Arts & Entertainment

Film Festival Kicks Off Thursday In Moraga

The California Independent Film Festival will showcase more than five dozen films at the Rheem and Orinda theaters

The California Independent Film Festival will launch its four-day run on Thursday evening in Moraga.

The opening night reception begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Rheem Theatre.

From Thursday to Sunday evening, 61 short films, documentaries and feature films will be shown at the Rheem as well as at the Orinda Theatre.

A schedule of showtimes can be seen on this CAIFF page.

The festival will have a special showing of the 1999 hit comedy, "American Pie," at 10 p.m. Saturday in Orinda.

It will also showcase the 1993 film "Rookie of the Year" at 11 a.m. Sunday in Moraga. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, who starred in the movie, will make a special appearance.

Actresses Lee Meriwether and Susan Blakely are in one of the festival's short films. They will make a guest appearance in Orinda at 6 p.m. Friday. Blakely will also be at the film's showing at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Rheem.

The California Independent Film Festival began in 1996. It was held in Pleasanton and Livermore before finding a home at the Orinda Theatre.

Derek Zemrak, the festival's founder and president, said the festival had outgrown the facilities in the Tri-Valley. He said the Orinda Theatre was closer to San Francisco and it had been the host theater for another festival for years.

"We knew there was a market there and things just fell into place," said Zemrak.

The festival has been playing at both the Rheem and the Orinda theaters for the past four years.

Zemrak said it's important to have film festivals like these because it gives up-and-coming directors a chance to showcase their work.

He said it also gives film goers a chance to talk with the people who put together films.

"You can get a definitive view of what movie making is all about," he said.




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