Phoebe Tonkin in Night Shift
Also Announcing The Addition Of “Night Shift” Starring Phoebe Tonkin And Lamorne Morris, “The Mental State” Starring Bryan Greenberg And Carly Pope, And Documentary “Citizen Athlete” Featuring The U.S. Women’s 2022 Bobsled Team, With “Bonded” Starring Diego Calva To Close The Festival
With Mammoth Film Festival 2023 less than a week away, the festival continues to reveal incredible work being showcased in their 2023 line up, revealing their opening night premiere announcement and new exciting slate additions. This year is also a true buyers market, with previous festivals resulting in a variety of sales across all genres from features to episodic to documentaries. Mammoth Film Festival’s international status is also growing exponentially, with this year’s array of 80+ film projects representing 21 countries, founded by Tanner Beard and Tomik Mansoori.
The Mammoth Film Festival, presented this year by Wild7Films, is excited to announce its opening night film, “PADRE PIO” Starring Shia LeBeouf, a Film by Abel Ferrara, marking its North American Festival Premiere debut. The 1h44m drama follows Roman Catholic Saint Padre Pio in his early years. Co-stars include Asia Argento, Marco Leonardi, Christina Chiriac, and many more incredible Italian actors. The legendary director will be doing a post-film Q&A on Thursday, March 2nd to kick off the festival at Minaret Cinemas, in Mammoth Lakes, CA. The film was written by Maurizio Braucci and Abel Ferrara.
Abel Ferrara, born in the Bronx, started making amateur films on Super 8 in his teens, before making his debut with violent exploitation films such as “Driller Killer” and “Ms. 45.” He developed a cult reputation following these projects, leading to larger budget studio films starring Christopher Walken, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, and many other iconic actors. Ferrara loves the grit of filmmaking, continuously shooting directly in the streets of Rome as Tommaso and Zeroes and Ones attest.”
The festival’s closing night film will officially be “Bonded,” starring Diego Calva, inspired by a true story from the Golden Globe winning producers of “Argentina 1985,” and executive producer Yalitza Aparicio. Logline: A Mexican teenager whose dreams of becoming a soccer star are disrupted when his mother dies. He’s smuggled across the border with the promise of a better life but is instead sold to a sweatshop in downtown LA.
Another exciting announcement and world premiere to the features slate is the horror thriller “Night Shift,” starring Phoebe Tonkin, Lamorne Morris and Patrick Fischler, directed and written by Benjamin China and Paul China and produced by Maurice Fadida. Logline: While working her first night shift at a remote motel, a woman (Tonkin) begins to suspect that the property is haunted.
Also newly added to the lineup is “The Mental State,” the Bryan Greenberg, Carly Pope, Alyssa Sutherland and Alison Thornton starring-feature drama, directed by James Camali. This will mark its 2023 festival debut, with the film having already built nice buzz. Logline: In the heart of rural Kentucky, a high school senior and his family struggle to cope with the true identity and intentions of a dangerous town shooter.
The Documentary, “Citizen Athlete,” leads with anticipation in the Actions Sports category, written by Ryan March, directed by Brandt Wille, and starring Olympians and pro athletes Elana Meyers, Hunter Church and Kaillie Humphries of the U.S. Olympic Women’s Bobsled Competition. Logline: An intimate and inside look to the Women’s US Bobsled team leading up to the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The documentary “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” has also been added. Logline: A sweeping, immersive journey into the world of wild horses, which illuminates the profound beauty and desperate plight they currently face in the Western United States. Filmmaker Ashley Avis (Disney’s BLACK BEAUTY) and crew go on a multi-year expedition to uncover the truth before wild horses disappear forever.
The festival will also showcase a Sneak Peak of Mammoth Media Institute’s first feature, the psycho thriller “FLUXX,” currently shooting, starring Shelley Henning and Shiloh Fernandez, written & directed by Brendan Murphy. This is a result of funding raised by The Institute to support independent filmmakers. Festival goers will be the first to see this project, which is still in production.
Short Films are stealing the show at this year’s festival. “El Portafolio” written and directed by Scottie Cameron, starring Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Alma Martinez and Juan Carlos Cantu, “The Last Bell”with Mia Challis, Nancy Berggren, Amanda Melby, Akiko Morrison, “Tree of Life” with Markie Farnsley, Ashley Newbrough, Ryan Pinkston, Alex Oliver, “Lucas Needs An Agent” with Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Katie Leclerc, Sherra Lasley, Sasha Clements, “The Traveler” with Herman Gambhir, Ana Marte, and “10 Year” with Dana Melanie, Michelle DeShon, Reina Hardesty, Brett Pierce, plus “Better Daze” starring Antje Utgaard and Kyle Stefanski, directed by Jon Carlo and produced by Kyle Stefanski and Antoine Robinson.
These films join the already announced stellar opening slate with highly anticipated films such as the crime drama “The Engineer” based on a factual Israeli story directed by Danny A. Abeckaser, starring Abeckaser and Emile Hirsch, alongside Robert Davi, Omer Hazan, Angel Bonanni, and Kyle Stefanski; Joel David Moore’s “Some Other Woman” which he directed starring Amanda Crew, Ashley Greene and Tom Felton; the Peter Facinelli starring and directed film “On Fire”; “Rise” from Maritte Lee Go and producer Maurice Fadida starring Jimmy Akingbola, Joy Sunday, Peter Mensah, Sasha Morfaw, Sufe Bradshaw and Chike Okonkwo; with MammothFF’s First Time Filmmaker Spotlight is set to highlight actors turned directors Luke Roberts and Justin Matthews who will premiere “The Duel” starring Dylan Sprouse, Hart Denton and Patrick Warburton and the much-buzzed about “American Badass: Michael Madsen Retrospective” documentary with appearances by Quentin Tarantino, William Baldwin, John Travolta, Virginia Madsen, Daryl Hannah to name a few, plus so many more.
This year, Mammoth Film Festival is being presented by Wild7Films, a Los Angeles based film and television production company driven to make elevated content with streamlined budgets, for a focused production model. They take on a wide array of stories through a collective of hand-picked Hollywood talent. Founded by Kyle Stefanski, Mike Hermosa, Ryan Moore and Gustavo Nascimento. Wild7 provides content creation services from concept to execution, encompassing financing, production, post-production and delivery to distribution. Key highlights include involvement in the feature films “I Love Us” from director Danny A. Abeckaser and starring Danny A. Abeckaser, Katie Cassidy, Harlow Jane, Jasper Polish, Robert Davi, and the upcoming “The Gemini Lounge” from Director Danny A. Abeckaser, starring Emile Hirsch alongside Abeckaser, Lucy Hale, Ashley Greene, Jake Cannavalle, Robert Davi and Danny A. Abeckaser. They also are behind the award winning Manny Paquiao documentary. Big or small, each project is taken on with the utmost care and attention to detail, with the goal to tell a great story, and production is always a wild ride.
Sierra Nevada Resort will also serve as a 2023 Mammoth Film Festival partner, debuting a completely redone property. Occupying a historic 1967 building that was once a preferred getaway for Hollywood elite, the newly reimagined Sierra Nevada Resort will welcome festival guests to a western classic reborn as a modern mountain retreat in the heart of Mammoth Lakes, California. A gallery wall pays homage to the original resort’s early Hollywood patronage with black-and-white photographs of former guests including John Wayne, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Opened in 1967 by legendary real estate developer and former Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Sierra Nevada Resort has been a beloved fixture on Old Mammoth Road and a go-to for travelers spending time in the mountain town, overnighting en route to Yosemite National Park or beyond in the Sierra Nevada. A favorite getaway among Hollywood stars, the original resort hosted big names back in the day, too, like the Rat Pack and Jerry Lewis, among others. A baby grand piano once owned by Clark Gable, which sat in the lobby for years and was featured in the 1944 movie To Have and Have Not, is still there, along with the original hand-carved wooden bar
The festival could not happen without its sponsors and supporters, with newly added brand partners joining Wild7Films and Sierra Nevada Resort, such as Saldo Wines, El Cristiano Ultra Premium Tequila, Advanced Air, Peak IV Hydration & Therapy, Reign Energy, and Honey Drop beverages, joining TAVI Apparel, The Westin Monache Resort, RAK The Planet, E-Tech Rentals, White Claw and PATH Water, as well as global photo agency and photo marketplace, Shutterstock and VisitMammoth.com.
Mammoth Media Institute’s Celebrity Charity Bowling Tournament 2023 also makes its long awaited return with an already star studded roster of teams! In the past, this charity event which benefits the 501(c)3 Mammoth Media Institute has hosted everyone from Tony Hawk, Dennis Rodman, Rebel Wilson, Tom Welling, Nina Dobrev and Josh Duhamel in these knock down, drag out, epic bowling matches. We encourage festival attendees and local cinephiles to come witness exciting celebrity names that will light up the lanes this year on Sunday, March 5th at Mammoth Bowl. This will be the headlining event on March 5th, following the festival’s final night feature premiere screenings, with the final shorts block and awards luncheon to take place March 6th. All award nominees will be announced during the festival and winners of the competition will be announced at the inaugural Awards Luncheon, presented by Saldo.
Mammoth Film Festival™
March 2-6th, 2023 in Mammoth Lakes, CA
Mammoth Film Festival™ aims to lead the charge for an ever-changing landscape of film and media. Founded by seasoned filmmakers Tanner Beard and Tomik Mansoori, the international festival first premiered in 2018 and is specialized as an all-media platform, celebrating varieties of filmmakers, actors, directors, writers, producers and their respective work. Mammoth Film Festival™ is a 501c-3 nonprofit festival benefiting the Mammoth Media Institute and Mammoth Film Summit programs. Regal with the wonderful town of Mammoth Lakes, CA as its beautiful backdrop, MammothFF is held annually each February at the Minaret Cinemas along with a variety of establishments throughout town, with The Village serving as the festival hub. The festival includes Red Carpet World Premieres and Special Screenings, an annual Celebrity Bowling Tournament, a slate of Educational and Interactive Panel Discussions with Top Film Industry Leaders, Q&A’s, Press Conferences, and a large array of experiential elements, closing out with an Awards Ceremony to acknowledge the excellence of its participating filmmakers and a vastly growing marketplace.
For festival information, the full 2023 lineup and continued festival updates please visit: mammothfilmfestival.org and Download their IOS App in the App Store or google play and follow along for scheduling updates and real time festival news. Follow at @MammothFilmFestival #MammothFF on social media.
