The Z Film Festival was a microcinema media showcase that was created by the filmmaker Usama Alshaibi and launched on December 1, 2000, at the Heaven Gallery in Chicago, USA. The following year, his wife, Kristie Alshaibi, teamed up with Usama as director and programmer for the Z Film Festival. In 2001, the Z Film Festival began to solicit short movies internationally which were screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago. The festival had its final event in 2006.
Filmmakers who were featured in the Z Film Festival include Miranda July, Richard Kern, James Fotopoulos, Tom Palazzolo, Mark Hejnar, Shawn Durr, Carey Burtt, Meg McCarville, John Goras, Piotr Tokarski, Steve Hall and Cathee Wilkins.
References
Z Film Festival Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA