2012 Chas. Int. Film Festival - Mayor's Reception

Mayor Joe Riley on the red carpet at the Chas. IFF

Morris Nissan Team are VIP sponsors of the IFF

5th Annual Film Festival...and growing

George Street was a happening place on 4/11

It's hard to believe that this is the 5th Annual Charleston International Film Festival (IFF) that is running from April 11 - 14. Local residents will recall that WorldFest Charleston laid some of the foundation for the Chas. IFF to build upon. The opening night of the festival was kicked off with a star-studded block party on George Street at King Street right outside the Sottile Theatre. Since Mayor Joe Riley was presiding over the red carpet, the IFF was granted permission to shut down George Street and a massive crush of film fans turned out to listen to the DJ's club music and to mingle for the photographers. A Charlie Chaplin look-a-like entertained folks, as did the girls performing with the golden hoolahoops. At 7 p.m. the sold-out crowd went inside the Sottile for a screening of the opening film 'Robot and Frank' - which is an indie film making its East Coast debut after being screened at the Sundance Film Festival. With a cast including Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Liv Tyler, plus the humanoid robot - the audience was entertained for the 90-minute film by the robot-humor that Director Jake Schreier and Writer Christopher Ford captured on film. A second round of short films was screened at 9 p.m. and the festival will run in two locations for the remainder of the weekend - Sottile Theatre and Cinnebarre Theatre.

To view a past blog entry about the Debutante Hunters film click here.