MicroCinema Scene

The Blue November MicroFilm Festival has announced it is seeking entries for its sixth annual festival. The festival is an intimate affair, held in a Coffee House in Seattle. Best of all, there is no entry fee. Here are the details straight from festival organizer Captain Chambers:

The Sixth Annual Blue November MicroFilmFest is a totally free festival that supports the artist first and foremost, with a dedication to vision and artistic integrity in cinema, music and the arts. Designed for the truefilmmaker and the art of film, this festival focuses on the people behind the creation. It is free to those who attend, and it is always free for the artists.

Anyone can enter, and submissions will be carefully considered before being accepted or rejected. All art forms are open for submission: poetry, dance, performance, music, art exhibition and film. We are searching for the unique and the overlooked; we want to see it all!

The Call-for-Entries is open March 5th until August 15th of 2008. Participants can visit www.blue-november.com for the official rules and entry form. We encourage involvement from the local community, and invite anyone who submits an accepted film or artistic work to speak at the event. The promotion of the artist remains a primary goal of Blue November.

The Blue November MicroFilmFest has a tradition of working hand in hand with the people, organizations and businesses of the arts community. The Festival has maintained a standard of supporting the art of cinema and the creative vision of the director, the support of art in all forms and the tradition of a free festival for artists, filmmakers and patrons.

This coming November, the Green Bean Coffee House will play host to the further development of the Blue
November MicroFilmFest in Seattle. We have expanded yet again, and this year will include a broader reach
into supporting charity and the Greenwood neighborhood. Working together, like minds have coordinated an event that will exhibit unique cinema, local artists and Seattle musicians. The tradition continues.

Visit Blue November for the Official Entry

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace. This makes it easier than ever to make movies on an ultra-low budget level. But, sometimes you really need to have money to put your vision on screen. Many independent filmmakers put together independent financing by seeking out investors or maxing out their credit cards, but there is another method of financing your film that doesn’t get much press these days - GRANTS. While it is much harder to get a grant today than it was 20 years ago, this is still an option worth exploring.

This page compiles a list of organizations that give grants on a regular basis. This list will grow and change over time as we will be continually updating it. If you would like to suggest additions or revisions, or share you personal experience with the grant application process, please use our comments form below. We would love to hear from you.

>> SCREENWRITING GRANTS >>

The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program is an international competition open to screenwriters who have not earned more than $5,000 writing for film or television. Entry scripts must be the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. Entries must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible. Up to five $30,000 fellowships are awarded each year. Verified Feb 2008.

Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition
In addition to being an all around great festival, the AFF Screenwriting Competition is becoming increasingly prestigious. Best of all, they offer cash awards. Awards range from free festival passes to $5,000 and travel expenses. Verified Feb 2008.

>> PRODUCTION GRANTS >>

Creative Capital
This New York City-based nonprofit organization, acts as a catalyst for the development of adventurous and imaginative ideas by supporting artists who pursue innovation in form and/or content in the performing and visual arts, film and video, and in emerging fields. We are committed to working in partnership with the artists whom we fund, providing advisory services and professional development assistance along with multi-faceted financial aid and promotional support throughout the life of each Creative Capital project. Verified Feb 2008.

Film Arts Foundation Grants
The goal of the Film Arts Foundation Grants Program is to encourage new and diverse works by film and video artists who have little likelihood of being supported through traditional funding sources. These awards are targeted for film and videomakers in categories that are among the most difficult areas in which to raise money for media projects. Verified March 2008.

Oppenheimer New Filmmaker Grant Program
The Oppenheimer Cine Rental New Filmmaker Equipment Grant Program is a grant to support new filmmakers in producing their first serious film project. The grant awards the use of our Grant Program Arriflex 16SR2 camera package to senior and graduate thesis students and to independent filmmakers for a scheduled period of time. This specific package, which we have set aside for the grant program, should meet the needs of most 16mm projects. Proposed projects may be of any non-commercial nature: dramatic, narrative, documentary, experimental, etc. Verified Feb 2008.

Sundance Institute Documentary Fund
The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is a key program of the Documentary Film Program, dedicated to supporting U.S. and international documentary films that focus on current human rights issues, freedom of expression, social justice, civil liberties, and exploring critical issues of our time. Documentary Fund grants are announced 2-3 times a year and between 2002-2006, the Fund has disbursed almost $5.2 million to over 175 projects in 52 countries. Verified March 2008.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Media Grants
MacArthur supports independent documentary film and video and public radio in the United States to help ensure a diversity of viewpoints and expand the availability of high-quality content. The primary focus of the Foundation’s Media grantmaking is support for independent documentary films – usually those that address subject matter close to MacArthur’s grantmaking strategies. Funding for public radio is intended to maintain and strengthen its program-production infrastructure. Verified Feb 2008.

Sarah Jacobson Film Grant
This annual film grant is intended to honor the spirit and legacy of Sarah Jacobson. Sarah, whose feature film Mary Jane’s Not A Virgin Anymore screened at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, died in 2004 after a battle with cancer. Sarah led a DIY (”Do It Yourself”) movement in the 1990s, promoting and distributing her own work with her producer and mom, Ruth Ellen Jacobson, speaking at festivals and events everywhere, and writing about film for a number of publications. A tireless, at times even shameless, promoter of her own work, Sarah was also a passionate advocate for the films of fellow filmmakers. The Free History Project, Ruth Jacobson (Sarah’s mom), and a number of Sarah’s friends have contributed money in order to give out a small annual grant to one or more female filmmakers whose work embodies some of the things that Sarah stood for: a fierce DIY approach to filmmaking, a radical social critique, and a thoroughly underground sensibility.

Texas Filmmakers Production Fund
Since 1996 the Austin Film Society has awarded $750,000 in cash and $80,000 in goods and services to 243 film and video projects. We award grants once a year to emerging film and video artists in the state of Texas through our Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund. TFPF recipients have shown their films at renowned festivals like Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Tribeca, Slamdance and SXSW and have been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and won Student Academy Awards. Several have been released theatrically or in the cable and home video markets. The Austin Film Society is proud to support these Texas filmmakers making their mark in the world.

MK12 is a motion graphics/animation/sound design shop in Kansas City, MO. They produce amazing music videos, film titles, commercials and just about anything else you can think of. For the past four years they’ve been working on a 30 minute animated film entitled History of America. It’s not the most exciting title, but the film isn’t about the “true” history of America. Instead, it’s the History of America the way you wish it might have been - with cowboys fighting Astronauts.

The short is a lot of fun to watch and the design and animation is quite simply - eye popping. Lucky for us, MK12 has made it available to watch online for free via Ventilate.ca. I’m not sure how long it will be up, so do yourself a favor and download the high-res MP4. It’s well worth the download time.

[Via Josh Oakhurst]

One of the things that I love about the world of no-budget movie making is the poverty-inspired ingenuity. Resourceful filmmakers have devised ways to build D.I.Y. dollies, c-stands, car mounts and just about other piece of production technology. But here’s one I haven’t seen: a $3 mount for your boom mic.
Read more

MicroCinema Scene was launched in 2003. Since that time, we have amassed a large collection of articles related to filmmaking. We decided to organize this information and re-launch it as a new feature: The No-Budget Film School!

Currently, the No-Budget Film School encompasses everything from holding an audition to organizing a screening for your completed film. The unique thing about these articles is that they are all written by filmmakers who have worked on low-to-no budget movies. A lot of the information you find here is not covered in mainstream filmmaking books - because it is unconventional. It addresses the real issues that arise when you are scraping together all the resources you can get your hands on and making a movie despite almost impossible odds.

Use this collection of articles, and when you have a question or need additional information use our commenting system or head to the forums.

So, check out the No-Budget Film School, grab a camera and get started on your next film. We want to see it!

No-Budget Film School

DV guru Adam Wilt has written a lengthy and very in-depth review of Sony’s new EX-1 Camcorder. The EX-1 is seen by many as Sony’s response to the Panasonic HVX200 which has quickly become a favorite camcorder among indie filmmakers. The fact that this camera is the first camcorder from Sony’s Cine Alta group only adds to the lust factor.
Read more

The season premiere of Joe Swanberg’s new web series Butterknife is now live! People seem to either love or hate Swanberg’s work, and this series is probably only going to reinforce your feelings. It stays true to Swanberg’s shaky, shoot-on-the-fly aesthetic, but filters it all through the detective story genre. Episode 1 is titled Plastic Hassle and introduces the lead characters - a private investigator (played by Ronald Bronstein) and his wife (played by Mary Bronstein).

Sony Pictures Classics acquire Baghead. Baghead, the new film from the Duplass Brothers, was shot guerilla-style in and around Austin, TX last year. I’ve heard nothing but positive things and look forward to checking it out.

Brevis 35mm Flip Adapter reviewed. FreshDV really knocked it out of the park with their exhaustive coverage of Sony’s new EX1 camera. Now Matt Jeppsen follow it up with Part 1 of an extremely detailed review of the Brevis 35mm Flip Adapter.

D2DVD rakes it in. The New York Times reports that direct-to-DVD titles are raking in the cash. The new American Pie D2DVD earned $30 million on a less than $10 million production budget.

“The direct-to-video business was making titillating, low-quality movies to feed the rental channel,” said Craig Kornblau, the president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “We discovered we could keep franchises alive with made-for-DVD movies if we made them feature quality.”

Blu-Ray will win the format war. With Warner Brothers moving to Blu-Ray, Gartner market research company predicts HD-DVD will be gone by the end of the year.

Amit Tripuraneni’s Five won Best Action/Thriller at 2007’s MicroCinema Fest, but since it’s still not available on DVD in the U.S., chances are you probably haven’t seen it. Now thanks to Film.com you can watch it for free on-line. Five has been selected as Film.com’s Movie of the Week.

Watch Five

Read the MCS Review

Official Site

Synopsis: It’s morning as five people- former flatmates and old friends - wake up in a remote tramping hut. Some of them are feeling the effects of the walk to the hut while others are feeling the effects of previous night’s party. This weekend is a celebration of their friendship - it will be the last time they will go out on their annual ‘tradition’ of an adventure trip. Their lives await them on their return to civilization.

Belinda is still struggling with the recent suicide of her sister, Emily. Consoling her is her fiance, Rajit - the butt of old flat jokes, and eager to move on. The feisty yet insecure Zara, who has accepted a job overseas but has some unfinished business with one of her friends. Chris, the slacker - a lawyer, of all things, for whom this trip holds a cruel finality. And Henry - ‘old mother Hen’ - who is still young at heart and a ladies man to the core, tries to come to terms with girlfriend Emily’s death.

Old behaviours and dynamics - and rivalries - surface. Emily’s death has unexpectedly drawn Belinda and Henry together - a development neither Zara nor Rajit can handle. Zara has carried a torch for Henry for too long - a torch she wants to enflame before the weekend is out - while Rajit, already threatened by Belinda and Henry’s ‘history’, struggles with his jealousy. And Chris, fighting demons of his own, begins to remember little things about Emily’s final hours…

The market for web series is exploding so fast that it’s getting hard to keep up with it all. Today sees the launch of 60Frames - a new site dedicated to original web programming. So far, their programming is about what you’d expect - cheap and lowbrow. The initial batch of series include:

• Black Version - A new series of shorts parodying some of the most memorable moments in movies and television. New episodes weekly.
• Douchebag Beach - Three 20-something Douchebags from Northern New Jersey have search for true love on their annual trip to the Jersey Shore.
• Erik the Librarian - A reclusive, introspective, yet very vocal librarian on a perpetual quest to make himself understood.
• GILF - A-year-old grandma who leaves all the boys in the neighborhood wanting more.
• Who What Wear - A viewer’s guide to breaking celebrity and runway trends. Hosted by Katherine Powers and Hillary Kerr, the founders of WhoWhatWearDaily.com
• Cockpit - A Comedy webseries about the employees of Mile High Airlines and what really goes on behind that cockpit door.

The first episodes of all the series are available now.

The site mentions that 60Frames is looking for new content to finance and distribute - but don’t send them your DVDs just yet. You’ll need to have your attorney or agent set up a meeting.

LINK