FROM HERE TO AWESOME

Showcase is annouced

We’re pleased to announce the From Here to Awesome 2008 Showcase. Special thanks to all who submitted to the fest and big thanks to all the volunteers who have helped to make the fest possible. We’re going to be making some exciting announcements in the coming weeks. In the meantime we’ve just re-launched www.fromheretoawesome.com with all the showcase films. The films will hit outlets on July 26th which is also the kick off to the fest and the date for DIY DAYS LA.

Variety covered the fest today - From Here to Awesome: Alternative Film Fest

Amid a tough economic climate for indie films, Lance Weiler, a guru of the open-source DIY indie film movement, is launching on July 26 a new-model open-source film fest, From Here to Awesome.

Melding social networking and viral Web marketing, the “discovery and distribution festival” showcases twelve micro-budgeted features selected from 115 submissions via a complex online process…

…From Here to Awesome and sponsor Current TV are also staging a series of live events called DIY Days in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, San Francisco and London where Weiler and other DIY filmmakers including Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters) and M dot Strange (We Are the Strange) will discuss new models of funding, production, distribution and sustainability.

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FHTA update and DIY DAYS

Well the voting process is over and we are currently in a review period. FHTA experienced a large amount of traffic over the last month as the deadline approached. We’ve started to reach out to a number of the top filmmakers and will continue to do so this week. In order for FHTA’s showcased films to reach the widest audience possible they need to meet a number of clearance requirements. Clearance pertains to music rights, talent releases, location releases and all the other fun legal stuff needed to release films within VOD and digital outlets. We’re currently contacting filmmakers and requesting screeners. For more on the topic of clearance and the dreaded delivery process read this primer by producer Tani Cohen which she wrote for the workbookprojec.com

In addition to discovery and distribution, FHTA has a special FREE educational section entitled DIY DAYS. The DIY DAYS events are a joint effort between FHTA and Current TV and will consist of workshops, case studies, panel discussions, and screenings. LA and SF are locked and we’re working on events for Boston and NYC. All the activities will be recorded and “embedding and spreading” of the materials will be encouraged. There will also be some live streaming as well.

DIY DAYS are shaping up here’s a partial list of speakers:

Tommy Pallotta - producer of A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life
Mark Pellington - director of Henry Poole is Here, Arlington Road and Mothman Prophecies
Lance Weiler - The Last Broadcast and Head Trauma
Arin Crumley - Four Eyed Monsters
M dot Strange - We Are the Strange
Saskia Wilson-Brown - Current TV
Jon Reiss - Bomb It
Alex Johnson - digital media strategist / filmmaker
Christy Dena - cross-media strategist and designer
Matt Hanson - filmmaker and founder of A Swarm of Angels
Timo Vuorensola - director of Space Wreck and co-founder of wreckamovie.com

More details coming soon.

One week to go

On June 6th we are going to begin the process of locking down the top 10 feature films and top 10 short films to showcase starting at the end of July all over the world.

Please spread this video wide and far so we can get this film revolution underway.