Sacramento Film & Music Festival New dates and “Pitch Sacramento” filmmaking competition for 2011 For the past 11 years, the Sacramento Film & Music Festival has screened the best indie films from around the country and the world. And for the past 7 years, it has established a reputation for local filmmaking competitions, with approx. 150 music videos made for the Sac Music Seen program and 100 short films made for the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge. For 2011, the Festival is making two major changes: A split into two separate seasonal events and a new competition for local filmmakers. Rather than continue as a 10-day Summer Festival, the 12th year for the Sacramento Film & Music Festival wil

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson gave updates on several different issues in a press conference Tuesday. His stance on immigration was the focus of the discussion. The mayor said he anticipates an emotional city council meeting on Arizona's controversial immigration law, SB 1070. "We have to create the right forum," Johnson said. "We have to conduct ourselves respectfully." The mayor said while he personally supports a boycott on Arizona business, he understands "the city needs to talk. I'll talk to my colleagues and community members (before taking action)." Currently the mayor is meeting with other mayors and discussing options for city action. "I support comprehensive immigration reform

Wednesday morning Mayor Kevin Johnson held his second "For Art's Sake" meeting, which saw an increase in attendance over last month. More than 100 people crowded into the Verge Art Gallery on 19th and V Streets. To open the meeting, Dennis Mangers, senior adviser for Senator Darrell Steinberg, summarized the previous meeting. Afterward, Johnson took the podium to lay down his vision for the arts initiative. "What is our vision? What are our goals? Who do we want to be as an art community? Those are things we are going to start answering ourselves," he said. "Over the next 11 months, we're going to create a sustainable arts community." He mentioned that as a whole, an estimated $100,000