Zero Film Festival is the first and only festival EXCLUSIVE to self financed filmmakers and the authentically independent films they create.
ZFF is a New York and Los Angeles based independent not-for-profit organization firmly committed to supporting under-represented filmmakers and screening the world's best self-financed films for cinema lovers everywhere. ZFF focuses on community, inclusivity and good times on planet Earth.
In the age where the majority of festivals are Hollywood marketing campaigns, and even "indie" and "underground" festivals screen financed films, we exist to offer something different. Each year Zero holds events in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, providing exposure for authentically independent filmmakers.
In 2009 ZFF added our 1st West Coast Tour - screening select films in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Hollywood and Orange County. 2010 saw this expand into our 1st North American Tour, with Toronto hosting Zero's 1st international event. 2011 = Europe.
folks:
rich hooban
founder/director
Rich spent his kid years in mountain silence snowboarding with friends. After two years in Switzerland he returned to the states to finish his university degree in International Economics, then jumped ship to help preserve freshwater in China. There, in the back alleyways of Shanghai, the winds changed and he found himself in los angeles learning to tell stories in the language of cinema. After completing the now lost feature film Journey Green Forest, exposure to current film festival conditions inspired him to create the Zero Film Festival.
steven strauss
assistant director/tour coodinator
Steven Strauss, film/video-maker and visual artist, has been at serious work since 1999. Studied film and art at Pratt Institute. Founded and curated for 15 years in.production and the Hudson Valley Film/Video Festival. Video works have screened across the US. Tendencies toward the experimental. Became involved in the ZFF family during dawn discussions after his film, Alpha Maybe, premiered in 2008.
15yearsinproduction.com
doc rocket
design
In general relativity, the positive energy theorem (more commonly known as the positive mass theorem in differential geometry) states that, assuming the ...
designing, designing, designing
maria holland
los angeles
Surely a cloud. Maria Holland is a visible mass of droplets, in other words, little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth ...
halcyon world
brad bores
assistant director, los angeles
Brad is first and foremost a filmmaker. While bumming around LA working odd jobs he met Rich Hooban. He loaded up his car with an aged 16 MM Eclair, re-canned film stock and shot his first feature, Soda Can Love. The film was shown a few times but for the most part overlooked. After assisting on Rich's film Journey Green Forest they both decided that there was a dire need for a festival representing truly independent films. After a few beers at the bar Rich mulled the idea of the fest over with Brad and the rest is history. Brad spends his time between LA and Ohio.
joanna lai
tour coordinator, europe
Joanna Lai is a filmmaker and visual anthropologist based in the U.S. and Europe. She has held posts as film programmer for Future Shorts and contributed to various arts/music festivals throughout Europe. She is focused on pursuing projects that foster cross-cultural and generational exchanges.
“Beyond all of cinema’s offerings is that it is a shared experience, a platform for engagement, and vehicle for change. It is with this idealism and support of the filmmaking community that I come to Zero.”