The FresYes Interview: Swede Fest (a project of CMAC)

We can hear you now… What the heck is a Swede Fest? Is it just a bunch of people from Sweden doing Swedish things?

Actually, No. Not even remotely close.

The short answer is that Sweded Films are amateur recreations of famous films using limited resources and technology. They were inspired by the 2008 comedy film Be Kind Rewind. The films are typically much shorter in length than their originals and use shoe-string budget props to mimic the source material. Swede Fest is a local film festival of just those things.

We can better explain it all with just one short example.

So tell us, who are you, where did you come from, and what do you do?

We are Roque Rodriguez and Bryan Harley, and we started Swede Fest in 2008. Roque is originally from Firebaugh, Bryan is from Fresno, and we both love the Central Valley! By night we run Swede Fest, by day Roque is a Graphic Designer for the Valley Air District, and Bryan is the Executive Director of the Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC).

Tell us about Swede Fest!

Swede Fest was started in August 2008 in Fresno, California, by Roque Rodriguez and Bryan Harley. Swede Fest is the only film festival dedicated to sweded films. The concept of “sweded films” come from the movie “Be Kind Rewind”, they’re basically short, low-budget remakes of popular films. We started Swede Fest to give regular folks the opportunity to be movie stars! As Jack Black says, “you’ll like this movie because you’re in it!” It’s all about putting yourself into the movie that you love. We want to demystify the art of filmmaking so that it feels approachable for everyone. Anyone can make a swede, it’s easy and a lot of fun!

Jack Black & Michel Gondry explain sweding:

What makes your Sweded Films stand out?

We makes videos so silly that we end up on Good Morning America or invited to Hollywood movie premieres!

What is it that most people DON’T know about Swede Fest?

This year is the 23rd edition of Swede Fest, but we haven’t been doing it for 23 years… just 15 years! Still a long time and longer than we ever thought we would. But the awesome community of creators that keep coming back to support and make films has inspired us to keep it going for so long.

Anything coming up?

This is the final year of Swede Fest! But we have some secrets up our sleeve and we aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to find ways to lift up local creators and showcase their talents. We can’t wait to share more about our plans for next year. But for now, we hope to see lots of submissions and attendees for Swede Fest 23!

Anything else you would like our readers to know?

The deadline for submissions to Swede Fest 23 is Monday, November 6 at 11:59 p.m. It’s completely free to enter and attendee the event. Swede Fest is free! And it’s a great chance to watch some home grown films is the amazing, historic Tower Theatre. Hope to see you there on Friday, November 17 at 6:30pm.

FIND SWEDE FEST

Website: https://swedefest.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swedefest
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swedefest/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@swedefest/videos
Twitter: http://twitter.com/swedefest

FresYes Writing Team

We say “Yes and” to our community, which we love to work and live in. We always speak positively about our growing business, each other and the Fresno community. We are proud to support local businesses, engage in what’s happening in our community and lovingly participate in as many volunteer activities as we can as individuals and as a collective group. We are generous and we are proud to give back.

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