The other evening I attended The Socially Relevant Film Festival Opening Panel called “Adapting the Novel for the Screen.”

The event was held at the Albertine Bookstore at the French Consulate which is located at 972 Fifth Avenue.

What was so exciting was that for the first time in the history of Film Festivals it was the art of scriptwriting which took front stage.  Scriptwriting is the foundation of a good film, however it is know to be regularly neglected or taken for granted and very seldom gets the focus it deserves. So it is for this exact reason that SR, The Socially Relevant Film Fetival New York decided to give it the focus and the notice that it very much deserves by beginning its festival with this very important panel discussion on screenwriting before the actual festival screenings begin on March 15th.

There were 4 very distinguished panelists and the panel was moderated by the SR Founding Artistic Director Nora Armani.

So the first distinguished guest was Robert Schenkkan who is a Pulitzer-prize winning, Tony Award winning, Writer’s Guild Award wining, two-time Emmy nominated writer of stage, television and film.

The second distinguished guest was Marc Levy who is the author of seventeen novels that have sold over thity five million copies which have been translated into 49 languages, making him today’s most widely read French author.

The third distinugished guest was Lil Azam Zanganch who was born in Paris to Iranian parents.  She came to the US to teach literature and cinema at Harvard University and is the author of The Enchnter and is presently writing a screenplay for the book with her screenwriting partner Jess Lichtenstein.

And the last panelist was Brigitte Gauthier who is a French specialist on Harold Pinter and Pina Bausch and author of 2 novels, Personne ne le Saura and Game Boy.

So check out www.ratedsrfilms.org and buy your tickets today!!