PAH in the Press

Desert Trail, 04/23/2008

TWENTYNINE PALMS

by Desert Trail

TWENTYNINE PALMS — Christopher Coppola, filmmaker, “DigiVangelist,” nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and the brother of Nicolas Cage, will bring miniPAH, a digital new media festival, to the Hi-Desert.

PAH-FEST is a weeklong, free digital media festival that travels to cities throughout the world. MiniPAH is a scaled-down version held over a weekend. People from all walks of life, ages 9 to 99, with stories to tell, are provided with digital equipment and a professional “helping hand” enabling them to create their own short digital film.

MiniPAH: Hi-Desert offers participants the chance to find “the artist within us all,” and supplies entertaining, quality art to the general public, Coppola said. The finished films are posted on the www.pahnation.com online theatre, where a panel of celebrity judges and the world view and rate the films to determine the winners.

Coppola, coming from a famous Hollywood family, and having directed movies himself, has one foot in the studio and the other on the frontier of new media storytelling. He calls himself the Pirate of the Coppola family because his main goal is to bridge the gap between Hollywood and the heartland.

Believing that all great productions — whether short films, cell phone art, or cell phone films — come from everyday people, he created PAH (Project Accessible Hollywood) to give voice to those individuals. The concept is simple — put a digital video camera or a cell phone in the hands of someone with an idea and let them create art. Then put the finished project on the Internet for all to see.

Categories include: 1) Cell Phone Art — a minute or less video created on a video cell phone, 2) DigiPortraits — also on a video cell phone, participants create a 2-minute portrait of themselves or another person, and 3) Circus Vision Challenge — using a smart phone, children ages 14 and under gather a list of visual ingredients at the same, specific location — they shoot and edit a 90-second piece on the phone; and 4) Cellular Tone Poem — musicians, songwriters and composers shoot a 2-minute video to portray their original music.

The MiniPAH: Hi-Desert crew will be available to assist with editing and submitting the finished pieces. And there are cash prizes!

Winners of the Cell Phone Art, DigiPortraits and Cellular Tone Poem contests will win $250 each. The Circus Vision children’s winner will win a $100 prize.
Participation is free and open to anyone and everyone.
All prizes will be awarded at the closing ceremony screening at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 4 at the 29 Palms Inn.

“The California Hi-Desert is a like a second home to me. I’ve been coming out there for over 30 years. My wife and I were married under the Live Oak monument in the Joshua Tree National Park. I know these miniPAH creations will show the rest of the world how unique and wonderful the California Hi-Desert truly is,” Coppola said.

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