The group behind San Diego Film Week is seeking entrants for what it calls the Black Lives Matter Film Challenge — open to anyone.
Filmmakers from San Diego County and throughout the globe are invited to take part, said Film Consortium San Diego, founded in 2012 to advance the craft locally.
Deadline to submit the films — maximum of 15 minutes, not including 60-second end credits — is Feb. 15, 2021. The festival is tentatively set for June 17-26 “as a mix of live and virtual screenings of locally, nationally and internationally produced films.”
The BLM film contest “is hugely important because it affords filmmakers of all ethnicities to weigh in on a problem that plagues society,” says competition ambassador Mark Christopher Lawrence. “Hopefully, the submissions will elevate awareness of the systemic racism in our society and spur people to not only talk about it but to act.”
“Best Of” selections from the competition will be screened as part of San Diego Film Week 2021.
Multiple awards will include “Best Film,” “Best Female Directed Film” and “Best Drama” among other categories. Also planned is an “Audience Choice Award” for the film that gets the most “likes” and “shares” on social media.
Judges will be the ambassador and Selection Committee of 10 mostly local African American filmmakers, producers and film professors.
Entries will be judged by a process in which qualified panels of judges will evaluate the eligible entries based on the following judging criteria: artistic merit (story, creativity, entertainment value) (45%), technical merit (30%) and adherence to the assignment (25%).
Select films will be released on social media ahead of Film Week, organizers said. It should be noted that filmmakers are asked to include two creative elements in the produced film as specified in the requirements listed on the submission website.
Jodi Cilley, founder and president of the Film Consortium San Diego, said in a statement: “Film can change people’s perspective and we’re committed to using our platform to encourage storytelling and creativity to support this long overdue movement.”
She added: “Everyone needs to work together towards eliminating systemic racism in our country and around the world, and this is Film Consortium’s way of being a part of the solution.”
Cilley, who also teaches at San Diego City College, says sponsors are being gathered for sake of prizes.
“In our last competition, we gave out a Panasonic Lumix Camera, a $500 gift card to Nelson Photo Supplies and best-of selections were aired on KPBS, at the San Diego International Film Festival, and at the San Diego International Airport,” she said, “so we are looking to do something similar.”
The contest is being promoted via social media and the Selection committee, she said.
“We are currently reaching out to organizations to partner with to promote the competition and share the films when they are released online,” she said.
Film Consortium San Diego LLC calls itself a venture that stimulates film and TV production in the region while boosting networking, employment, education, funding and distribution opportunities in film, television and new media.
Sought are films that honor the black experience in a way that is not solely limited to the pain, struggles and valid anxieties of black people across the world, organizers said.
“We also seek stories that acknowledge black everyday life: black joy, black excellence, black humor, black cuisines, black spirituality, and black sexuality,” said the contest website, which included a disclaimer: “The Black Lives Matter Film Challenge is associated with the worldwide movement but not associated with The Black Lives Matter organization and we are not a part of any political party.”
Updated at 5:50 p.m. Nov. 30, 2020
