20TH ANNUAL FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL CALL FOR ENTRIES AND ONLINE SUBMISSION

Calls for entries are officially open for the 20th annual Florida Film Festival, April 8 through April 17, 2011. Submission forms and eligibility requirements for American independent and international can be found online at the official website, www.FloridaFilmFestival.com. Submissions can be filed directly to the Florida Film Festival or through Withoutabox. The Festival is sponsored by Full Sail University.

Competition categories include short films, documentary films (both short and feature length), and narrative features. Awards are determined by a jury of film professionals and by audience ballot.

UCF Film Students in Competition at Global Peace Film Festival

Cinema Studies students: Aleksey Siman, Benjamin Michel and Abdullah Sabawi's films made it into the 2010 Global Peace Film Festival, an international film festival held annually here in Orlando.

All three students were a part of Dr. Lisa Mills' Documentary Workshop class in which she required each student to make a short documentary. Ben and Aleksey made their film about a unique woman, Leandra Preston who teaches Women's Studies at UCF and runs an anti-domestic violence non-profit organization which fosters women's pets while they transition from domestic abuse situations. Abdullah took a comedic approach in his film about a Muslim American looking to get married and leaving the single life in "Muslim Bachelorhood." The students films will be playing at the festival's venues between September 21st - 26th this fall.

ASIF Call for Entries

INDEPENDENT FILMAKERS INVITED TO SUBMIT FILMS

The American Society of Independent Filmmakers (ASIF) is inviting producers to submit their short films for consideration in the first annual ASIF Short Film Competition.


The films selected will be entered in National and International Film Festivals, with entry fees supplied by ASIF. If the films qualify to be presented at the designated festival, ASIF will then underwrite the filmmakers trip to the event and cover expenses.

The American Society of Independent Filmmakers is a new organization whose
ultimate goal is to provide a broad range of support to independent filmmakers in all aspects of production. From conceptualizing to distribution, ASIF hopes to make available the needed resources to assist in the completion of independent projects.

"Less Lost" News

Volusia County's local art beat go386.com recently published an article featuring UCF Film MFA grad student Chase Connor and his old high school classmates who are teaming up to help Chase on his feature "Less Lost".

THE 7TH ANNUAL OLA FEST IS COMING!

THE 7TH ANNUAL OLA FEST IS COMING!

(Orlando Latin American Film & Heritage Festival)

SHOWCASING THE BEST IN COLOMBIAN FILMS IN FEBRUARY 10-13, 2011.

Continuing to celebrate Orlando's three Latin American Sister Cities: Curitiba (Brazil), Monterrey (Mexico) and Valladolid (Spain) through film and cultural events.

By integrating different art forms, OLA FEST promotes artistic achievement, conviviality, service, sustainability and usefulness. More than a film festival, OLA FEST is a cultural pattern advocating community building and personal meaning.

Follow their progress at www.olafest.org

UCF Film Creates Buzz at Annual UFVA Conference!

On Saturday August 14th, 2010 UCF Film BFA student Jon Perez, MFA student Alex Bowser, and UCF Film faculty Andrew Gay gave a presentation on DSLR Cinematography at the University Film & Video Association's annual conference. This year the conference was held at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

From Left to Right: Alex Bowser, Jon Perez, Andrew Gay, & Randy Finch

UCF Film BFA undergrad Jon Perez gave a general analysis on working with DSLR cameras in the field and the "implications of DSLRs as an instrument for a new cinematic literacy." Following Perez's intro to the world of DSLR filmmaking, UCF Film Visiting Lecturer (and recent graduate of Film's MFA track) Andrew Gay presented his research on "DSLRs as a technology to form a new cinematic intimacy." MFA grad Alex Bowser closed the presentation by examining "DSLRs as a tool for micro-budget filmmaking." Gay and Bowser both directed feature films over the past year using the DSLR technology.

MicroFilmmaker Magazine Comments on Film's MFA Track

Associate Professor Randy Finch, posted about the program on Ted Hope's Truly Free Film blog about month ago. It inspired Sheri Candler (of Microfilmmaker Magazine) to write this piece after reading about what she describes as "a very innovative MFA program at the University of Central Florida." 

"The "Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema" track aims to provide a comprehensive education in all aspects of film and media content creation which includes production of a feature length microbudget film that is fully funded by the efforts of the filmmaker and a detailed marketing strategy for its distribution. Very innovative!"

Also in the article, Interim Chair of the Film Department, Steve Schlow explains how the MFA program transitioned from an industrial Hollywood model into the microbudget model it is today.

"Gutter King" review!

Another great review for Keith Alan Morris' film, "Gutter King." Keith graduated from UCF Film's MFA track in 2008: "Gutter King": Violence Hurts. Translation from Spanish to English curiosity of Google Translate.

Call for Entries for the Inaugural Love Your Shorts Film Festival!

"We are excited to let you know about a new film festival in your backyard. The Love Your Shorts Film Festival will debut February 11-13, 2011, in Sanford, Florida, a community that embraces the arts – and is now ready to add a movie festival to its art scene. The festival is open to novice and veteran filmmakers, both amateur and professional in all categories. The event will showcase films of up to 30 minutes."

UCF FILM Associate Professor Barry Sandler Published in New Book

Recently, UCF Film Associate Professor Barry Sander teamed up with fellow UCF English Associate Professor Tison Pugh to write an essay for an upcoming book entitled Larger Then Life: Movie Stars of the 1950's. The book will be released on August 13th, 2010. The official description of the new collection of essays is as follows:

"The constellation of Hollywood stars burned brightly in the 1950s, even as the industry fell on hard economic times. Major artists of the 1940s—James Stewart, Jerry Lewis, and Gregory Peck—continued to exert a magical appeal but the younger generation of moviegoers was soon enthralled by an emerging cast, led by James Dean and Marlon Brando. They, among others, ushered in a provocative acting style, “the Method,” bringing hard-edged, realistic performances to the screen. Adult-oriented small-budget dramas were ideal showcases for Method actors, startlingly realized when Brando seized the screen in On the Waterfront. But, with competition from television looming, Hollywood also featured film-making of epic proportion—Ben-Hur and other cinema wonders rode onto the screen with amazing spectacle, making stars of physically impressive performers such as Charlton Heston."

UCF TV looking for interns and part-time production staff

University of Central Florida’s Public Broadcasting Station UCF TV is looking for creative, ambitious, hard working and technically skilled students to join our team as interns and part-time production staff. UCF TV is a full service, creative, professional and highly productive, PBS affiliated TV channel comprised of video producers, writers, on-camera talent, and programming and distribution professionals. UCF TV airs in Central Florida on Bright House Networks digital channel 1, Central Florida on Demand on Bright House Networks channel 300, Comcast digital channel 205, over the air on digital TV channel 68-2 and campus analog cable channel 19. UCF TV can also be seen at www.ucf.tv and YouTube.com/UCF.

Alumnus film, "A New Ecology for a Citizen of a Digital Age" is on a roll!

UCF Film Alumnus, Nick Briz, has had considerable success with his film "A New Ecology for a Citizen of a Digital Age." This is a project he produced while he was an undergrad here at UCF during an Independent Study with Associate Professor Christopher Harris.

Florida Film Festival Call For Entries

Call for Entries
The 20th annual Florida Film Festival, April 8-17, 2011 is now open for submissions.

Filmmakers can submit through FFF’s online entry form or through Withoutabox.com*.

MFA Grad Busy This Summer on New Haiti Doc

MFA graduate, Keith Morris was busy this summer working on a new documentary about Haiti. Check out a sneak pic of the new film screened by the State Dept and Gen. Petraeus.

http://vimeo.com/13661823/