New Group: FAVES

There's a group in Spokane, called FAVES, that is organized to celebrate film. It looks like their website is www.favesblog.com. FAVES stands for Film and Video Enthusiasts of Spokane (FAVES), and they describe the group as "an open community of film fans and enthusiasts be it short, documentary or feature formats" and the goal as being to "bring Spokane-area filmmakers and their supporters together for an evening of films and conversation and, hopefully, some networking. Our ultimate goal is entirely selfish: We love good movies and want to see more of them. To keep it going, join the Film and Video Enthusiasts of Spokane (FAVES).”

FAVES held its first event this past Tuesday, showing 17 short films that were entered in EWU's "2009 Quicky" contest that Dan Webster and Mary Pat Treuthart judged. It intends to have a monthly get-together starting at 5:30 followed by movie-watching at 6:30 every (I think) last Tuesday of the month at Isabella's in Spokane (25 West Main) (with the movie portion of the night being in the Magic Lantern, right next to Isabella's). I went this past Tuesday. It was fun. I couldn't stay for the whole night - I didn't realize there would be 17 films! (which, they were short, but it still was getting later than I expected.) All the films entered in the contest currently are located at the FAVES website.

My own group - KNIFVES, a movie networking group that's based out of Idaho - is working to coordinate with FAVES so that we all are interacting and hopefully not overlapping. (KNIFVES' mission statement: KNIFVES is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing an open forum for Inland Northwest Film, Video and Live Entertainment professionals, amateurs and enthusiasts, to promot production, training and networking.) It's interesting, between KNIFVES and FAVES, to see such enthusiasm for movies in this region. It's also interesting to see all the talent.

I do need to recommend one film in particular from the other night - it was the first film shown - called "Little Monkey on the Roam." It was silly, and it made me laugh. It's at the FAVES site. Also, here's a link to Dan Webster's "movies and more" blog - it appears that Dan's still working at the Spokesman for purposes of movie blogging, which makes me happy, I have to say.