By Mary O’KEEFE

The Montrose Shopping Park Association is looking for young filmmakers who would like to display their films to an audience prior to the Montrose Film Festival.

The student films will be reviewed by a committee that will choose the best of those submitted. The winning film will be shown on both nights of the Montrose Film Festival, Aug. 22 and 23. All films need to be submitted by Aug. 15. The winning filmmaker will be given a $300 scholarship donation.

The films must be 10 minutes in length, produced by local kids from the ages of kindergarten to 12th grades, and be family-friendly.

This is the fifth year that the Annual Montrose Film Festival will be held at the Andersen’s Pet Shop parking lot in the 2200 block of Honolulu Avenue. Although a parking lot today, from 1927 to 1987 it was the location of the Montrose Theatre and a very popular place for adults and kids. It was destroyed by fire in 1987; the only reminder is a utility pole that shows signs of being singed from the fire.

Five years ago Steve Pierce and Tony Smith were sitting at Black Cow Café talking about the theater.

“It was actually Tony’s idea,” Pierce said in an earlier interview of the idea of creating a movie festival.

Pierce and Smith organized the Montrose Movie Nights as a way to pay homage to the old theater and to offer the community a family-friendly event.

Montrose Movie Nights will be on Aug. 22 and 23 at 6:30 p.m. Those in the audience are invited to order dinner from any local restaurant, and Prom Plus Club members will act as carhops/waiters to get the food for those who order and bring it back to the patrons.

To submit a student film, please contact Steve Pierce at (818) 259-5195 or kspierce@charter.net.

  Mary Okeefe