On Monday, Menifee citizens received the news that a new documentary film festival, predicted to give competition to the likes of the Sundance and other major film festivals, commences December 7-11 this year in the city. Menifee can thank its Mayor, Scott Mann, for developing the idea. Mann’s association with Daphne Bank, well known worldwide for documentary films, and her business partner, Bill Gunasti, helped generate the proposal, which will promote both local college student and community involvement in the art of film.
The partnership of minds between Mann, the city official, and Bank, the film expert, churned out a fantastic creative idea to add some artistic culture for both the community college students and the residents of Menifee. Each partner brought one important aspect to the film festival notion to generate one very successful idea and a now much-anticipated event.
Prominent for her many documentaries, which have included famous individuals like Hillary Clinton and Michael Jackson, Daphne Bank’s ability to produce candid at-home interviews for well-known television programs like “60 Minutes” and “48 Hours” made her an important figure in the film industry. Her most recent documentary success, “Saving Amy,” created in 2010 about Amy Winehouse’s life and struggles, demonstrates Bank’s talent. Her uncanny knack for getting at the truth about celebrities when she goes behind the scenes trademarks her artistic genius.
The interest in bringing the film festival to Menifee developed because of Bank’s connection to the city and her relationship with Mann, the city official that added a governmental focus to the project. She, as well as Gunasti, both currently reside nearby in Palm Springs, often leaving their desert homes for travel when working on their latest documentaries.
Mann brought the idea to Bank initially, mentioning the creation of a film festival in Menifee as a major goal of his. Bank responded with both passion and interest, realizing the location of Southern California was a great place for a major film festival because of its radius to Hollywood.
Plus, the idea of a major Film Festival can only benefit Menifee as a new tourist destination. People travel from all over the world to come to the other major film events, and the monetary benefits to the city’s economy could be substantial. Furthermore, the city is remote enough from Hollywood to create the quieter atmosphere typically expected of a film festival but still close enough to attract the entertainment industry. Another nice thing about Menifee as a location for the event is that it is centrally located in Southern California, being no more than an hour or two drive from most major Southern California cities.
Another goal of the project is to support the local students of Menifee, and especially those that dream about entering filmmaking. Not only will this concept attract visitors from all over the world and boost tourism for the city, but it will also help support local student education in the filmmaking industry, creating the opportunity to develop more community interest and education in the arts.
Bank and Gunasti want local students from Menifee to participate as interns and develop documentaries for the film festival. To further this goal, a youth board for the film festival developed. This youth board, composed of five young Hollywood producers, directors, and actors, are tasked with helping students that enter themselves into the film festival for participation. Talks to allow college credit for the students at the local community college, Mt. San Jacinto, are in progress to encourage local youth involvement.
The idea of the film festival, which will certainly help the city of Menifee monetarily, really is about so much more than economics and politics. The local involvement of college students in filmmaking, and the emphasis placed on encouraging them, certainly makes this a fantastic educational experience for those involved in MSJCC’s theater arts program. Not only is the concept of placing a film festival in a centrally located Southern Californian city a unique idea, but the idea of a city promoting art education and youthful dreams is also both a rare, yet fantastic
