Have you heard a good story recently?  Do yourself a favor by listening to Gary Jay Hoffman's new multi-genre album 'Back to the Farm'.  Gary Jay is a country*grassroots songwriter / story-teller with 40+ years in the making.   Gary Jay writes mostly about the 'true life' experience. The last three words Gary's dad told him in Feb 1997 were 'Please remember me'. 

Gary wondered why that was his last job assignment from his dad?  After all, Gary wondered 'How could I ever forget him?'. After many failed attempts at writing a song for his dad's memory, Gary finally had a new idea.  At a friend's memorial service in early 2017, he heard about all the wonderful things that Linda's mom had done for her family and the good name she had made for herself.  With this new idea after twenty years, he wrote a song in twenty minutes 'Back to the Farm'.  Gary reckoned the song didn't necessarily have to be directly about his dad but instead could be about things his dad had done for himself or other people.  Yes, the title track 'Back to the Farm' is written in his dad's memory but is so much more.  It is also about where and how his parents raised him in Northern Virginia USA (1964 - 1989).

Gary grew up next to a farm in Northern Virginia.  His parents owned a six-acre farmette nestled between the McNair's dairy cow farm and the Frying Pan Meeting House.  Also, next door was the family that worked with the McNair's, the Reynolds.  Gary still talks to the Reynolds family and particularly his friend Roy weekly.

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Brian Trenchard-Smith is an Anglo Australian film and television director, producer, and writer, with a reputation for large scale movies on small scale budgets.  Quentin Tarantino referred to him in Entertainment Weekly as his “ favorite obscure director.”. His early work is featured in Not Quite Hollywood, an award-winning documentary released by Magnolia in August 2009. Born in England, where his Australian father was in the RAF, Trenchard-Smith attended UK's prestigious Wellington College, where he neglected studies in favor of acting and making short films, before migrating to Australia.

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Among early successes were The Man From Hong Kong, a wry James Bond/Chop Sockey cocktail, the Vietnam battle movie Siege Of Firebase Gloria, and the futuristic satire Dead End Drive-In, a particular Tarantino favorite. BMX Bandits, showcasing a 15-year old Nicole Kidman, won the Prix Chouette in Europe, as Best Saturday Matinee Movie. Miramax's The Quest/Frog Dreaming, starring ET's Henry Thomas, now on Blu Ray, won a prize at Montreal’s Children's Film Festival.  

He has directed 43 episodes of television series as diverse as Silk Stalkings, Time Trax, Five Mile Creek, The Others, Flipper, Chemistry, and the Showtime docu-drama  DC 9/11: Time Of Crisis, one of five movies he made for the network.  Recently released through Image is Drive Hard, an offbeat action comedy with John Cusack as the bank robber and Thomas Jane as his reluctant driver.
 

BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH

Dr. Rebekah Louisa Smith (aka Rebekah Film Dr) was born in Worcestershire, United Kingdom. From humble beginnings working as a Personal Assistant at lots of corporate companies, she worked her way up to become an award-winning consultant and media personality who now has

more than 10 years of film festival strategy consulting experience.

After choosing not to pursue a career in Academia teaching film studies, Rebekah began her film industry career in 2009, working as one of the producers of Wales’ most successful national horror film festival; the Abertoir Horror Festival, and during that time began to develop a great knowledge of the film festival business. Which led her to become inspired to start her own innovative company in an industry she loved.

Rebekah and the hard-working team behind her company The Film Festival Doctor are creators of success and are committed to nurturing filmmakers in order to help them secure film festival screenings, win awards and a positive recognition within the film industry. Currently her company have won more than 800 awards for their clients and her team have supported nearly 1,000 creatives across the world, enlightening and inspiring their journey towards achieving their goals and following their filmmaking dreams.

REBEKAH LOUISA SMITH