Movie screenings, local filmmaker showcases, and guest speaker panels will be held as part of the Central Coast Entertainment Expo, a two-day event with happenings on Friday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande.
The first day of the expo kicks off at 5 p.m. with a special welcome reception, followed by the Central Coast Showcase, sponsored by Allan Hancock College, at 6:30 p.m. The showcase will highlight films produced by local filmmakers, as well as film program students at Ernest Righetti High School in Orcutt, Central Coast New Tech in Nipomo, and other schools in the area.
Films by college students enrolled at Hancock and Cal Poly will also be featured in the showcase, which will run through 9 p.m. and end with an awards ceremony. The second day of the expo will include several events, including many that run simultaneously. Two demonstration events for patrons to choose from will start at 11 a.m. in different areas of the Clark Center: a screenwriting workshop and a practical effects demo.
Similar workshops and demos will continue to be offered throughout the day, with the last scheduled class, an auditions and improv workshop, slated for 6 p.m. Screenings at the expo begin at 11:30 a.m., with a showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Starting at 5:30 p.m., the venue will host a screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
At 2:30 p.m., Women of Walt Disney Imagineering—a special guest speaker panel—will begin. Featured speakers will include Central Coast resident Karen Connolly Armitage (pictured), who spent 26 years working as a theme park concept designer for Disney. Her career highlights include designs for theater spaces, shops, restaurants, and other areas at Disney parks in California, Florida, Tokyo, and Paris.
For more info on the expo, visit centralcoastfilmsociety.org. The Clark Center for the Performing Arts is located at 487 Fair Oaks Ave., Arroyo Grande.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2022.
