Slamdance is honored to have recognized the following writers as the official winners of the 2023 Slamdance Screenplay Competition at the Landmark Theatre in Westwood, LA on October 25th. We received over 4,000 scripts this season, with writers from across the globe submitting their stories. These screenplays represent the top 0.28% of applicants and are divided into four submission categories (Feature, Horror/Thriller, Pilot and Short)....
Slamdance is delighted to announce the winners of the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival. The festival is still available for on-demand streaming through January 29th on the Slamdance Channel. GRAND JURY AWARDS — FEATURES Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize: Waiting for the Light to Change (dir. Linh Tran) Honorable Mention: Where the Road Leads (dir. Nina Ognjanović) Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize: Starring Jerry as Himself (dir. Law Chen) Honorable Mention: Silent Love (dir. Mark Kozakiewicz) Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize: The Underbug (dir. Shujaat Saudagar) Honorable Mention: Onlookers (dir. Kimi Takesue) Episodes Grand Jury Prize: Palookaville (dir. Theodore Collatos) Honorable Mention: Off Fairfax (dir. Erica Eng) GRAND JURY AWARDS — UNSTOPPABLE Unstoppable Grand Jury Prize: Millstone (dir. Peter Hoffman Kimball) Honorable Mention: My Eyes Are Up Here (dir. Nathan Morris) GRAND JURY AWARDS — SHORTS Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: The Sidewalk Artist (dir. David Velez & Brandon Rivera) Honorable Mention: Gwendoline (dir Joaquim Bayle) Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize: The Unicorn in Snowpants Suddenly Ran Off (dir. Philipp Schaeffer) Honorable Mention: Moomin (dir. Zach Dorn) Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Red Threads (dir. Yuchi Ma) Honorable Mention: Grillz & Mirrors (dir. Michael U. Olowu) Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Hot Dogs! (dir. Frank Volk) Honorable Mention: Sliver Cave (dir. Caibei Cai) FESTIVAL WIDE AWARDS:...
Slamdance is honored to have recognized the following writers at our 2022 Slamdance Screenplay Competition Awards on October 23rd at the Nuart Theatre. We received over 4,000 scripts this season, with writers from across the globe submitting their stories. These screenplays represent the top 0.28% of applicants and are divided into four submission categories (Feature, Horror, Pilot and Short). We'll see you in 2023!...
Sunday, October 23rd | 7:00 p.m. The Nuart Theatre Slamdance is delighted to return to in-person events with a special screening of our 2022 Audience Award-winner The Civil Dead on October 23rd, 2022. The screening will be preceded by the 2022 Slamdance Screenplay Awards and will conclude with a Q&A with filmmakers Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas. The Civil Dead follows a struggling misanthropic photographer who just wants to watch TV and eat candy while his wife is out of town. But when a desperate old pal resurfaces, his plans are thwarted with spooky consequences. This special screening is presented by Landmark Theatres and Slamdance. Tickets are $20 each and are available for purchase now. Buy Tickets Now...
Help Slamdance Support Sunflower Network After helping filmmakers Thomas Swinburn and Jayden Stevens raise more than $6,000 for the Ukrainian cast and crew of the 2021 Slamdance film A Family, Slamdance is proud to now support Sunflower Network in its mission to support Ukrainians impacted by the ongoing crisis. Learn more about Sunflower Network and make a donation here. A Statement From Slamdance Alum Marcin Borchardt Dear Friends, As a filmmaker, I can not be deaf and blind in the face of war. That's why I started this private awakening campaign. I hope you know what is happening in Ukraine. Putin unleashed a criminal war, and suddenly, one day everything changed. I have a lot of Ukrainian friends, so what's going on right now is just heartbreaking. It's difficult for me to briefly describe what is happening in Poland where I’m now. The scale of helping and engaging everyone around is unprecedented and impressive. Nobody doubts that if Ukraine falls, Poland and the other Eastern European countries will be the next target. As a Slamdance alumn, I’m proud that I can spread the ideas of the festival. Our community's most important slogan is - filmmakers for filmmakers. Now, the time is right to act. Any help, any form of demonstration of solidarity is very important. Together we can do...
https://youtu.be/QxF4vzcgnUY Slamdance is delighted to announce the winners of the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival. The full festival is still available for on-demand streaming through 6 February with your $10 virtual pass. Watch now. Experimental Shorts Honorable Mention: Compositions for Understanding Relationships, directed by David De La Fuente Grand Jury Winner: Chameleon (A Visual Album), directed by Jaamil Olawale Kosoki & Ima Iduozee Animated Shorts Honorable Mention: Oldboy's Apples, directed by Brad Hock Grand Jury Winner: I'm Here, directed by Julia Orlik Documentary Shorts Honorable Mention: Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying, directed by Jonathan Mehring Grand Jury Winner: The Ritual to Beauty, directed by Shenny de Los Angeles & Maria Marrone Narrative Shorts Honorable Mention: See You, Garbage! directed by Romain Dumont Grand Jury Winner: Ratking, directed by Eric Colonna CreativeFuture Innovation Award Winner: My Parent, Neal, directed by Hannah Saidiner George Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner: Sasha Levinson, director of Sylvie of the Sunshine State Audience Awards Episodes: The Ember Knight Show: "Getting Mad" created by Ember Knight & Bobby McCoy Documentary Feature: Iron Family, directed by Patrick Longstreth Narrative Feature: The Civil Dead, directed by Clay Tatum & Whitmer Thomas AGBO Fellowship Winner: Ethan Eng, director of Therapy Dogs Unstoppable Honorable Mention: Selahy (My Weapon), directed by Alaa Zabara Grand Jury Winner: Straighten Up and Fly Right, directed by Kristen Abate & Steven Tanenbaum Breakout...
Slamdance Film Festival cancels in-person portion of its festival; Continues its virtual festival program, beginning January 27 Los Angeles–December 23, 2021 – Due to concerns around the Omicron variant, and for the safety of its staff, filmmakers, and audience, the Slamdance Film Festival will forgo the in-person portion of its hybrid event in Park City, which was scheduled to run January 20-23. Slamdance will continue its virtual festival program with an accessible and robust lineup of virtual screenings, events, and live Q&A’s running January 27-February 6, 2022. The January 27 start date is a week later than originally planned, which allows the festival team to transition many of the events that were planned for the physical edition to the online format. “Although we are disappointed that we won’t be able to participate in the communal, in-person experience, we know we can create a unique festival experience for all of our filmmakers through Slamdance’s online platform.” Said Peter Baxter, Slamdance President and Co-Founder. “We are looking forward to utilizing the expertise we've already gained in attracting a global audience, building upon our accessibility goals and pushing the boundaries of what a decentralized festival can be.” Pre-buy your all-access virtual pass today....
28 features, 79 shorts, and 7 episodes will be showcased during the 28th edition, which returns to Park City with a hybrid festival The Festival also integrates technology and art with the launch of Blockchain Fairy Tales Project December 8, 2021 (Los Angeles, CA) - Slamdance Film Festival, the premiere film festival and organization “by filmmakers, for filmmakers,” today announced the full lineup for its 28th edition hybrid festival. Known for challenging the status quo, Slamdance and its artist-led community have long held a reputation for discovering talent, often overlooked by the mainstream, that go on to change the entertainment industry. In 2022, the festival returns to its original home in Park City, Utah for its physical festival January 20-23, 2022, bridged with an accessible and robust program of virtual screenings, running January 20-30, 2022. “We are anti-algorithm. That’s always been true, but it’s more urgent than ever as we continue to celebrate truly unique voices that defy simple classification and transcend analytics,” said Slamdance President and co-founder Peter Baxter. “This year our programmers gravitated towards films that embody the true DIY spirit of guerrilla filmmaking and push the boundaries of what’s possible in storytelling. The Slamdance team is honored to introduce everyone of these storytellers, who are changing the media narrative and elevating the...
2021 Slamdance Screenplay Awards | October 14th, 11 AM PT/2 PM PT Join Slamdance, the WGA, and hosts Daniel Casey and Jessica Sinyard in conversation on building their careers as screenwriters, as well as the impact of screenwriting competitions on their overall trajectory. We will also announce and celebrate the 2021 Slamdance Screenplay Competition Winners in Features, Horror/Thriller, TV Pilots, and Shorts categories, as well as the 2021 Screenplay Mentorship Award and the Grand Prize winner for Best Screenplay! This event was streamed live through Slamdance's Facebook page. Visit the event page to watch the recording of the ceremony....
Diverse coalition of Slamdance alumni, local filmmakers, and arts leaders choose 18 films for inaugural event...
Artist Led Festival Sets February 12-25, 2021 Dates with Free Viewing, Desert Experience, Filmmaker Revenue Share and New Program for Creators with Disabilities Slamdance, the festival organization known for the discovery of filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, the Russo Brothers, Lynn Shelton, Lena Dunham, Ari Aster, Andrew Patterson and Merawi Gerima will take a break from Park City in 2021 by moving virtually to slamdance.com, YouTube and physically to Joshua Tree, California. A two week virtual festival experience brings everything Slamdance has to offer to a global online audience on slamdance.com and YouTube. The online showcase includes short and feature film programs, filmmaker Q&A's, jury and audience awards presentations, workshops and panels with notable alumni and Slamdance's first program for filmmakers with disabilities called Unstoppable. The showcase will provide revenue sharing from sponsor proceeds for filmmakers and free online viewing opportunities for audiences. The physical festival experience is an invite-only, socially-distanced weekend desert retreat for filmmakers to safely gather and connect with each other and industry guests. Here, Slamdance will present premier outdoor screenings, filmmaker workshops, notable alumni and industry talks and music. The filmmaker retreat will be adjacent to a public drive-in cinema program. In this year of covid and chaos, a sense of community is one of the most potent losses we are feeling...
2020 Slamdance Screenplay Awards | October 8th, 11 AM PT/2 PM PT Join Slamdance, the WGA, and host Todd Berger in conversation with past winners and Slamdance alumni screenwriters on building their careers as writers in the Film/TV industry. We will also announce and celebrate the 2021 Slamdance Screenplay Competition Winners in Feature, Short, Horror/Thriller and TV Pilot categories, as well as the 2021 Grand Prize winner for Best Screenplay! Featuring: Naima Ramos-Chapman (HBO's Betty, Random Acts of Flyness, Piu Piu), Jessica Sinyard (2018 Grand Prize Winner The Peak), Tyler Tice (2017 Grand Prize Winner Dayshift), Todd Berger (It's a Disaster, The Happytime Murders) More Info https://youtu.be/I-6MJhPG-IU ...
The Producer's Legal Guide to Covid-19: A Series of Virtual Legal Clinics on Your Rights & Obligations During the Pandemic. with David Albert Pierce of Pierce Law Group, LLP Entertainment attorney David Albert Pierce answers the pressing legal questions submitted by filmmakers on what you legally can and should do to protect yourself, your production, your for-profit or non-profit company, or your employees in light of these unprecedented circumstances. Are you an independent film producer who's had to postpone or cancel a shoot? Do you run a production company figuring out payroll when there is no longer any income? Are you an event producer who's had to cancel events and wondering what expenses you can recover or what is protected by insurance? Do you wonder what filmmaking and productions will need to look like post-quarantine? If you've missed our livestream Legal Clinics so far. you can still watch them below. Check back soon for updated information on our next session! https://www.facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival/videos/2517020621735084/ https://www.facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival/videos/244623609964830/ The California Department of Public Health announced that film production could re-open as early as June 12, but there’s always a catch… Our friends at Pierce Law Group have been following and compiling the new state-wide, nation-wide, and even worldwide rules and guidelines that film and TV crews must abide by when...
February 26, 2020 (Los Angeles, CA) - ArcLight Cinemas and Slamdance today announced the lineup for their inaugural Emergence Film Festival, taking place March 26th - 29th at ArcLight Cinemas’ Hollywood location. The lineup includes both premieres and Slamdance Park City festival favorites and will showcase Features, Shorts, and Episodics along with Slamdance’s signature categories Anarchy and DIG. This new partnership is an extension of the two organizations’ successful Slamdance Cinema Club screening series. Tickets and passes are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online and at the theater. Passes can be purchased in advance through the Slamdance website here. The lineup is comprised overwhelmingly of local filmmakers, with a Los Angeles connection for 90% of the features, further supporting the local independent film community. There will be eight features with a mix between documentaries and narratives, nineteen shorts and episodes, 11 Anarchy shorts and four DIG experiences. All feature films are directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million USD and without US distribution. Films were selected by a team of Slamdance alumni and are programmed democratically. Feature Films and Shorts will be eligible for an audience award and ArcLight Cinemas will award the Shorts winner with distribution across its chain. Photos of selected films available here. “With the launch of Emergence,...
Grand Prize & 1st Place Feature The Fall by Michael Lipoma & Tamra Teig East Berlin 1989 - A single mother is forced to become a spy to save her son when he’s framed for murder, and her act of revenge, woven into historic events, leads to the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Our producing partner's uncle was accused of being a KGB agent, and died under suspicious circumstances when he tried to extricate himself to protect his family. We used that as the inspiration and chose another time in history that was filled with espionage--the Cold War world behind the Berlin Wall. As we researched the idea of a mother who's forced to become a spy to save her son, we discovered the real cause of the fall of the Berlin Wall--a communication error. We wove real stories of East Berliners' struggles to free themselves from their oppressive regime into historic events and imagined how these events could have unfolded, through the eyes of single mother trying to keep her children safe behind the Iron Curtain."...
Get Tickets to DIG This October, Slamdance brings its 5th annual DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming) showcase to Los Angeles featuring works by emerging visual artists and indie game developers from around the world. DIG will be open to the public October 24-25, 2019 at the Los Angeles Art District’s new immersive art park Wisdome, adding to the city’s rich offerings of interactive art experiences. DIG 2019 features a diverse lineup that explores the breadth of possibilities of new technologies and ways they can be used for creative expression. Projection pieces IMMERSIVE and tx-reverse 360° envelop the viewer from above and take advantage of Wisdome’s unique domed architecture. Cinematic VR documentaries How to Tell a True Immigrant Story and Children Do Not Play War bring Slamdance’s strong background in supporting cutting-edge filmmaking into new frontiers of film technology. An AI-generated new album, Chain Tripping, from LA based electro pop duo YACHT, and a reinterpretation of Hitchcock classic Vertigo are among projects exploring the creative possibilities of artificial intelligence. The diverse program also features interactive experimental dance, indie games, social AR filters, and a brain-wave generated musical performance. Slamdance will also be previewing a selection of DIG works at Mobile World Congress in collaboration with 4YFN on October 23 and 24. This collaboration with 4YFN...