November 1 – 7, 2007
F.C. Film Festival Offerings Shown This Friday
Over a dozen films awarded runner-up standing for this year’s Falls Church Film Festival will be shown this Friday in conjunction with the City’s monthly First Friday festivities. The films, mostly shorts, will be shown in two-hour segments at two locations, according to Simon Van Steyn, festival coordinator. One group will be shown at the Art and Frame of Falls Church, the spiritual heart of First Friday, at 111 Park Avenue from 8 to 10 p.m. The other group will be shown at the showroom of F.A. McGonegal, 212 N. West Street from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The festival’s winning entries will be showcased at its annual gala on Nov. 13 at the State Theatre.
Local Marathoner Raises $ for F.C. Sister City in Congo
Maura Constance, a Falls Church city resident and mother of four, completed her first ever the annual Marine Corps Marathon in five-and-a-half hours Sunday. As an activist of Falls Church’s Sister City partnership with the Kokolopori region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she used her run as a fundraising tool, collecting $5,000 from City residents to support her run. She was spurred by learning that the annual salary and expenses of a Congolese physician could be covered for $2,500. Kokolopori is a cluster of 35 villages deep in the rain forests of the Congo with a total population of 5,000. Constance said that though she doesn’t plan to run in another marathon (“Way to far to run,” she said), she will continue fundraising efforts to establish a permanent clinic in Kokolopori.
Moran Wins Small Business Contractor Protection
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who represents the 8th District of Virginia, was successful in efforts to include an amendment to a bill to require a study to determine if large contractors are “gaming the system” by using bureaucratic maneuvers to block small businesses from receiving federal contracts. The amendment passed the House unanimously as part of the Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act (H.R. 3867). “By employing so-called frivolous protests, some larger firms drive up the cost of competing for government contracts beyond what many small businesses can afford,” Moran noted. The measure calls for a study and recommendations on how to ease the financial burden on small businesses during the protest phase of contracts.
