Award-winning actress Tanna Frederick returns to Movie Addict Headquarters on Tuesday, June 29, to discuss her new film as well as the upcoming Iowa Independent Film Festival, an event she founded four years ago. Queen of the Lot, co-starring Tanna and Noah Wyle, will be the opening night highlight of the festival, which is scheduled for July 16-18 in Clear Lake, Iowa.       

Tanna’s new movie is the second internationally distributed film in the franchise series about Iowa character Margie Chizek and her attempt to make it in Hollywood. Tanna, a Mason City native and University of Iowa grad, has played the leading roles in all three of these features and is being celebrated in Hollywood as a serious star of the near future. It all started with Hollywood Dreams, while Irene in Time is still being seen in theaters around the world. Tanna earned the Best Actress Award at the Montana International Film Festival and the Fargo Film Festival, and the Maverick Award at the Los Angeles Women’s Theater Festival. 

This year’s Iowa Independent Film Festival, hosted by Tanna, will showcase new feature length films, socially impacting documentaries, edgy short subjects and a few regional student productions. Big names and legendary people who rarely appear at film events will also be festival participants. Among those will be Oscar nominee Mark Rydell, who directed On Golden Pond, The Rose and For the Boys. He will be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other notable guests and presenters include:

■ Director Charlie Matthau, son of Hollywood icon Walter Matthau, will attend along with veteran actress Theresa Russell. Her comeback role can be seen in the festival's Iowa-set story, 16 to Life, which is now going into international distribution.

■ Zack Norman is coming with his enchanting movie, Overnight, which is up for the Best Feature award at the festival. He'll be accompanied by producer Anthony LaPaglia and actor Billy Burke.

■ The real Gidget, Kathy Zuckerman, from the original book that led to the film and television series will  attend along with the new documentary, Gidget, that covers the historic and nostalgic years of surfing the  California coast in the 1950s and 60s.

■ Julie Davis will be appearing in person with her new feature, Finding Bliss (starring Leelee Sobieski, Denise Richards, Kristen Johnson and Jamie Kennedy). Not only is the movie currently in national release, this is the first film festival in which it will be screened.

 At least thirty other amazing, provocative, inspirational and challenging productions will be offered for viewing, as submitted from all over the U.S. and Europe. Many of the attending actors and directors will be on hand after the screenings for discussion sessions. Also, industry lawyer and agent Kevin Mills will speak on financing movies and other film business issues.

For further details on specific times and movie scheduling go to www.iowaindie.org or call 641-583-0683.

Tanna Frederick’s interview airs on BlogTalkRadio at 1 p.m. Pacific Time (4 p.m. Eastern Time) on Tuesday, June 29. During the live show, listeners are invited to call in and to participate in a chat. An archived segment will also be available.

CALL-IN NUMBER:  646-478-5668

HOST:  Betty Jo Tucker

CO-HOST: Jazz Shaw

GUEST CO-HOST: James Colt Harrison

PRODUCER: Nikki Starr

LINK TO LISTEN: Click here on or after June 29, 2010.

(Thanks to Lori DeWaal for sending me information to use in this article.)