The Cucalorus Film Festival recently was named one of the top ten film festivals in the nation by the Brooks Institute, the professional photography and video school in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Other festivals on the list include Sundance, Seattle International, New York, Tribeca, Nashville, San Francisco International, Chicago International, LA Comedy Shorts and San Diego.

“The Institute’s inclusion of Cucalorus in its Top 10 puts Wilmington on the map, so to speak. We start to show up on the radar as one of the top locations in the film industry and as a great place for artists to live and work,” said Dan Brawley, director
of Cucalorus in a press release.

The Cucalorus Film Festival began in 1994 by a group of local filmmakers. The annual non-competitive festival takes place in downtown Wilmington. Cucalorus has received praise from Time Magazine as “A Film Festival for the Rest of Us” and by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “Top 25 Coolest Festivals.”

Cucalorus will host a fundraiser for the film festival on March 7 at Screen Gems Studios featuring live music, food and the live broadcast of the Academy Awards. The event will include performances by Jonathan Guggenheim, Bibis Ellison, Cullen Moss, Matt Malloy and Sandy Vaughan.

The 16th annual Cucalorus film festival will take place Nov. 10-14, 2010.