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…

Don’t Just Watch: Participate!

On a cold night in January while I was visiting NYC, I ventured out to the 92YTribeca for the screening of The Accidental Advocate co-hosted by us at Working Films, and our good friends at Chicken & Egg Pictures. 92YTribeca is a new arts and entertainment venue whose motto is, “Don’t just watch: Participate.” I can get down with that. Before the film got started Judith, the Co-Founder of Working Films and Chicken & Egg, made an introduction and invited everyone to stay afterwards for a Q&A with two of…

Application Deadline approaching for 2009 Content + Intent Documentary Institute

You know how much we love watching and reading about new films, so please don’t deny us the opportunity to learn about yours. Send in your application today for the 2009 Content + Intent Documentary Institute, Working Films’ residency at MASS MoCA. If we have your application in our inbox by January 28, and your project is selected you will spend 5 jam packed days with the Working Films team in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. From March 11-15, 2009 we will guide you through the creation of an…

What is Real Food?

What is your favorite food? If you are like me, that’s an easy question to answer. Let’s try some more difficult questions: Where does your favorite food come from, and what steps does it go through to get to your plate? Does it originate in many different large-scale farms in far away countries? With the average vegetable traveling 1500 miles from farm to table, that is a very likely answer. I hope it’s not too much of an assumption that there is some form of vegetable involved in your choice.…

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…

MASS MoCA Residency Alum Launches Multimedia Website

As we gear up for the Content + Intent Documentary Institute, Working Films Residency at MASS MoCA for 2009 I have been in touch with alumni of the residency to see what they are up to and find out about ways the residency has influenced their audience engagement efforts. I was very excited when I received an email from ’06 Mass MoCA alum Paula Consolini sharing with me a new educational website that she has built using clips from her film Breaking the Mold. When Paula was at the MASS…

Filmmaker reflects on MASS MoCA 2008

As we begin taking applications for the 2009 Content + Intent Documentary Institute, Working Films’ Residency at MASS MoCA we wanted to give you a sense of what the experience was like for other filmmakers. In March of 2008 Sean Flynn joined 10 other documentarians for our 5 day workshop in the beautiful Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. The following are reflections on the residency that Sean so graciously agreed to share with us. If Sean’s experience sparks your interest in the Institute click here for more info and download the…