wotimes.com

The West Orange 5 movie theatre in Ocoee will host the fourth annual Central Florida Film Festival for the first time ever on Friday, Sept. 4, through Sunday, Sept. 7. The festival, established four years ago by Bob Cook and Brandon Arrington, is dedicated to educating, promoting and showcasing Central Florida film talent and to emphasize the production resources available in this area.

Seventy-nine independent films will be shown during the three-day event, including 140 screenings at the West Orange 5, plus there will be seminars, an opening party and a festival awards show.

A daily pass for movies only is $20, and a three-day pass for movies only is $50 and includes all screenings and the awards show. An all-access pass is $99 in advance and $125 at the door and includes two seminars, all screenings, parties, pre-awards mixer and the awards show. The tickets are available at www.CentralFloridaFilmFestival.com.

On Friday, Sept. 4, 50 students from the Ocoee High School film and television program will attend the festival at 9 a.m. for a question-and-answer session with filmmakers and a screening of Mark J. Barrett’s documentary The Gypsy Vanner Horse. The students will get to meet a real Gypsy Vanner horse after the screening.

In addition, Donna Wagner, who heads the film and television program at Ocoee High, will receive a complete stock footage and sound effects library from the festival.

The first event on Friday evening, Sept. 4, will be the opening night gala “Monster Bash,” cosponsored by Stellal Artois and Pepsi and featuring food, drink and music. The feature science fiction film Dead Land will be shown at 8:15 p.m. in Theater 2 at the West Orange 5, and the Orlando-made Scare Zone, set in a Halloween horror house, will be screened in Theater 1 at 9 p.m. It was filmed at Universal Studios. The cost for the evening is $30, but those who come in costume will save $10.

Another will include a session for writers on Saturday, Sept. 5, in the Perkins Restaurant in the Best Western hotel in Ocoee at 9 a.m. The cost is $25 and includes breakfast, and three working industry writers will discuss what happens to a script after it’s completed.

Also on Saturday in the conference room of the Best Westerns, a seminar for actors and actresses about how to handle casting calls will be held at 10 a.m., and a seminar for filmmakers is set for 11 a.m. Both cost $30.

A highlight of the festival will be the screening of the award-winning film Beautiful Dreamer, which won the best feature award at the 2006 Central Florida Film Festival.