The 5th Yucca Valley Film Festival attracted close to 1,500 attendees for its 5th anniversary event.

For a weekend, the Community Center of Yucca Valley became the center of the world for 126 filmmakers, artists and their guests, and they all got to meet with movie lovers and residents of the Morongo Basin.

The Festival red carpet and kick-off  attracted so many people the Town staff had to add chairs and make more room before the screenings started.

The second day saw a record breaking attendance for the Kids Program, with a unique Puppets Demonstrations by animator Paul Hollingsworth, who explained and showed the kids how stop-motion animation works.

Quickly after that, legendary actress Rosanna Arquette arrived and took the stage. She casually discussed her career with festival Matt Beurois for a full hour, reminiscing about Pulp Fiction, Silverado, Desperately Seeking Susan… Multiple times during the Masterclass, she took questions from the audience, and after her main stage event, she stayed to sign autographs and take pictures as long as there was a line.

Saturday’s evening night of movies started with an impressive martial arts demonstration by local Yucca Valley Club Americana Jiu Jitsu Collective.

The Festival screened over 40 movies this year, with a great proportion of them showcasing our desert landscapes and Joshua Trees, whether the movies were comedies, westerns, music videos, student films… 

The attendees praised once again the quality of the curated program, and filmmakers were in awe about the multiple possibilities to connect with the audience.

Sunday morning, filmmakers gathered at the Yucca Bowl for a filmmakers only – industry event with guest speaker Desiree Staples, who produced the feature film ‘My Divorce Party” that uses Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley as the background of its story.

Sunday afternoon was highly educational, starting with a live piano demonstration by Brain Katona who explained his approach to music composing. Questioned by the attendees, he came back to the piano for an additional impromptu that included music themes from “Indiana Jones”, “Star Wars”, “E.T” and many others.

The annual script writers roundtable gathered 10 writers on stage, each and everyone of them being offered a free Final Draft Software, for a total value of $3,000.

The festival’s final night started with a mesmerising live harp performance by international player Arami, who adapted a special set of movie songs for the harp, including Chariots of Fire, The Godfather, Game of Thrones, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The annual Award Ceremony wrapped the festival, evenly distributing 15 awards to local talents, international and national artists.

Award Presenters included the boards of the CMC, the Chamber of Commerce and the HDWD, as well as the complete Miss YV court, the Homecoming king and Queen, the superintendent of the Morongo School District, and numerous representatives of the Town of Yucca Valley (Recreation Department, councilmembers, staff).

The YVFF definitely proved once again it deserved its designation of “signature event” of the Town of Yucca Valley.

All pictures and videos are already available on Facebook and Youtube.