Michael Nowak hosts the Cambria Film Festival’s opening night film screening.
The ninth annual Cambria Film Festival opened February 4 at the Cambria Center for the Arts with a tribute to movie composer Lalo Schifrin.
Orchestra Novo conductor Michael Nowak, who also works in Hollywood as a recording musician and conductor, hosted the screenings of the 53-minute In the Tracks of Lalo Schifrin and Behind the Score, a 14-minute competition student film directed by Ali Habib.
“It’s great to be around the creative process,” Nowak said as he recalled working with Schifrin, John Williams, Randy Newman and other composers and conductors during his more than 50 years working in Hollywood. “But I don’t really watch movies . . . I listen to movies.”
Festival co-directors Lilliana Romero Plummer and Jeff Plummer welcomed a full crowd into the Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre following a reception for festival sponsors and guests.
Coming Up Friday, February 6
- Special short films programs “Family Films,” “Doc Block: All Works of Life” “Emerging Filmmakers Showcase,” and “Late Nite Cinema”
- Lunchtime film talk “Magic of the Movies” featuring David Hardberger and Dave Congalton
- Short film programs “The Journey of Me,” “Ancestral Bonds,” “Complexities of Love,” and “Anger Management”
- Feature films A Second Life, Baby Doe, In the Tracks of Lalo Schifrin, Seems Like Love, and Whisper My Name
- Filmmaker welcome reception and screening of Burt with director Joe Burke