Blog: Film festivals

Poppy Jasper Inc. is a non profit that has been promoting film and creativity through its annual film festival The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival for more than 15 years. Based in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, Hollister and San Juan Bautista, it's been affiliated with the historic Granada Theater and has enjoyed strong community support as one of a handful of art festivals in the Gilroy and Morgan Hill region that regularly draws over 3000 people to its 8-day festival. Our mission is to celebrate artistic achievement in film, promote tomorrow’s filmmakers, create a space where filmmakers can learn from each other and industry professionals, and educate youth, adults, seniors and veterans about careers in film and the digital arts.

The 2020 Poppy Jasper Film International Film Festival is our 15th annual gathering of filmmakers and film fans in the bucolic southern reaches of Silicon Valley.

The Poppy Jasper Film Festival continues to celebrate and support the best and brightest of new and upcoming filmmakers from around the world, along with industry professionals and film fans who want to see the filmmakers’ latest and greatest works. This year, the newly renovated Granada Theater will be the centerpiece of the Gala and Awards Ceremony. While screenings will be at the Morgan Hill Playhouse in Morgan Hill and Capos Theater in Gilroy. These historic buildings are a perfect way to enjoy the art of filmmaking.


The festival will occur in April of 2020, and will continue to include feature-length films as well as the entertaining and innovative short films from all over the world.

The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival is a project, under the auspices of Poppy Jasper, Inc., a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) Public Benefit Corporation, dedicated to giving filmmakers of all films a venue to showcase their work, participate in workshops, network with fellow filmmakers, and share artistic expression with other creative individuals who seek to express their talent in the form of moving images.

Morgan Hill and Gilroy are charming, quaint towns located in southern Santa Clara Valley, approximately 12 miles south of San Jose, and 15 miles inland from the Pacific Coast. Surrounded by the Santa Cruz and the Diablo mountain ranges, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin, Hollister and San Juan Bautista are home to many fine wineries and restaurants, scenic vistas, and lovely hiking trails, as well as the semi-precious stone, poppy jasper, from which the festival's name is derived.

Poppy Jasper is a world-renowned, semi-precious gemstone characterized by red and "poppy-yellow" circles (orbs) on a field of white and/or black. Poppy Jasper is unique to Morgan Hill with The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC listing the "type locality" for Poppy Jasper as Morgan Hill, California.