Lift-Off is heading into unchartered waters...

www.londonlift-off.com


London Lift-Off Film Festival is already up, and accepting films for its second year. However, this is not the next phase in the pipeline of the festivals development. The next phase is to take the festival north, and  to scale the Atlantic!


This makes Lift-Off the fastest growing film festival in the world. Planning four new call for entries, within the next 9 months.

Liverpool Lift-Off, coming Feb 2012...

The new events will be showcasing the best of Student and Independent film and will be screening the winners from the other previous Lift-Off's. The three new locations:-

• Liverpool Lift-Off
• Las Vegas Lift-Off
• Long Beach Lift-Off

The London Lift-Off Blogger spoke to the co-directors, and co-founders, James Alexander and Ben Pohlman, to see if they could shed the light on these ambitious new plans.

"All four of the festivals will all be interconnected, meaning that the winners from London Lift-Off 2011 will automatically gain Official Selections for Liverpool, Las Vegas and Long Beach! This format works the same for the other locations too. Eventually, overtime, we will have an interconnected network of film-makers, actors and crew all working the way we should be working - together! We'll be like the worlds local film festival, a separate film industry within itself!" says James Alexander.  "We know all three of the new cities rather well, and have friends connected in all of them, so it makes sense to follow a similar format to where we know best. It's a bizzarre coincidence that they all begin with "L", thats just fate I guess, it's great for branding!!"

The first up is Liverpool Lift-Off which will have its call for features and shorts of documentary and narrative form this coming February. "We need a year to prepare for each festival" says Ben Pohlman, "So we open our call for entries exactly 12 months prior to the actual event." The first Liverpool Lift-Off Film Festival will be in 2013. Ben continues "It is one of the most famous cities in the world. Everyone has heard of the city of Liverpool, and we believe that with its cultural heritage it sits as the perfect location for Lift-Off."

The same is said for the next one on the list; Las Vegas! Which calls for submissions in May. "I love Las Vegas, it's the sort of place that is ever evolving, and once you think its hit its potential it goes and does something else - Shows like Cirque du Soleil, and hotels like the Winn and Encore just prove to me that this is a place that is exciting and is always trying to be the best it can, we love that attitude at Lift-Off" says James, "The whole place is coated in this sandy golden gloss that I think needs a few scratches. What better way then to take our festival winners out there, where we'll be showcasing some of the best, most dangerous work from British and international filmmakers; some of which are making films with hardly any budgets!" Las Vegas Lift-Off's call for entries opens in May 2012. 

Las Vegas Lift-Off, coming May 2012...

Then there is Long Beach. Ben says that by having a festival close to tinsel town, and not in it, will be a big help rather than an hindrance to the showcased filmmakers. "Long Beach is the ideal place to have a film festival of this size, the area has loads of distributors and production companies. It is beautiful, and one of the nicest places in California by a country mile. It has some excellent, truly independent, art-house cinema's that will suit the sort of work we try to program -- so again it's another perfect choice for Lift-Off." 

Long Beach Lift-Off, coming July 2012

The name of the festival as a whole has left a few questions, why are you still keeping with London Lift-Off as the main website? 

"We understand that festival needs a route, a foundation from where the work is focused from and then sent through. We live and manage the festivals from London so it feels only prudent that we keep that identity. The idea is that all the winners from the other three cities get to showcase in London, we have been growing here the fastest. And are in talks all the time with better venues and smarter locations. London Lift-Off will be in all the great cinema's this city has to offer, that has to be our plan. The best work, the best people and the best locations..."

London Lift-Off Submissions are through withoutabox, you can submit your film by clicking here. 

Lift-Off's new website is now live! To find out more about the festival and the rest of the new locations head there... www.londonlift-off.com