A very different film festival took place in Los Angeles last night with cinema buffs huddled around cell phones rather than gazing up at the big screen to view and vote for their favorite short movie. More than 200 attendees cast their votes in real time via text messaging powered by Mozes.com to select the $3,000 Jury Prize winning film – a 90 second comedy entitled “Pumpkin” by Matt Paige of Sante Fe, New Mexico. An alum of the College of Sante Fe where he’s now an adjunct professor t...

Gibbs, Ragsdale win top Juneteenth Film Festival directing awardsRoundtree, Reid, Bishop Jakes and Elise honored at 3rd annual black film Two filmmakers – from Dallas and Los Angeles – took top honors for best documentary and best short feature film categories, respectively, as the Juneteenth Film Festival (JFF) Awards and Tribute show completed a third successful season. (Please visit www.juneteenthfilmfestival.com)Angela Gibbs, LA-based daughter of actress Marla Gibbs, won the best short ...

Roundtree, Reid, Bishop Jakes and Elise honored at 3rd annual black film showcaseTwo filmmakers – from Dallas and Los Angeles – took top honors for best documentary and best short feature film categories, respectively, as the Juneteenth Film Festival (JFF) Awards and Tribute show completed a third successful season. (Please visit www.juneteenthfilmfestival.com)Angela Gibbs, LA-based daughter of actress Marla Gibbs, won the best short film award with The Ties That Bind, a story of a young wo...

Chicagoans of the year: Jose `Pepe' VargasOver the last two decades, Jose "Pepe" Vargas has been quietly building his legacy as a film festival director and Chicago cultural leader. Not only will the soft-spoken Colombian native celebrate the 20th birthday of the Chicago Latino Film Festival in 2004 -- but this year Vargas started planning a $50 million fundraising campaign for a new home for the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, currently housed in modest offices at Columbia Coll...