The Borrego Springs Film Festival continues to successfully showcase wonderful works by a variety of producers and directors for 10 years now.

Here’s some film reviews by filmmakers and members, along with this year’s winners:

FILM REVIEWS FROM BSFF COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Alicia Wszelaki

At seventeen minutes, “Eco-Hack” is an educational, fun and quirky documentary. Directors Josh Izenburg and Brett Marty introduce us to unconventional field biologist, Tim Shields. Tim and his colleagues use innovative methods to help save the tortoise population in the Mojave desert from being destroyed by predatory ravens.

Abandoning traditional observational biology methods, the documentary introduces the audience to imaginative new ways of protecting the species; specialized drones, laser cannons, and even fake exploding tortoise shells play a role in saving the lovable slow moving prey.

The documentary is uplifting as we witness humans dedicated to saving a species. With help, these loving tortoises SHELL overcome. I’ll be RAVEN about this fast pace and engaging documentary for some time!

Laara Maxwell

What was the filmmakers’ experience of the Borrego Springs Film Festival 2023?

Over 75 films were screened at BSFF 2023. 23 of these films were represented at the festival by one or more filmmakers. One-on-one interviews were conducted with 28 of the attending filmmakers, at least one filmmaker for each of the 23 films. The filmmaker was asked to rate his or her festival experience from 1 to 5, 1 being “very poor”, 5 being “very good”. The average rating was 4.8/5. When asked what was especially appreciated, the answers included: the beauty of the area, the opportunity to be in nature, the friendliness and support of the Borrego Springs community, the fine organization of the festival, the attentive and helpful volunteers, the enthusiasm and engagement of the audiences and the intelligent questions they asked.

Unlike many film festivals which have several venues and simultaneously screen more than one film, Borrego’s festival has just one theater – BSPAC. The single venue engenders relatively large audiences, often a full house. The filmmakers very much appreciated BSFF’s relatively large audiences which gave them encouragement for continuing their work in a challenging industry.

2023 ATTENDING FILMMAKER TESTIMONIALS

Keaton Morris-Stan

What a wild ride – Borrego Springs is an oasis in the desert.

Truly a filmmaker’s festival, from the curation of films to the packed houses, networking events and thoughtful panels, this festival is most definitely worth attending.

We won a Golden Cookie award for Best Acting in short film Fractal, and not only was it a huge honor, it was also delicious!

Paula Brooke

This was truly an amazing experience. EVERYTHING was thoroughly thought through. All those involved were incredibly knowledgeable, thoughtful and most of all at any point there was always someone available, who knew the answers! The festival itself was fully attended for every block of films, very impressive. It’s supported by the local community and the films chosen were of a high standard. A pleasure to attend and I do hope to go back again. My shout out to Matt, Matt & Leslie on the committee who were/are just so connected and wonderful. A very worthwhile festival. It’s a must do!

Elec McCready

Go to this festival. This has been the best screening of our film “Blue” so far, from the attendance to the picture and sound quality, this festival was well worth the cross-country trip.

Plus, all the parties were really nice and we were able to make some great friends. We even filmed an impromptu short film with the friends we had made while we were there. Borrego is a very inspiring place. You do not want to miss this festival.

Amanda Serra

We had a blast at the BSFF! Such a warm and welcoming festival. This is a group that loves and appreciates films and filmmakers.

They made us all feel like celebrities!

The quality of submissions was fantastic and I will absolutely submit my next film to Borrego Springs

2023 AWARD WINNERS

JURY AWARDS:

BEST ANIMATION, SPACE RACE

BEST HISPANIC/LATIN, LIVING ALL OF LIFE

BEST DOCUMENTARY, GAME HAWKER

BEST FEATURE, PAPER DREAM

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT, THE PROBLEM WITH TIME TRAVEL

THE GOLDEN COOKIE - COMMITTEE/COMMUNITY AWARD

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM, LIVING ALL OF LIFE

BEST ANIMATION, THE TURNIP

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT, THE FOOL’S MATE

BEST DIRECTING, A MADE BED

BEST COMEDY, MISS ROSSI 2

BEST ACTING , FRACTAL

BEST SHORT DRAMA, BLUE

BEST FEATURE, BOBCAT MORETTI

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY, INSIDE THE BEAUTY BUBBLE

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS:

BEST ANIMATION, A TINY TALE

BEST HISPANIC/LATIN, BECOMING CHAVELA,

BEST DOCUMENTARY, INSIDE THE BEAUTY BUBBLE

BEST FEATURE, THE SISTERS KARRAS

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT, MISS ROSSI 2

BEST OVERALL, MISS ROSSI 2

Well, hope you, dear reader*, found all of that impressive. Of course, as you could imagine, none of this would be possible without the support of our sponsors and contributing local businesses. We want to thank the following folks that make the fest thrive while keeping it alive!

Finally, the BSFF committee is a dedicated bunch of local citizens led by committee chairman Fred Jee. Many thanks to everyone’s hard work throughout the year. You’ll see their smiling faces in the photographs with this article. And, you know what? Here’s a suggestion: Let’s do for the BSFF committee members what Fred Jee has been suggesting we do for the BSFF filmmakers since way back in 2013. In his immortal words, “Thank ‘em and take ‘em to lunch!”