The 7th Annual New Media Film Festival is right around the corner! What are you hoping will make this year stand apart from previous years?
We are so very excited to start the 7th Annual New Media Film Festival June 7-9 2016 at The Landmark Theater in Los Angeles. Many new changes and additions as well as some tried and true this year. We were honored to receive the world premiere of an film that was created with Artificial Intelligence, then we offered the world premiere to FMX.de to further the filmmakers career and kept the US. We also added Drone and VR to the categories. The drone footage has been spectacular managing to tell a story visually with drones. VR is so cool and varied. We have an Oscar Winner on board that has offered to help run the session which is lovely, but to respect his schedule, I’m reaching out to VR companies to come on board as a strategic partner. (If you run a VR company reach out to us at www.NewMediaFilmFestival.com click contact)
Every year, new stories with new technologies emerge. It is always exciting to see what content creators are doing.
Here are our categories:
Who are your judges?
We have amazing judges, really in the trenches of what is going on. HBO came on board this year! Other judges are:
How does your community support your festival?
It is fun to open up our email everyday. People in communities all over the world reach out to share information, see how we can help each other help content creators. We feel those that attend not only learn and experience New Media content but cultivate relationships that last a lifetime.
How does your festival give back to your community?
There are many ways we give back both during the year and at the festival. For example, last year we held free networking events in New York, Iceland, Thailand and Hong Kong, gave money to a non-profit and gave tickets away to a Jane Goodall Documentary that the United Nations Film Festival was putting on to name just a few. We have free networking in The Wine Bar during the festival (not opening night) as well as a free New Media Marketing Table, place one take one business card/postcard that is very popular in the hall of the theater as well as a free International Art Exhibit, free to submit, free to enjoy. This year, Prince Lorenzo DE Medici will be showing the work he is creating based on his ancestors from the Renaissance era.
Who started New Media Film Festival? What was their goal? Do you feel that this is still your goal or has it changed?
Susan Johnston is the Founder/Director Bio attached. The goal was to honor stories worth telling in New Media as the stories you read, write, watch etc. encode our now and New Media makes creating and distributing content so much easier. What would you like your life to look like? Start being, watching, telling those stories.
Do you feel that this is still your goal or has it changed?
We feel that New Media is ever evolving and we are on the pulse of that and adjust continually to make sure that we are on track with honoring stories worth telling, making the cutting edge accessible and helping community have a “creative sandbox” to learn – create- do
What makes you different than other festivals?
Honoring Stories Worth Telling and as Huffington Post writer Xaque Gruber said, “Makes the cutting edge accessible”
This is what is on our submit page
What you get
- Rewards:
Each entry is considered for Screening in a state of the art theatre, The Landmark, owned by Mark Cuban and/or Competition and/or Distribution - Awards:
$45,000.00 in Awards will be given out
One “Grand Prize” and 20 “Best Category” awards
View the entire awards list - Exposure / credentials:
- And other Industry Leaders
We are an IMDB Qualifier via Withoutabox - Festival privileges:
All submissions received will receive a response
Receive discounts just for entering
All qualifying (selected to screen) entries will receive a VIP badge and other festival perks
We Accept it All
- All Countries, All Media, All Lengths
- All Completed by Dates
- Distributed and Non-Distributed Content
- We accept content that has already been published on the internet
Do you have an interesting/funny/sad/strange story from previous years?
Last year some of the volunteers did not show up so two sponsors offered to pitch in. It was hilarious and heartwarming to see a man in a suit and a woman in heels helping set up. They did not know each other, so when VIP Soiree started I suggested they go meet the filmmakers and enjoy the wine (2 glasses per person) and cheese. I discovered that as they were in the VIP Soiree and discussing their businesses, the studio owner/producer realized that the post production house CEO was the exact type she was looking for in a hard to find role and offered him to audition. Although he was not an actor, he went, auditioned and they just finished shooting!
On a sad note, we discovered one of our beloved volunteers (family I call them) passed away in December. I had the pleasure of speaking with her just before I left for Hong Kong. Los Angeles Times is graciously allowing us to show a piece they made in which Angela McEwan was reading poetry. We will show this in an homage to a great woman, actress, friend and festival family.
How many festival attendees do you expect this year?
We added a day, so come on down and help us celebrate! More room, more people to meet and content to watch.
What would you say If you were to give advice to a filmmaker wanting to screen at your festival?
Tell the story you want to tell well and with the tools you have at your disposal. The beauty of New Media is you the story will be the length it needs to be, no more or less. We have a Snipler – 30 second pitch category as well as feature films. When accepted to a festival, we understand you may be nervous, but breathe and send In your deliverables on time.
Check out the New Media Film Festival website.
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