Bellissimo Media Productions Wins Bronze Award at the 2008 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival

“The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” co-produced by Bellissimo Media Productions and the World Barista Championship (WBC), was honored with a Bronze Remi Award at the 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival held April 11-20, 2008 in Houston. This elite award was given to only 158 video/film productions out of a total 4,500 category entries from 37 countries.

WorldFest-Houston is the 3rd longest-running International film festival in North America and one of the premier film festivals in the world. Previous WorldFest-Houston winners include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Oliver Stone, Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott, the Coen Brothers and Ang Lee, who were novice filmmakers when they each received their first awards at WorldFest-Houston.

WorldFest-Houston offers 12 major areas of competition and awards. “The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo” won its award in the Film and Video Production Category in the training sub-category.

“It’s a great honor to win this award,” said Bruce Milletto, Bellissimo president and the DVD’s director. “Knowing the criteria and how difficult it is to win an award at WorldFest makes this particular honor very sweet.”

“The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” documents the 8th Annual World Barista Championship (WBC) held in Tokyo, Japan July 31 to August 2, 2007. The DVD is the first of its kind produced in the eight-year history of the WBC, and uniquely captures both the heart and mind of the exciting 2007 championship event. This documentary-style DVD includes interviews, local color shots and footage of many of the competitors in action. The film was shot and edited by Dana Vion of Sky’s the Limit Productions based in Springfield, Oregon.

“The DVD documents the full WBC experience, and allows viewers to see and feel the excitement generated by this competition as well as to hear from the participants, attendees and coffee professionals from all over the world,” said Milletto.

This is the third time Bellissimo Media Productions has been honored by WorldFest-Houston. In 2001, the Bellissimo/Kenneth Davids production, “The Passionate Harvest,” was one of only 15 festival entries to win a Platinum Award, and in 2005, “Advanced Barista Training: Extreme Pours,” won a second place Gold Award in the training category.

“The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” retails for $69.95. Click here to order. Wholesale discounts are available.

Additional information about WorldFest-Houston and a list of other winning films can be found at Worldfest.org.

Barista Exchange Celebrates Six Months of Growth and Success
A lot has happened on Barista Exchange since its December 2007 launch. Matt Milletto has been busy keeping the site updated and adding new features regularly.

A few of the latest additions are a Member Map feature, which allows members to pinpoint themselves and others on a world map, hopefully inspiring the ultimate global barista roadtrip! Also new to the site is an upgraded Events section where members can post public and private events, RSVP, etc. Feel free to add any upcoming coffee related events today. Finally, there is an updated Chat function on it's own page where members can chat live with others from around the world.

The Jobs section on Barista Exchange has quickly become THE place to post barista and coffee related job postings. Companies large and small use it as a resource to find passionate coffee people from coast to coast.

Another new feature that is in its beta version is Coffipedia, a dedicated Wikipedia website for the specialty coffee industry. We are still testing the functionality but watch for it to become an incredible online educational resource soon.

With 2500 members, from over 130 countries, BaristaExchange.com is growing extremely fast! Sign up today if you are not already a member and see what its all about.

SPECIAL AMERICAN BARISTA & COFFEE SCHOOL AIRFARE CREDIT!

This is a limited time offer. Call 800.655.3955 for more details.

2008 American Barista & Coffee School Class Schedule

July 2008
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] July 14-19
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] July 15-19
Barista Training
[4 Days] July 16-19
Coffee CFO
[2 Days] July 26-27

August
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] August 11-16
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] August 12-16
Barista Training
[4 Days] August 13-16

September 2008
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] September 15-20
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] September 16-20
Barista Training
[4 Days] September 17-20

October 2008
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] October 13-18
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] October 14-18
Barista Training
[4 Days] October 15-18

November 2008
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] November 10-15
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] November 11-15
Barista Training
[4 Days] November 12-15

December 2008
Business + Barista Training
[6 Days] December 8-13
Management + Barista Training
[5 Days] December 9-13
Barista Training
[4 Days] December 10-13

Visit ABC's for complete information about classes and to register.