LUNAFEST Brings World-Class Films, Filmmakers to El Cerrito

By Anja Hakoshima of 2013 LUNAFEST East Bay Organizing Committee

LUNAFEST, the traveling short film festival by, for and about women is returning to El Cerrito on Saturday, March 2 at El Cerrito High School's beautiful Performing Arts Center.

Now in its sixth season in the East Bay and its third at El Cerrito High, LUNAFEST again brings world-class films and filmmakers to our community.

LUNAFEST East Bay not only showcases poignant, inspiring and humorous films, but also raises funds for local, national and international causes. This year, our local beneficiary El Cerrito High School's Information Technology Academy (ITA) — a small learning community at the high school that integrates core academic classes with the technology field in areas such as Web Design, Internet Networking and Database. It strives to prepare students for success in the technology world. They will be receiving 25 percent of profits from LUNAFEST this year.

For more about the ITA, please visit http://techfutures.org/.

Also benefiting from this event are the Breast Cancer Fund (www.breastcancerfund.org), identifying and advocating for the elimination of the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease; and World Neighbors (http://www.wn.org), an international charity organization that inspires people and strengthens communities to find lasting solutions to hunger, poverty and disease and to promote a healthy environment.

This unique film festival highlights women as leaders in society, illustrated through nine short films by women filmmakers. The films range from animation to fictional drama, and cover topics such as women’s health, motherhood, body image, aging, cultural diversity and breaking barriers.

Clips from the films can be viewed here: http://www.lunafest.org/elcerrito.

LUNAFEST East Bay will again be hosted by El Cerrito resident and actress Karen Grassle, “Ma” of the hit TV series, “Little House on the Prairie”. Ms. Grassle will also interview two of the filmmakers after the screening.

This special feature of LUNAFEST East Bay allows the audience a peek behind the scenes and into the creative process of the films they have just watched. This year, Ms. Grassle will interview Sharon Arteaga, filmmaker, “When I Grow Up” and Jisoo Kim, filmmaker and artist, "The Bathhouse."

This year’s event is dedicated to the memory of Wanna Wright (December 11, 1944 – May 19, 2012), Breast Cancer Fund board member, co-founder of the African American Breast Cancer Task Group (AABCTG), local breast cancer prevention advocate, committee member of LUNAFEST East Bay and former Richmond resident. 

Tickets range in price from $5 - $50 and can be purchased at http://eclunafest2013.eventbrite.com/. LUNAFEST is brought to you by LUNA and is hosted locally by the LUNAFEST East Bay Organizing Committee.