This issue of "Film-Fest" goes behind the scenes of two Independent Film Festivals. First stop, the big one... Cannes, 1998, and then on to the 5th annual Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. In the span of about 2 hours and 10 minutes, you'll see some insightful interviews with new and established filmmakers,7 creative and entertaining shorts by young up and coming directors, travel the grounds,listen in on candid conversations of the celebs, and even see some trailers for new films that were coming out at the time("Dogma" and "The Virgin "Suicides" included).

Interviews include directors John Sayles, Alex Winter(who you know from Bill and Ted), and Mark Osborne who's excellent animated short "More" is included among the features. Spike Lee, Ron Howard and Irene Jacob also add their views on the world of cinema. The shorts are fabulous and they include the above mentioned "More", an animated award winner, that has a lot to say in just a few minutes,"Falcone", a very dark and disturbing film exploring loyalties, a very short but clever "Devil Doll",and two that will leave you smiling "Express Isle to Glory" and "The Mischievious Ravi".The shorts run from a very clever 1 minute, to an entertaining 12 minutes, and director commentary is included as well.

Salma Hayek is featured on the cover, and if you were thinking of purchasing this in hopes of spending some time with her, she only appears very briefly in a publicity stunt that caused some chaos. But the interviews and chats, the short films, and a peek at what goes on at these fests, for those that love indies or are interested in filmmaking, make this DVD well worth the view.

The DVD itself is great. A very nice picture and sound. There is one short in French but has subtitles. However there are no subtitles for the rest for those who may need them. It has a nice menu. You can just push play and watch it straight through(sometimes there are little anecdotes from the celebs between selections), or you can go straight to the catagory you are interested in and view exactly what you want. For instance if you just want to see the John Sayles interviews, you can go to interviews and then John Sayles. There is an insert that has descriptions of the shorts included.Oh and by the way, just like any 'magazine', there are a couple of ads(even these are entertaining), but you can always fast foward through them.

These "Film-Fest" video magazines are becoming collector's items. They are hard to find and are usually high priced. If you are interested in these, you may want to put them on your wish list or in your cart and watch the sellers for a reasonable price(about what you would pay normally for a DVD). I found 5 of them so far that way.

Recommended for lovers of innovative filmmaking and for those who misplaced their tickets to the fest....enjoy..Laurie

5/5 Good interview with Sayles, strong shorts collection
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I've seen a few interviews with John Sayles and for the most part they are pretty stiff. This was a really insightful interview combined with footage from his last film and behind the scenes footage. The short films were great too. Really liked More, which is an animation that was done for 70mm IMAX screens set to a New Order soundtrack. I'd seen it online at IFILM, but needless to say, it's way better on DVD. Check out Catholic School...it's a hilarious documentary about school kids and their views on God, marriage, love, and lunch.