Cinekink gears up for sixth annual kinky film festival, seeks tribute nominations

I've blogged about Cinekink before, but I so love the festival's name that I think I'll plug it one more time. A new press release came out yesterday promoting the upcoming festival at the end of February. Also included is a call for nominations for this year's Cinekink Tribute award, which recognizes the "extraordinary depiction of kink and sex-positivity in mainstream film and television" each year. Sound like a person or film you know? Get thee to Cinekink.com.

NEW YORK, NY; January 8, 2009 - Scheduled for February 24-March 1, 2009, the sixth annual CineKink NYC will feature a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off fundraiser, all to be followed by a national showcase tour.

Billing itself as "the really alternative film festival," the event is presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television. With offerings drawn from both Hollywood and beyond, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot porn, slightly spicy to quite explicit--and everything in between. Directors featured since CineKink's inception have included both filmmaking up-and-comers and such notorious veterans as Annie Sprinkle, Radley Metzger and John Cameron Mitchell.

"It's been exciting to see sex-positive filmmaking really come into its own during the time we've been running the festival," said Lisa Vandever, Co-Founder and Director of CineKink. "When we first started, we definitely had to beat the bushes to find suitable works. Now we have the privilege of selecting from a slew of offerings to put together the best possible kinky showcase."

Read the full press release now.

Film Independent and Netflix Launch Indie Film Competition

Via SpoutBlog:

The Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition is meant to foster new indie filmmakers, and it’s not open to anyone who has created and publicly screened a film more than 70 minutes long. The prize package, worth $350,000 consists of a $150,000 cash grant from Netflix, a camera package donated by Panavision, 25,000 feet of Kodak Color Negative Film or 10,000 feet of Kodak Color Intermediate Film, along with prints, dailies, and a digitial intermediate package from Deluxe, and EFILM.

Read Film Independent and Netflix Launch Indie Film Competition on SpoutBlog.

48-Hour Film Project: Atlanta 2008 Screenings this coming week

This weekend another 48-Hour Film Project kicks off, this time in Atlanta. While the deadline to sign up for the competition has passed, you can see the results of this coming weekend's hard labor during mid-week screenings at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema (the same location where the Atlanta Film Festival is held each year). Screenings begin July 1st at 7 p.m. and resume on the 2nd and 3rd, also at 7 p.m.

The winning team from Atlanta will be invited to attend the Filmapalooza Awards weekend, and will go on to compete in second round competitions. The winning 48 Hour film of 2008 is expected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

There's no guarantee that all of these films will be good, but if you're looking for the indie-est of the indie films in Atlanta, the 48-Hour Film Project is definitely the place to be this week.

Don't forget to check out the other cities on the 2008 tour -- your chance to shine as a 48-hour filmmaker may be coming soon!

I've long been an advocate of short filmmaking competitions. Even more so than local film festivals, such competitions encourage an interest in filmmaking where traditionally little has existed. 48-Hour is certainly the most prominent example of the form, but newer efforts like Filmmaking Frenzy and Rapid i Movement give hope to the idea that short form filmmaking is the dominion of more than just film school students and web cam dancers.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Cinemocracy

Clever -- tying a short film contest to the Democratic national convention. Contests & events like these with a solidly defined niche are very popular right now. There is no entry free for Cinemocracy; visit the web site to learn more.

Tomorrow (May 1st) last day to enter Doorpost Film Project

I'm just hearing about this today, but the Doorpost Film Project is offering crazy money to its winning filmmakers - $300,000 total with a grand prize of $100,000. Plus they're flying the finalists to Nashville for screenings and an award presentation. Submitted films agree to a 3-year exclusive distribution window on their short films -- so if you don't win, you're sunk. I'm not sure what the business model is here. Do the contest holders think they can make their money back on advertising and licensing revenue on short films over three years?

Whatever the reasoning, that's a lot of prize money just sitting there for the taking. If you've got a short film that fits one of their themes and you don't mind giving up the rights for three years, here's the link to submit.