The Cambria Film Festival is kicking off its seventh year with dozens of films over the span of four days.
More than 78 films, including 49 short films, seven feature films and its first-ever student film showcase, will be featured at the festival. More than 30 filmmakers will be attending.
Preparations for the festival began a year in advance.
“The filmmakers, when they find out they're in the Cambria Film Festival, it’s great for them because they come up and get a weekend getaway up in Cambria. [It's] a great mix of filmmakers and local public,” said Jeff Plummer, Cambria Film Festival Co-Director.
The theme for the festival is centered around romance and Cambria being a romantic getaway, but the festival also has something new in store this year.
“This year, we added some films that didn’t quite fit the theme and they’re not in competition but we’re showing them in blocks of just exciting films that we thought should be included in the festival, so that’s something new,” Plummer said.
This is John Seed's first time coming to the film festival after he and his wife bought passes to the festival during Christmas.
"So my wife and I, we bought each other passes for the Cambria Film Festival and we thought, during the event, we’re going to wander in and wander out and try some of the different films,” Seed said.
Gary Rice, an Arroyo Grande resident, has been coming to the film festival for the past seven years and enjoys how the festival brings the community together.
“We’ve been coming up here since the first one and it’s such an intimate, fun place to come because it’s consolidated into a nice, little venue. The people are super friendly, and we get to watch a lot of movies reasonably well. Here we are again, every year,” Rice said.
All-inclusive Festival Passes are sold out, but Film Passes, which provide access to all the films are still on sale.
All of the films will be shown at the Old Cambria School building with special screenings at Moonstone Cellars.
“I think it’s a very good mix. We have a lot of support from the community. The word is starting to get out to other communities. We’re starting to see more attendance from those areas as well,” said Lilliana Plummer, Cambria Film Festival Co-Director.
“The festival provides people an opportunity to discover Cambria,” Rice added.
The Cambria Film Festival ends on Sunday. For more information, including how to purchase tickets, click here.
