Connie Stevens Honored At Film Festival

Actresses Virginia Madsen and Palm Desert resident , along with director Peter Bogdanovich, will be among those honored with lifetime achievement awards Sunday during a closing night gala for the 17th annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival.

The black-tie affair is slated to start at 5 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom
of the Pechanga Resort and Casino.

Along with Madsen, Stevens and Bogdanovich, the festival board of
directors will bestow awards upon Blu-ray technology developer Erick Hansen, orchestrator Pete Anthony, Israeli filmmaker Oren Peli, actor Booboo Stewart and music industry executive Russ Regan.

Stevens is most well known in the Coachella Valley for her role in the 1963 classic "Palm Springs Weekend."

The four-day festival began Thursday and featured more than 100 domestic and foreign films, shorts and documentaries from the United States, Australia, China, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.

There were also workshops on screenwriting, finding a distributor for an independent film and acting.

The music fest showcased  jazz, country, folk, pop and rock artists, including Ashley Zavata, Patrick Joseph, Wires on the Wall and The Worsties.

The groups played outside the UltraStar Cinemas Friday and Saturday nights.  

One of the biggest buzz-generating items was a special presentation
Saturday of Bogdanovich's 1975 musical romp "At Long Last Love,'' starring Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd, which the longtime director and actress attended.

City News Service contributed to this report.