Grass Valley, Calif., November 2, 2017 – On its five-year anniversary the Animal Film Festival (AFF) has received a substantial accolade – it is a finalist for Best Fest at the national FestForums Conference taking place November 16 – 18 at the Fess Parker Resort in Santa Barbara, California.  The conference brings together leaders of music, film and food festivals and events for collaboration and professional development.

The Animal Film Festival  produced by the non-profit Center for Animal Protection & Education (CAPE)  lit up the screen for the first time in February 2014. Since then the AFF has screened 93 films and hosted 26 filmmakers. The AFF has also established a streaming channel on ROKU and tours many cities across the west coast. The AFF is partnered with the Tarshis Foundation that gave $14,000 in awards to five filmmakers during the 2017 AFF.  The AFF has also been featured in Variety Magazine.

The 5th annual Animal Film Festival comes to Grass Valley, February 17, 2018 at the Center for the Arts in downtown Grass Valley, CA.  Submissions are still open for shorts, documentary and animated films about all aspects of animals and their lives around the globe.

The Tarshis Awards presented by Amber and Adam Tarshis of the Tarshis Foundation, are currently accepting submissions for 30 – 90 second films that creatively and convincingly highlight the issues of animal suffering in modern farming. Last year, five films were presented with a total of $14,000 in awards.

The 5th annual AFF will kick off on Tuesday, February 13th with a special presentation of the film Eating You Alive sponsored by the VegFund . This entertaining and important film will screen at the Guild Theater, 2828 35th Street, Sacramento. Early-bird tickets are now on sale at www.animalfilmfestival.org.

To view the short video about the AFF that will be screened during the FestForums Best Fest Awards ceremony visit this link: https://youtu.be/_gUMZ-nTu-U

About CAPE

The Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE) (www.capeanimals.org) works to save the lives of individual animals and to educate people about ways in which they can alleviate animal suffering. Founded in 1992, CAPE has helped thousands of animals. Those who are older, injured or recovering from an illness are placed into new, loving homes through CAPE’s foster and adoption programs. In 2012 CAPE established the CAPE Animal Sanctuary in Grass Valley, California, a permanent home for dozens of animals with special needs and burros removed from their native habitats on public lands by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. CAPE programs teach that all animals have the right to a long, full life, free from pain and suffering. To learn more or donate please visit www.capeanimals.org.