Touring HD film festival to visit Finland

The groundbreaking HDFEST 2004 World Tour, which began earlier this year in Australia, is to visit Finland at the end of October.
HDFEST Finland will take place on October 29 and 30 in Hämeenlinna and will be the second European HDFEST event to take place this month after the highly successful London event, which took place on October 4 and 5 in conjunction with the Raindance Film Festival.
The European events serve as an important part of the HDFEST 2004 World Tour, which is presenting high-definition independent cinema, panel discussions and educational seminars in six cities this year. Other event locales have included Los Angeles and South Florida. The festival will conclude this December with final screenings, the award ceremony and closing party in New York City.
The HDFEST event recently held in London screened high-definition cinema to sold-out crowds. In fact, the twelfth annual Raindance Film Festival attracted record audiences this year seeing over 20,000 festival attendees. Among the twelve HDFEST panelists in London were representatives from Baraka Post Production, VTR Media Services, ARRI, and Thomson Grass Valley.
In Finland, HDFEST will take place during the Clone Digital Film Festival in Hämeenlinna, the administrative centre of the province of Southern Finland. HDFEST screenings include eleven new HD films with a wide range originating HD cameras, subject matters and genres. Clone is an annual international festival that takes place in the Verkatehdas, a highly unique and exciting venue for HDFEST.
HDFEST Finland will include two panel discussions, ‘Is HD the Future?’ and ‘HD and Filmmaking’, which will be presented to Finnish film industry professionals as well as international attendees.
HDFEST Finland panellists will include representatives from Hedcom, Digital Film Finland, Filmtools, and Generator Post, among others.
HDFEST's 2004 World Tour is presented by Discreet; additional sponsors include Filmmaker Magazine, On Sight, Goldcrest Post Production, Gecko, Midtown Video, Digital Pictures, The Los Angeles Film School, The Hollywood Reporter, Film Threat, Production Update, Production Hub, Widescreen Review, Tape Online, and Film and Video Magazine.
More information about the event as well as directions to the Verkatehdas can be found at www.clonefilmfest.com. Tickets for the HDFEST events can be purchased at the door the day of the event. Visit www.hdfest.com for more information on HDFEST Finland or the HDFEST 2004 World Tour.
(GB)