Every week here at the I Love Las Vegas Magazine BLOG we like to bring you the latest information, gossip tidbits and a general overview of the city that is the LV. This includes our weekly profile of the not only the "Movers & Shakers" and "Entertainers" but people who contribute to our community and enrich it.
Cinevegas has become a film festival to be reckoned and has grown tremendously from it's grass root's humble beginning to the A List event that it has now become. Every year stars as bright as can be imagined have taken part and been honored; Academy Award Winner Sean Penn, NicholsonAcademy Award Winner Jack and many more to mention here. However last year's event was the icing on the cake, the world premiere of OCEAN’S THIRTEEN with the cast in attendance at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theaters!
This week we would like to profile and introduce you to Kelly Frey who is the Marketing and PR Manager for Cinevegas.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN LAS VEGAS: Almost 4 years
IF NOT A NATIVE, HOW DID YOU COME TO BE IN LAS VEGAS: I grew up in Orange County and after attending college, I worked at a boutique public relations agency in Newport Beach for 3 years. I wanted a change so I interviewed for a few PR jobs in Las Vegas and was fortunate enough to land a job at a PR agency here. After working there for 2 years, I left to work in-house for CineVegas.
JOB DUTIES: I handle all of the marketing, advertising and public relations for the CineVegas Film Festival. This includes not only our annual festival in June, but all of our year-round events and activities.
FAVORITE PART ABOUT YOUR JOB: I love meeting our filmmakers for the first time, and seeing them when their film premieres at our festival. It’s just so neat to see someone who has put all they have into making a film, and then having their film premiere at our festival. We are giving them their first opportunity to show their film to an audience.
MOST INTERESTING JOB RELATED EXPERIENCE: Last year I had to drive actor Bill Pullman to an interview. He was at CineVegas because he starred in "YOUR NAME HERE", one of the films premiering at the festival. He was really hungry and thirsty so we stopped at a 7-11 right off the strip for him to get something to eat and drink. He may be one of my favorite celebrities ever – he was just so kind and normal. Another interesting experience was when we honored James Caan with the Vegas Icon Award last year. He actually called me on my phone and asked what he should wear to the festival, and then began to ask what I was going to wear and what I looked like! He’s definitely a character!
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE OF LAS VEGAS IN RELATION TO YOUR FIELD: I hope that the presence of not only CineVegas but independent film in general will continue to grow in Las Vegas. I think more and more people are starting to realize that there’s a lack of culture in this town – including art house and independent films – and we are doing everything we can to help change the landscape of this city in that way. I think culture in general is only going to continue to grow in Las Vegas, and I pray that other institutions like the Las Vegas Art Museum find there way back into town, because we are in desperate need of this!
WHAT IS YOUR BEST KEPT SECRET IN LAS VEGAS: This isn’t much of a secret, but the happy hour at Hank’s is amazing. They have great martinis, and they are half price everyday from 5-7pm! Doesn’t get much better than that. Also, although this is technically in Boulder City, there is the cutest little restaurant called Milo’s Cellar that not only has great food, but one of the best wine and beer selections I’ve seen in town.
Kelly we salute the job that you do and goodness knows PR is a FULL FULL time job and by the way Bill Pullman is also one of my all time favorite actors so thanks for the inside tidbit! The 11th Annual CineVegas Film >Festival will be held June 10 – 15, 2009 at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theatres. For more information, people can visit http://www.cinevegas.com/.
