St. Augustine Film Festival to kick off the new year on the First Coast

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The 8th annual Saint Augustine Film Festival, which will bring dozens of foreign and independent films to the First Coast, will be held Jan. 18-21.

Film buffs can see over 36 films in advance of wider distribution, or foreign films that may never be seen outside of their country of origin except in a film festival environment.

“I think we have one of the best line-ups since we started, with films coming from places we don’t often get exposure to like war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Syria or Georgia, to Eastern European countries like Poland and Estonia,” said Gregory von Hausch, CEO of the Saint Augustine Film Festival and the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. “We also have a great group of independent films from the USA, with several based on true stories, and foreign ones from major film-producing countries like Ireland, France, the UK and Italy.”

The festival will take place at three venues: the Corazon Cinema and Café with three screening rooms; the large Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College that seats nearly 800; and the intimate Gamache-Koger Theater in the Ringhaver Student Center at Flagler College that seats just over 100.

New this year are three simplified festival passes: an all-access pass that covers all three parties and all films for $180; an all-films pass for films shown at any venue for $100; and an all-Lewis Auditorium pass for $60 where most of the major films will be shown. Individual tickets for Lewis Auditorium will be available online for $10.

Film passes can be purchased online through Jan. 9, at www.StAugFilmFest.com/tickets. The Festival will start selling individual tickets to films screening at Lewis Auditorium only, in early January. Individual tickets to other films at other locations will be sold to those in the standby line, 10 minutes prior to the start of any screening subject to availability.

Leading sponsors for the 2018 Festival include the Lightner Museum, the St. Johns Tourist Development Council, Culture Builds Florida, the Corazon Cinema and Café, Flagler College, Kenneth and Shirley Walker, Allen and Cathie Altman, Mark and Kathy Edwards, the St. Augustine Distillery, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits and Stella Artois Beer.

For more information, visit www.staugfilmfest.com.