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Kari Nevil, JuneBug Films
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CAR STORIES RACES TO VICTORY; TAKES AUDIENCE AWARD AT  
CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
San Francisco-Based  JuneBug Films’ Continues Successful Film Festival Run

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (November 2006) — The California Independent Film Festival wrapped up with Car Stories, a documentary that taps into the passion of racing and car collecting, picking up the Audience Award as filmgoers favorite film.

Filmmaker Kari Nevil received the award during the Slate Awards, hosted by Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry (The Surreal Life, My Fair Brady).

The Audience Award caps off a successful fall film festival run for Car Stories that has included screenings at the Connecticut Film Festival and the Ohio Film Festival.

Car Stories features members of NASCAR WEST, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG), and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) team as well as an original soundtrack by guitar great Ronnie Montrose.

”I spent so much time with car enthusiasts during the 1,000 hours I spent making this film, and it was always our goal to have their passion for cars leap off the screen and resonate with audiences,” said Nevil. “To take home the audience award is an amazing validation for independent filmmakers, to know you’ve been able to create something that audiences can embrace and identify with.”

She continued: "Car enthusiasts have a passion that is similar to filmmaking in that you love every aspect of the ride.  When I showed up with a camera at the Monterey Classics at Laguna Seca last August and asked if anyone would be interested in being in a documentary, I spent the entire day shooting until the sun went down. There was no shortage in enthusiasm!"

Nevil spent most of the year finding and following race fans around to cut together the first of a series of car stories. She sent Montrose a rough cut and he signed on, noting that "rock and roll and racing are a natural fit."

The documentary taps into the thriving scene of sport and ardent enthusiasts who have made car racing a big part of their lives – from the 16-year-old racing ingénue who is rolling over competition in a man’s world to the vintner turning race fans from beer drinkers to wine sippers, one race at a time.  

"With Car Stories, we’ve tapped into a culture of racers and car fanatics that has existed for decades and is only growing, “said Nevil.

JuneBug Films was founded by Kari Nevil in 1990. She ran the company out of her purple house in San Francisco before the group moved into American Zoetrope with Francis Coppola.  The company moved out to Menlo Park before returning to San Francisco’s Embarcadero district where they collaborate with a team of Bay Area and L.A. based creative professionals on filmed entertainment in the form of narrative features, documentaries, short films, music videos and corporate films.

 JuneBug Films has created features including At Risk (Vince Vaughn’s first feature), Your Guardian and Planting Melvin. The company’s recent film, Car Stories – their first foray into documentary films – is currently making the rounds of independent film festivals, generating buzz and gathering fans from Florida to California. JuneBug is working to make Car Stories an episodic series.

For more information on Car Stories, please visit www.junebugfilms.com .


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