Welcome to the 2007 Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival blog!

After over a year of planning, it's hard to believe FLEFF 2007 takes off in two weeks with our Tribute to the Beatles Rock Concert and kick off party at Castaways, sponsored by the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. The show is Friday, March 23, at Castaways in Ithaca, doors open at 8, music starts at 9. It's the FLEFF kick off party and a benefit for the Cayuga Waterfront Trail. Tix are $10 in advance and $15 day of show, you can pick them up at the Chamber, Castaways, or Maxies.

With only two weeks until the fest opens, we are working 24/7 to get the word out about this year's exciting programming around our festival streams: Maps and Memes, Metropoli, Panic Attacks, and Soundscaping. This year's fest features 150 events, 40 guests, 145 pieces of media ranging from feature films to digital art to installation, nearly 30 screenings of feature length documentaries and narrative films in Cinemapolis and Fall Creek theaters, and parties featuring live music and the chance to hang out with the panoply of film directors, experimental artists, media artists, digerati, industry insiders, musicians, scholars, writers, activists, who are participating in this year's FLEFF.

This year, we've programmed FOUR WORLD PREMIERES. One is an digital media installation by acclaimed digital artist Renata Ferro, called PANIC HITS HOME. It runs during the festival in the Handwerker Gallery on the Ithaca College campus.

The festival opens with MEMESCAPES, a multimedia show produced by Ann Michel and Phil Wilde, with live music and a score by postmininalist alternative rock legends Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus and spoken word performed by actress Cynthia Henderson. The project is a collaboration with the Human Studies Film Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, and features an exploration of the 2007 fest's four programming streams, Maps and Memes, Metropoli, Panic Attacks, and Soundscaping.It's at 8 p.m. on Monday March 26 in Park Auditorium. It's free and open to the public, but get their early to insure a seat.

The festival closes with Dziga Vertov's 1929 city film, MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA, with a world premiere of new avant garde jazz improvisational score by electric cellist Chris White and keyboardist and percussionist Peter Dodge.

On Sunday, April 1, don't miss the world premiere of the new score for HIS PEOPLE, a silent film from 1925 chronicling Jewish immigrant life and assimilation. Composer Peter Rothbart has created a new score for laptop orchestra and klezmer, performed live in Cinemapolis Theater. The two shows, at 2:15 and 7:15 p.m., benefit the 7th Art Corporation, the non profit that operates Cinemapolis and Fall Creek. Tix are $15 and are available at Cinemapolis and Fall Creek.

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates on the festival, as well as news about which shows downtown are sold out! Get your festival pass and tix now, so you don't miss any of the films and events!

Check our website for more details on the festival: www.ithaca.edu/fleff