her helming the 11 short films, as well as WESTERN WORLD, which gained international distribution this year. As the founder of her own production company, Garnet Films, Read is driven to achieve greater accomplishments for women in the industry. She has developed a knack for action and intense drama in her writing style and directing choices.

Nancy Pushkar is an actress, acting coach, screenwriter, and artist. Pushkar recently founded Crazy Cat Lady Productions, a female owned production company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. While developing film projects under that banner, she continues to teach acting to talented teens and tweens. In fact, students from those classes have provided the inspiration, as well as some cast members for two recent short films she has written and directed. Pushkar studied performance, technical theater and fine art at Northern Kentucky University, as well as studied acting on the east and west coasts. The multi-talented Pushkar also has a degree in art education from the College of Mount Saint Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio, and has had two gallery shows in the past three years, one showcasing her photography, and most recently, one which featured her drawings.

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