Lone Pine Film Festival

The Thrill of it ALL!

This year’s them captures the experience of film making for many Lone Pine and Alabama Hills fans. For over 30 years, the guided, “On Location” movie site tours, have been, and continue to be one of the most exciting options for those attending the annual Film Festival taking our audience to the actual locations where their favorite westerns were filmed.

In addition, filmmakers and movie stars join us for screenings, panels and discussions telling us tales from the set and what it was like to be in the room working with iconic legends.

The events are complemented by a host of expert guest historians and authors who share stories, many from books they have written, about how and why these films were made. Many times, these cinematic war stories are often as thrilling as the movies themselves.

In 1939, William S. Hart, the great pioneer cowboy silent film star, upon his re-release his classic 1925 Western “Tumbleweeds” with added music, sound effects and an emotional prologue “Goodbye” to filmmaking said… “My friends, I love the art of making motion pictures. It is as the breath of life to me…. The rush of the wind that cuts your face, the pounding hoofs of the pursuing posse, out there in front a fallen tree trunk that spans a yawning canyon, the old animal under you that takes it in the same low ground-eating gallop, the harmless shots of the baffled ones that remain behind, and then, the clouds of dust, through which come the faint voice of the director (cupping hand to mouth) ‘Okay, Bill, okay, glad you made it, great stuff,…. Bill, great stuff, and say, Bill, give ol’ Fritz a pat on the nose for me, will ya?’ Oh, the thrill of it all.