Cristiana DiPietro and Matthew Kalamane founded the Monarch Film Festival. Both are Independent Film Makers who grew up in Pacific Grove, CA. Their goal is the bring cutting edge, artistic, and original content to their beloved hometown from all over the world.
This year's objective is to celebrate all local media mediums on the big screen; this is the goal behind the "Local's Corner." Whether you are a student, amateur, or professional, if you are local to the Monterey area, we want to showcase your film, show, music video, commercial, etc. All filmmakers know the thrill of having your content seen on the big screen, and we want to give that back to the community and its artists — all in good taste, of course.
We will be opening up International submissions for 2020 soon.
It is knowing how the Industry works that gives Cristiana and Matthew a unique perspective on the Festival Circuit. They hope that by experiencing the Festival world themselves as filmmakers, it will not only ease the submitter into choosing the Monarch Film Festival but also reflect their commitment to the film industry in every aspect and will continue to be fair and encouraging to all Independent filmmakers alike.
As Pacific Grove's only festival dedicated solely to Cinema art, The Monarch Film Festival's mission is to be a catalyst for greater appreciation of Cinema as art, build the local film-making community and work with Hollywood and independent filmmakers alike to showcase Northern California as a dynamic place to shoot and screen movies.
A glass award, gift and official rights to the Monarch Film Festival Wreath to use, for best film in each of the following categories:
Monarch Award
Judges Choice
Best Short Narrative
Best Student Film
Best Feature Narrative
Best Documentary
Best New Media