Editor

Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) president Alan Brewer announces the completion of the most successful festival in its 36 year history, breaking a record with a 14% increase in attendance over the prior year. The third longest running festival in the U.S., with the winning feature awarded the opportunity for Academy Award consideration, NaFF ’05 kicked off its opening night with the John Singleton produced “Hustle & Flow” and the Paul Reiser/Peter Falk film “The Thing About My Folks.” In addition to screening over 200 films during the 8-day festival, the event included seminars, panels and live performances by such luminaries as former Vice President Al Gore (whose new cable network, Current, sponsored a documentary award), film producer Cary Brokaw, rock keyboard legend/composer Rick Wakeman, and independent film guru John Pierson.

ALAN BREWER has been active in film and music production for over twenty-five years. He began producing films for Miramax and Universal Pictures in the mid 1980's, while his music production work ranges from recording soundtracks for films such as Tokyo Pop, The Burning, and B.C. Rock, to working with acts as diverse as classic rocker Pete Townshend, Japanese supergroup Hound Dog, and new country band Cowboy Crush. In addition to his serving as president of the Nashville Film Festival, Brewer currently has two new feature films in development, and is president of his own entertainment company Brewman Music & Entertainment, which has just completed music supervision duties on two TV specials for Viacom/CMT. BME, with offices in Nashville and Los Angeles, is an integrated entertainment company encompassing in-house music publishing and production divisions, as well as a consulting business with clients such as hard rock band Slaughter, R&B producer Narada Michael Walden, and film production companies Crystal Lake Entertainment and Mythic Films.

The NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL is one of the most sought after festivals for burgeoning filmmakers, as one of only 20 U.S. festivals with Academy Award consideration given to the winners of three film categories – Feature, Animation and Short. With its unique ability and mandate to bridge the music and film industries, NaFF presents seminars that bring together master filmmakers, music supervisors and executives from Los Angeles, and Nashville’s talent pool of songwriters, composers, actors and directors. Past attendees include Olympia Dukakis, Matthew McConaughey, Lily Tomlin, Oprah Winfrey, Patrick Swayze, Rick Schroder, Christine Vachon, Andrew Mason and John Waters, while its prestigious Freedom in Film Award (given in conjunction with the First Amendment Center) has been presented to such honorees as Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon and Harry Belafonte.