The Good Pitch Comes to Hot Docs – Call for Entries

The Good Pitch is a unique opportunity for filmmakers to pitch social-issue documentary projects and associated campaign strategies to an audience of NGOs, foundations, campaigners, advertising agencies, brands and media. Last summer we co-hosted the inaugural Good Pitch at the BritDoc Film Festival, and had a spectacular time. The Good Pitch at Hot Docs welcomes submissions from filmmakers of any nationality working on documentary projects with a human rights focus. There is no entry fee to apply and the deadline is  quickly approaching – February 20th, 2009. Two additional gigs…

Eighth Annual Cine Noir Festival of Black Film Deadline Extended

Rhonda Bellamy, Festival Director of the Cine Noir Festival of Black Film has announced that the deadline has been extended due to several late inquiries. The entry deadline is now February 6, 2009. The festival will be held March 12-15, 2009 in Wilmington, NC, the third largest filmmaking community in the country. The juried and invitational festival showcases features, shorts, animation, and documentary films. Prizes of $500 will be awarded in each category, provided there is a minimum of three entries that will be screened in any given category. Submission…

Building Intention: SavingJackie.org

Filmmaker Selena Burks left the 2006 Working Films Content + Intent Documentary Institute at MASS MoCA feeling charged and armed with the know-how to develop the community engagement campaign for her documentary Saving Jackie. Saving Jackie is a snapshot of a recovering addict’s attempt to strengthen her damaged relationships with her two estranged daughters. Over the course of the documentary, daughter/director Selena Burks revisits life changing events and examines the long-term side effects of abusive behaviors on family relationships. Selena recently shared with me, her thoughts on the residency: I…

What I learned from the LGBT Bloggers Summit

I just got back from the LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative Summit in Washington, DC which was sponsored by Jonathan Lewis, Human Rights Campaign, Bolthouse Farms, Victory Fund, Center for American Progress Action Fund, National Organizing Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and many others. I met many different kinds of bloggers and writers. Some were personal bloggers who did not consider themselves activists while others were hard core activists and politicos. We all shared one thing in common: We all identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and/or…

A look into our Filmmaker Services: Consultations

Working Films offers a range of services specifically for filmmakers. Among those services are resource documents, residencies, summit meetings and free consultations to name a few. Over the years, we have provided one-on-one consultations to over 450 filmmakers at many different stages of their film. Many filmmakers are full of questions while some aren’t really quite sure where to begin. Prior to the actual conversation, filmmakers fill out a short, four question form about their film which helps prepare us in finding the best possible strategies and suggestions for their…

Blog Action Day: Documentaries on Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day and people all over are writing posts about issues of poverty. We immediately thought about a film that brought home the 2008 Full Frame / Working Films Award, Trouble the Water. The award winning documentary captures the story of a couple, Kim and Scott, who were trapped in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The film offers a first hand account of people living in the 9th ward with limited resources who are unable to evacuate the city and forced to survive the floods. After three…

Powerful Trip to Tucson, AZ

Often times we hear on the news about the hundreds of thousands of people crossing into the United States every year, but seldom do we stop to think that among them are young children… 9, 12, 14 years old risking their lives in the desert. On September 27 I was honored to spend the bulk of the day strategizing with incredible activists and organizers about how Children in No Man’s Land can enhance their work to protect the lives and rights of children and other immigrants crossing our southern border.…

The Green Lifestyle Film Festival currently accepting submissions!

The Green Lifestyle Film Festival is currently accepting submissions for next year’s festival to be held March 13-15, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The Green Lifestyle Film Festival is a unique festival that “focuses on sustainable life choices”. The deadline for submission is December 31st, 2008. To submit your film or find out more information, please visit their website.

Call for Entries: Ninth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival!

“The Media That Matters Film Festival…is unlike most in its insistence on community screenings through the world. The stories are humane, emotionally rich and often humorous despite the heavy subject matter.” – The Indypendent Media That Matters is the premier showcase for short films with big messages. Following a New York City Premiere, Awards Ceremony and industry networking events in June 2009, your film will take part in the Media That Matters international, multi-platform campaign with DVD distribution, broadcasts, streaming and hundreds of screenings across the globe! Each year Working…

Fellowship Opportunity for Creative Professionals

Are you an excellent photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker, artist, or other creative professional? The Open Society Institute (OSI), is seeking professionals from around the world for the Open Society Fellowship who focus on one of the following four areas: National Security and the Open Society; Citizenship, Membership and Marginalization; Strategies and Tools for Advocacy and Citizen Engagement; and Understanding Authoritarianism. OSI is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform.This fellowship enables innovative professionals-including journalists,…