White Elephant Group Announces WEG WEEKEND, a Three-Day Film Celebration Showcasing South Florida’s Unique Cinematic Voices, April 28-30
White Elephant Group (WEG), a South Florida-based collective of emerging artists and filmmakers, is thrilled to announce its first-ever WEG WEEKEND from April 28-30 at Mad Arts, 485 S. Federal Highway in Dania Beach. This three-day cinematic extravaganza will showcase the unique voices of South Florida filmmakers, with screenings of award-winning shorts and features from the region, as well as select works from The WEG Short Film Lab, made in partnership with White Elephant Group’s nonprofit, After School Film Institute (ASFI).
At WEG Weekend, guests can expect to be entertained by reimagined panel discussions where audiences drive the conversation, intimate roundtables and face-to-face conversations with film industry leaders, themed parties including an El Reggaetonero Party, food trucks, live DJs, and much more. Attendees get to choose which events interest them the most, with activities happening across multiple spaces at Mad Arts.
“Filmmakers in our communities are telling incredible stories that we want to amplify, support, and celebrate,” said Eddy Moon, who co-founded White Elephant Group in 2013 with two other local filmmakers, Ronald Baez and Kevin Ondarza. “We invite guests to enjoy WEG WEEKEND, leave their preconceived notions of film screenings at the metaphorical door and experience films from a whole new perspective.”
Among the highlights of WEG WEEKEND include:
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Telling Women’s Stories, a screening and digital dialogue panel featuring female, male and queer voices discussing female stories told from unique perspectives. Audiences can engage with panelists via a digital screen, displaying audience questions, polls and discussion topics for voting.
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The Pictures of: Pioneer Winter Collective, a celebration of nationally-recognized works created by the Pioneer Winter Collective, will be discussed, demystifying the art of creating dance films.
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Popcorn Frights Talk, an intimate conversation about genre films in South Florida, from their creation to their distribution and screening, with the team behind Popcorn Frights. The Popcorn Frights Film Festival was established in 2015 by Miami locals Marc Ferman and Igor Shteyrenberg who is also the executive director of the Miami Jewish Film Festival.
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In The Mirror Room, where a limited number of guests will be invited into an enclosed room to experience a variety of South Florida short films and engage with fellow audience members about the film.
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VR Room Exhibit, presenting two award-winning VR Projects that participants can watch via VR headsets. The VR exhibits are “Project SHELL,” created by Yellow Wood Immersive, a media wing of the White Elephant Group, and Liberty City VR’s “The Wall,” directed by Academy Award nominee Katja Esson.
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The Pictures of: Third Horizon, with a focus on short films that are all previous Third Horizon Film Festival selections followed by a conversation with the organization’s Executive Director Romola Lucas and Programmer Robert Colom. Miami-based Third Horizon celebrates cinema from the Caribbean, its Diaspora, and other spaces of the Global South.
WEG WEEKEND supports White Elephant Group’s core beliefs, that South Florida independent filmmaking is a cultural necessity. The event also aims to promote diversity and inclusion by boasting discussions with composers from two Caribbean-centric films on shaping music for their films, conversations about how to best support women and non-binary storytellers and more. Attendees can also participate in a screening of the feature film, “Sylvie of the Sunshine State,” which received the Spirit of Slamdance Award at the Slamdance Film Festival, as well as roundtable discussions on topics such as gearheads, cinematographers and agents and managers in the film industry.
Moon adds, “We really want WEG WEEKEND to feel like an arcade or theme park in that there’s always something to do, learn and explore. We welcome the public to check it out, meet and network with filmmakers and see what we’re all about.”
This exciting event and The WEG Short Film Lab are made possible thanks to grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Event sponsors include Craize, E11even Vodka, Fireman Derek’s, LensRentals.com, Mariquitas, PALMA® Cerveza, The Pale Wine and Topo Chico.
Tickets are priced from $15-$25 for day passes, $45 for weekend passes, with discounted student rates available for $40 with a valid student ID. Tickets and the full program lineup will go live starting April 1 at www.wegweekend.com. For more information about White Elephant Group, visit www.wegfilms.com.
