Great article in Gazettes.com about Renee's involvement in the second annual San Pedro International Film Festival (SPIFFest):
SPIFFest Returns To San Pedro In October
14 February 2013
Ziggy Mrkich is no stranger to the film festival circuit. She had more than a decade of film festival programming under her belt before she started her own last year in downtown San Pedro just west of Long Beach.
The second annual San Pedro International Film Festival (SPIFFest) returns next month.
"I wanted to continue showcasing films, really good films, from the festival circuit," Mrkich said. "I saw that in this particular downtown area they weren't being shown those films. They don't get screened here."
Last year the film festival drew about 700 people to San Pedro. It opened with the film "The Loneliest Planet" starring Gael Garcia Bernal and closed with the first Los Angeles screening of "Silver Linings Playbook," starring Jennifer Lawrence. That film went on to win several awards including Lawrence's Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
"I was very surprised but very happy to acquire the film as part of our first year," Mrkich said.
The documentaries and short films that will be screened this year come from a pool of more than 550 submissions. What's more difficult to secure are the feature films that Mrkich said she hand picks based on what has been getting attention at the Toronto Film Festival and other festivals. She also likes to include films that are already garnering Oscar buzz.
But getting those feature films isn't easy. That's partly what Mrkich said makes her job both really fun and really hard.
"It's actually very hard to do," she said, adding that she hears "no" to most of her requests. "Programming is not easy in any festival. Just because you might want to screen something, doesn't mean you're going to get it."
Still, Mrkich and her partner Renee O'Connor are determined to keep going. They said they are trying to provide a service to the community by attracting new visitors to San Pedro and exposing area residents to films they might not otherwise see.
This year, O'Connor -- an actress, director and producer best known for her role as "Gabrielle" in the television series "Xena: Warrior Princess" -- is taking on a new task of facilitating filmmaker panels for the 2013 SPIFFest. The panels will include information on producing small and large budget independent films; O'Connor said she is passionate about helping fellow filmmakers by providing information that is not always easily accessible.
"It's sometimes hard to get into the industry," O'Connor said. "So, if we can lift the veil and just let people share their experiences and how they did it, I think it helps people to realize their own path."
In addition to screenings at the historic Warner Grand Theater, new outdoor screenings, pop-up screenings and a special screening aboard the Historic Naval Battleship U.S.S. Iowa, Mrkich and O'Connor are taking on another sizable task at this year's festival. The two women are organizing a tribute to legendary filmmaker Tony Scott ("Top Gun," 1986) who died in San Pedro last August. That event will include a brief retrospective of Scott's work and his contributions to the San Pedro community. Scott's family is expected to attend.