FROM A TENT TO A THEATRE
Joedance started as a promise Diane Restaino made to her son Joe during his 4-year battle with osteosarcoma. She promised Joe that she would raise funds and awareness to find a better way to treat childhood cancer. At the time she didn’t know what that would look like, but she knew it would not be a 5k, a gala, or a luncheon.
At the time, the Restaino family’s HOA had been showing movies in their courtyard as a fun activity for homeowners. The attendance kept growing, and as it always goes with a grassroots beginning the suggestion of a film festival came up. It was a perfect fit! The Restaino Family’s New Year’s Eve tradition for 20 years (and still going) was lunch and a movie.
At the time, the Restaino family’s HOA had been showing movies in their courtyard as a fun activity for homeowners. The attendance kept growing, and as it always goes with a grassroots beginning the suggestion of a film festival came up. It was a perfect fit! The Restaino Family’s New Year’s Eve tradition for 20 years (and still going) was lunch and a movie.
Joedance was born in 2010 with a screening Sundance films on the side of a town home in the courtyard of 10th Street Townhomes.
Here’s a look back at our film festivals over the years that take place in Charlotte every first weekend in August.
Here’s a look back at our film festivals over the years that take place in Charlotte every first weekend in August.