ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Augustine Film Festival is happening this weekend. It began on Thursday and will run through Sunday at venues all over town.
About 40 independent films will be shown during the span of four days.
Festivals like this are important to filmmakers who often make films for the sake of art and expression, and who rarely see the big bucks roll in.
Gregory von Hausch is the St. Augustine Film Festival President and CEO.
"It’s a testing ground for them," he explains. "They get to find out what works and doesn’t. Especially because they’re so may independent filmmakers that don’t have these big budgets and studios and test groups."
And filmmakers enjoy the extra attention.
"The feeling of being in a screening room or a theater with a group of people watching your work on the screen and seeing how they feel about it... there’s nothing better," says Filmmaker Vic Zimet of St. Augustine.
Zimet's film called "Chasing a Dream Redux" is in the festival. It will be shown Saturday. It's about Davis Loose, who started a band as a teenager in St. Augustine. He is an up-and-coming country music star.
Jessica Clark of First Coast News makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film.