VALENCIA FESTIVAL EXPANDS TO EAST JERSEY FOLKS SHARE YEN FOR FAMILY FILMS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The Santa Clarita Valley International Film Festival is heading east, launching its eighth year with a new name and a sister festival debuting on the Jersey shore.

While not quite Sundance, the International Family Film Festival at Valencia is growing and will screen its bevy of cinematic entrees April 19-27 before sending the standouts to the Algonquin Arts Theater in Manasquan, N.J., for another round of screenings, workshops and awards.

``It takes so much to mount one of these. Our festival entrants will be able to get two festivals for the price of one,'' said Chris Shoemaker, co- founder and executive director of the Valencia event.

``This will gain greater exposure for family-film makers,'' he said. ``We're trying to provide a forum and a marketplace for family films. The idea is to continue to share resources, filmmakers, panels and workshops.''

Located about midway between New York City and Atlantic City on the Jersey shore, Algonquin Arts, a nonprofit organization, will host the inaugural Garden State International Family Film Festival May 31-June 3 - mirroring Santa Clarita's festival with a weekend opening that organizers plan to grow to a weeklong event.

Algonquin Arts Theater owner Fran Drew said she and her team searched for a sister organization for more than three years before they found the match they had held out for.

``We're both interested in family. Our communities hold family as a valuable unit,'' Drew said. ``We also feel that there's a definite need in society today for socially responsible film making.''

Both film festivals are dedicated to feature-length movies, short films and animation that is free of gratuitous sex, violence and profanity.

The IFFF in Valencia will screen more than 60 films from 15 countries, all dedicated to this year's theme, ``Family is Fun.'' The Garden State festival will screen about 40 entries.

The geographic location of both the film festivals has added to the collaboration's desirability, said organizers on both coasts.

``We're both in key locations, with L.A. County (being) a media mecca and our being in the New York area, with a lot of independent filmmakers and schools of film,'' Drew said. ``These are probably the two highest concentrations of film industries in the country.''

After traveling west for last year's Santa Clarita festival, Algonquin Arts organizers took the idea of sister festivals to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

As recipients of the council's three-year general operations support grant, Algonquin Arts can use portions of the $27,000-a-year grant to help launch the Garden State International Family Film Festival.

As Shoemaker works long hours to make next month's festival, held at the Edwards Grand Palace Cinemas at the Valencia Town Center, a success, he admits he's eager to watch the East Coast festival take off, much like the Santa Clarita event did eight years ago.

``This year, they're really relying on us heavily to supply content,'' Shoemaker said. ``We've licensed our event to them. It's truly a collaboration. But that's how you get started. This is just going to get better with each year.''

For information about the festivals, call [phone].