Meet the Director

This morning I was lucky enough to have a little chat with the founder, director, organiser...however you want to call him...but he is the one who had the great idea of bringing all these great selection of independent films to London: Peter J. Storey.

I've introduced him before when I posted about this great team we are, but this time we talked about the festival and it's organisation.

You may think that Peter is a geek that spends all the time watching independent films, but no, he is a movie fan who enjoys the magic of blockbusters and the rich diversity of independent films, as he likes variety: a little bit of everything. But he decided to start this big adventure called: The Declaration of Independence Film Festival, because he realised there was a big gap: London, the UK and Europe was missing really good films that the US and Canada are making, but because they are independent, the distribution to this side of the Atlantic is close to impossible.

The idea just came one day in middle 2006. Peter decided start promoting it in between friends and contacts he had here in the UK, but also in North America. Travelling to the States, meeting new directors, producers, crew...was now part of his duty if he wanted to get a good variety of films. He also had the opportunity to attend some of the festivals where our films were screened and awarded, such as Sundance Film Festival 2006.

After his trip around North America and searching for films in withoutabox.com, he came back, and started to get ready for the DeclarationFilmFest.

Probably, the hardest thing was to find a name for the project. Peter came up with the original name of "The Declaration of Independence Film Festival": Including the fact that only US and Canadian (which declared independence from Great Britain, Centuries ago) films are allowed in the festival but also, they can only be independent...It's just perfect!

So...after watching more than 350 films, some of them more than once, Peter & Co. came up with the selection we now have and that we'll start screening tomorrow!, the 1st of June and until the 7Th next week.

All these films have been chosen in order showcase the diversity, richness and also originality in the independent film world. Also, the awards, being screened in different festivals and the great film directors of these features, documentaries and shorts has helped Peter to make a decision, as a sign of quality in the projects.

As Peter said, this festival is a unique opportunity to see great films full of different cultural contents and new voices that normally are so hard to find in our film industry. Directors and crew of the films will be at the screenings so you have the chance to meet them and ask them about their work. Panel discussions about independent film production and distribution will take place after some of the screenings and parties, charity gala and live music will be in our program! Don't miss the chance of enjoying the DeclarationFilmFest 2007 for the first time with us!