Estrofest - Women's Art and Film Festival in Los Angeles promoting women in the arts featuring female filmmakers, directors, actors, artists, musicians, photographers

MORE ESTROFEST AT CINESPACE: June 6 ,2004, FilmThreat.com: With Estrofest, Shauna Stoddart and Kipling Rowe have put together another rockin' evening of short films and women in music at Cinespace on June 9th. Estrofest’s purpose is to provide an environment in which women filmmakers and musicians can showcase their work, vision and voices in a lively and welcoming atmosphere. Founded in October, 2002 by Kaarina Aufranc and Shauna Stoddart, Estrofest started as a short film festival dedicated to motivating women get behind and in front of the camera. This year with the help of Kipling Rowe, Estrofest has grown into a womens arts festival dedicated not only to female filmmakers but female musicians, desginers, photographers and artists.

PETRA REVIEW: November 10, 2003, FilmThreat.com by Jim Agnew: Petra is having a bad day. Her husband has been mysteriously murdered. All of her friends and family are suddenly trying to kill her. She has no one she can trust and has no one to turn too. But don’t worry about Petra too much because she’s an ass kicking undercover agent for the government and as soon as she can figure out who’s double-crossed her there’s going to be hell to pay. The technical credits on Petra are all A+. Shot on 35mm everything from the cinematography to the fight choreography to the set design and directing are all on par with a $15 million Hollywood production.

FINDING MR. RIGHT REVIEW: October 27, 2002, FilmThreat.com by Jim Agnew: The premise for "Finding Mr. Right" is simple - a young-professional-lesbian-couple need to find a sperm donor so they can start a family. Simple enough you would think, unless that search for the perfect donor takes place in the wacky and weird City Of Angeles. "Finding Mr. Right" is a hilarious short full of great characters and funny situations. Any short that features a new age guru, a tattooed freak obsessed with serial killers, two hot lesbians and a guy with a gas problem (once again proving fart jokes are always funny) is a must see. "Finding Mr. Right" is a perfect example of what to do when making a short film. You don’t need a lot of money or extravagant locations. All you need is a great script, great actors and great directing to make a great short.

RUNAWAY GOSSIP REVIEW: October 26, 2002, FilmThreat.com by Eric Campos: Similar to “Runaway Bride,” yeah that Julia Roberts piece of shit, “Runaway Gossip” features a bride-to-be bolting from the chapel on wedding day. ‘Cept this woman has a good reason for fleeing the scene, while preparing for the big ceremony, she overhears that her fiancé is…well…in love with wiener. Yes, the guy is gay. So the bride-to-be-no-more heads off to a lesbian bar with her bridesmaids for a night of fun. Oh yeah, and this isn't a piece of shit like aforementioned film, either. It’s rare that you get a little indie like this with better than average performances by the entire cast, but here it is. The real star of the film, however, is Shauna Stoddart’s script, which keeps the often lewd and always entertaining humor consistent throughout. Another shocker, which you rarely ever see…or rather hear…in indie shorts is a good soundtrack. Someone called X-Vinyl supplied most of the infectiously rockin’ tunes that fit these girls’ drunken night out on the town like a glove. A pleasure to behold - I don’t know if “Runaway Gossip” is doing the festival circuit now, but it should be. Keep your eyes peeled.

LOS ANGELES GETS A SHOT OF ESTROFEST: October 19, 2002, FilmThreat.com by Eric Campos: The Chaplin Theater at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles was completely packed Wednesday night, October 16th and we were all there for this thing called Estrofest – a screening of two short films geared towards the female sensibility. Being informed of this ahead of time, I did my best to stoke my feminine side to the surface, so I would be more receptive to the evening’s presentation. But as I sat there amongst the jibber jabbering crowd, sucking on a beer and waiting for the show to get on the road, my thoughts turned to all of the nudie bars just down the street. I wondered how many singles I had in my wallet and my feminine side just packed up its shit and left. But then the show was underway, but not before producer/actress Fiona Kennedy took front and center, introducing herself and the various cast and crew-members peppered amongst the audience. But most importantly, she introduced her partner Shauna Stoddart, who co-starred and co-produced the evening’s featured attraction, "Runaway Gossip," with Kennedy, as well as wrote it.

The two theatre graduates recently started up their own production company, Princess Productions, in order to produce films with a fresh, feminine voice that breaks the female stereotype in movies. Okay, that’s all cool and everything, but are the films good? Yes, sir! I’m lucky if I see two good films in a week, but two in one night? I felt like Christmas had come early and I was getting my fanny tickled with a feather by old Santa Clause himself. Kicking off the evening was a film directed by Louis Tocchet called "Finding Mr. Right." The short stars Shauna Stoddart and Kaarina Aufranc as lesbian lovers who spend a long, exhausting day interviewing possible sperm donors, looking for that perfect someone, so their kid turns out to be a super citizen with a big dick…or something. Of course, all of the applicants are total meatheads, which provides consistent laughs throughout. The second short, Runaway Gossip Princess Productions’ first finished project, followed. Directed by Christine Crokos and starring Shauna Stoddart and Fiona Kennedy, this film finds a bride-to-be fleeing her wedding scene when she hears that her fiancé is gay. She splits with her bridesmaids and the group goes out for a night of debauchery. Both films kept not only myself, but the entire audience highly amused. I don’t know if any stereotypes were broken that evening, but I certainly saw a couple of well made films by a group of people that no doubt belong behind and in front of the camera. I spoke briefly with Fiona Kennedy and she informed me that a feature length version of "Runaway Gossip" is in the works, so keep your eyes and ears open for this crew.