Kristen Ridgway Flores is Founder and CEO of The Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood, California and an American actress, set designer, production designer, and film producer.

Kristen Flores
Kristen Flores
Born
Kristen Lee Ridgway

NationalityAmerican
EducationWestmont College
Occupation(s)actress, set designer, production designer, and film producer
Known forFounder and CEO of The Feel Good Film Festival
Spouse
Dominic (Stephen) Flores
(m. 2009)
Children3 sons, 1 daughter

Early life

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Ms. Flores received her early theatre and acting training in Seattle, Washington, where she participated in numerous theatrical productions including "Helen Keller", "Guys and Dolls", "South Pacific", "Narnia", and "Little Mary Sunshine".

She continued her theatrical and acting studies in Santa Barbara, California at the "Westmont College Theatre Arts Department" where she received her theatre and communications degrees. After relocating to Hollywood, she pursued a curriculum of film studies.

Film and television

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Flores contributions include actress, production designer, set designer, and producer for Hollywood films and television programs, including the television comedy series, "The Playbook". Flores' first credited film in 2005 was "West Bank Story", the Academy Awards winning, fast-paced musical comedy.[1] In 2006-2007 Flores worked in the art department of the television series, Heroes, which received the 2007 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nomination for the Art Director's Guild Award.[2] From 2007 until 2010 she tried out animation at Nickelodeon on the kids' classic cartoon, "SpongeBob SquarePants", a television series that has been awarded numerous primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding animated programming.[3] In 2009, she began working as a producer in the 2009 film "Dandelion Dharma". She also produced the 2011 MTV reality television series, "Cuff’d", released August 2011.

The Feel Good Film Festival

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As Flores' passion is to positively influence Hollywood, she created Hollywood's non-profit Film festival, The Feel Good Film Festival, taking on responsibility for overall artistic direction including responsibility for film selection.[4] The Festival premiered in August 2008, providing a prime platform for winning projects that are entertaining, optimistic, humorous or heartwarming and leave the audience feeling good.[5] Flores' goal is to provide a film viewing experience for the entire family that encourages the development, production, and distribution of short or feature-length films with positive themes, happy endings, that make audiences laugh, and that capture the beauty of our world.[6] She searches for newly produced American, international, independent, and family-friendly submissions from around the world and is responsible for bringing wider attention to independent filmmakers including those listed in the awards section at The Feel Good Film Festival.[7] The focus is screening movies where the Festival's audience members leave the theaters feeling better than when they entered 100% of the time.[8] To achieve this, she hunts down features with positive views on life, humor, and positive scenes where at the end of it, you’re feeling better.[9] She created the Festival to provide audiences with laugh-out-loud comedy and ultimately for having loads of fun.[10] The positive theme and energy of the Festival and its many high-quality films stands out amongst the sea of Los Angeles film festivals.[11] She aims for the Festival to screen happy indie films with positive themes that lift energy levels of the audience members so they can bring that positivity back into the world they live in. "Unfortunately the news and other outlets do not focus on the `happy' ... they are used to focusing on the fear. We at FGFF hope to give an alternate view on life in media.".[12]

Personal life

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Flores is active in her community, Highland Park Los Angeles, California.[13] She and her husband, actor Dominic (Stephen) Flores, reside in Los Angeles, Highland Park, California with their daughter and three sons.

Filmography

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Year Film Role
2005 West Bank Story On-set dresser
2005 The Playbook Actress – Hot bar chick; production designer
2006 House at the End of the Drive Set dresser
2006 Real vs. Reel Actress – Esther; production designer
2006 Idol Production designer
2006 Bagged Actress – Laura Bushen; production assistant
2006 Heroes: Chapter One ‘Genesis’ (#1.1) Art Department
2006 Heroes: Chapter Two ‘Don’t Look Back’ (#1.2) Art Department
2007 McBride: Semper Fi TV - swing
2007 7-10 Split a/k/a Strike Production designer
2007 Shadow Puppets Production designer
2007 Bone Dry Production designer
2007 Heroes: Chapter Twenty-Three ‘How to Stop an Exploding Man’ (#1.23) Art Department
2008 Blind Ambition Production designer
2008 Ingles Ya! Set designer
2009 Tom Cool Set decorator
2009 Dandelion Dharma Co-producer
2009 Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants TV documentary - Self
2009 It’s a Mismatch On-set dresser
2010 For the Good of the People Assistant production designer
2011 Cuff’d Producer

References

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  1. ^ "Kristen Ridgway Bio""Kristen Ridgway Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved Oct. 8, 2011
  2. ^ "Movie Link""Kristen Ridgway Filmography" Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, "The Films", retrieved Oct. 8, 2011
  3. ^ "Movies & TV""Kristen Ridgway", "The New York Times", retrieved Oct. 8, 2011
  4. ^ "The Feel Good Film Festival, retrieved Oct. 8, 2011
  5. ^ Flores, Kristen (2011-01-16). "Spotlight on the Community". 95.5 KLOS Southern California's Best Rock (Interview). Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  6. ^ "Justina Walford""Feel Good Film Festival: A festival that wants you to be happy...", "Latino Weekly Review", August 8, 2011
  7. ^ Flores, Kristen (2011-01-16). "Spotlight on the Community". 95.5 KLOS Southern California's Best Rock (Interview). Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  8. ^ Michael Jones, "Feel Good fest all for happy endings", "Variety", Aug. 1, 2008
  9. ^ Marshall Heyman, “Festival Seeks Happy Endings”, "Wall Street Journal", Aug. 12, 2011
  10. ^ Mark Bell, "2010 Feel Good Film Festival Lineup Announced" Archived September 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, "Film Threat", July 13, 2010
  11. ^ Elizabeth Regal, "The Feel Good Film Festival 2012 Review", "Splash Magazines", Aug. 26, 2012
  12. ^ Anthony Carpio, "North Hollywood film festival offers a little feel-good fare", "Daily News, Los Angeles", Aug. 2, 2012
  13. ^ Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council
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