It always starts out slow with a couple of people chatting here and there and then finally a few more people start filling the arena creating ripples of curiosity and the ultimate buzz for this year’s Noor Film Festival that is to kick off Friday, May 1 at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Presented under this year’s theme “Generations” NFF takes an introspective journey to create awareness within the community based on society needs through a wide-ranging spectrum of genres including short and feature length films, and documentaries. “Our main goal is to connect people through this festival. We hope to set up an example that we always have to know where we are coming from, where we are and where we are going. With the road the previous generations paved for us how responsible are we going to be to keep this for the future generation?,” said director and co-founder Siamak Ghahremani. The endless plethora of talent and those nonstop eye-intriguing flash bulbs on the red carpet will take a spin this year gearing toward a more traditional film festival with a an opening film on Friday and full day screening on Saturday and Sunday. The concluding night will pay a special tribute to long time Iranian-American director Reza Badiyi who reminds everyone how much movies can matter. With directing credits including episodes of Mission Impossible, Starsky and Hutch, Baywatch and Star Trek Nine (just to name a few), holding 423 hours of primetime television and redefining himself as more than just a Hollywood figure he will be presented with this year’s Lifetime Achievement award.

Sprinkling diversification a bit further, a panel of judges including Ali Pourtash who has helped shaped Iranian theatre history, Rudi Bakhtiyar (CNN Headline News & Fox) involved in mainstream media, Esi Morales of Hispanic descent, and Habib Zargarpour who is the only Iranian-American nominated for an Oscar twice have been assembled to decide on this year’s film selections. The wide range of experience these jurors bring to the festival gives them a broad and informed perspective from which to select the outstanding films of this festival season. Also, this year festival organizers are diligently trying to whizz off to New York, Daytona Beach, San Francisco and other major cities taking it on tour for a pumped apt curtain raiser in an effort to reach out and connect to various cross-border cultures.

With a goal of presenting Iranian-American culture and its contributions through showcasing film and keeping the talent alive now the cameras have stopped rolling and it’s time to sit up and take notice of the films submitted from around the world and selected for the ’09 film festival. For more information please visit: www.noorfilmfestival.com

Written By: Shagayegh Farsijani For OC Life Magazine

Click here For More Information and Tickets for the 3rd Annual Noor Film Festival Award Ceremony