Zero Film Festival is the first festival EXCLUSIVE to self financed filmmakers and the authentically independent films they create.
ZFF is a New York and Los Angeles based independent non-for-profit organization firmly committed to supporting under-represented filmmakers and screening the world's best self-financed films for cinema lovers everywhere.
Focusing on a niche in the independent film community which has been under appreciated and ignored, Zero Film Festival is dedicated to screening self financed films from filmmakers all over the world.
In the age where the majority of festivals are Hollywood marketing campaigns, and even "indie" and "underground" festivals screen financed films, we are here to offer something different. We recognize authentically independent films and filmmakers who take risks and fight the odds to see their visions through.
The Zero Film Festival is the first festival EXCLUSIVE to self-financed filmmakers, providing a platform to screen their bold and innovative films in Los Angeles AND New York City.
In 2009 ZFF added our 1st annual West Coast Tour - screening selected 2008 films in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Hollywood and Orange County. 2010 will see the expansion into our 1st annual North American Tour alongside screenings in Europe and South America.
folks:
rich hooban
founder/director
Rich spent his youth in mountain silence snowboarding with friends. After a few years living in Switzerland he finished his university degree in International Economics and began a career working to preserve freshwater in China. There, in the back alleyways of Shanghai, a new calling emerged to communicate his inner universe in the language of cinema. After completing his now lost first feature film, Journey Green Forest, exposure to the conditions of current film festivals inspired him to create the authentically independent Zero Film Festival.
steven strauss
assistant director
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
matt keff
technology director
Matthew Keff is a solitary forest creature, inventor of "sub zero cinema" and has an affinity for 20+ television sets.
matthewkeff photography
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
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
alumni friends:
brad bores
former 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
former 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.”