The Inaugural PlayGround Film Festival at PlayGround

PlayGround and Dances with Light presented their inaugural Film Festival livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 24 September at 8 p.m. PDT / 10 p.m. CDT / 11 p.m. EDT.

For the past eighteen years, PlayGround has been working to promote and support the San Francisco Bay Area's best new playwrights through a unique collection of new play incubator programs, including the celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series (marking its 10th season at Berkeley Rep this fall) and the Bay Area's largest full-length commissioning program dedicated exclusively to local writers (forty-eight commissions awarded since 2002). Last May, PlayGround launched its newest initiative—the PlayGround Film Festival—featuring new short films adapted from short plays originally developed through PlayGround.

On Monday 24 September the inaugural PlayGround Film Festival will be livestreamed in HD on HowlRound TV and simultaneously re-screened at Berkeley’s Rialto Cinemas Elmwood to celebrate the kick-off of PlayGround’s 19th season.

The Film Festival, a joint project of PlayGround and local film company Dances with Light, features five short films by teams of local filmmakers and writers adapted from past Best of PlayGround short plays as well as short interviews with the screenwriters. Featured films include:

Tom Swift's The Beginning (People's Choice Award) Jonathan Luskin's Ecce Homo (shot in Oakland’s historic Paramount Theatre) Daniel Heath's Wednesday Kenn Rabin's Reunion Katie May's The Etymology of Zero (animated feminist fairytale)

Online and live audiences will be able to tweet feedback and questions for the filmmakers and writers using hashtags #howlround and #PlayGroundFilmFest. You can organize watch parties for your own local community using this party organizing tool.

PlayGround recently announced the guidelines and deadline for the second PlayGround Film Festival Competition. To learn more about the PlayGround Film Festival, including a Film Fest trailer, go here.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected] or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.