The Teen International Shorts Festival February 8th – 11th The Teen International Shorts Festival has been more of a project towards a common idea than a contest. As the team is preparing for its 8th edition that will take place in Istanbul in a couple of days (8th February – 11th February), we find out at their very explanatory internet site (www.tisfest.org) that the founders of the festival is the organization of Turkish Benefactors Association (TYSD) that was established in 192...

The 17th edition of Milano Film Festival will be held from September 12th - 23rd, 2012. Updates to come in the next months, and on the website www.milanofilmfestival.it   International Competitions The call for entries for the International Feature and Short film competitions of Milano Film Festival are now open; the first one is open to first and second works; the short film competition is open only to filmmakers under the age of 40. Filmmakers who want to submit their ...

26/01 If you have a good story, pursue it — immediately and at any cost — preaches Scott Hillier, Oscar honored filmmaker and president of ÉCU – The European Independent Film Festival. Scott, in pursuit of a good story, is doing just that. Departing for Libya this evening, Scott and his crew will film a documentary following Jihan Mansur Kikhia, the daughter of former Libyan Foreign Affairs Minister Mansur Kikhia, as she seeks to uncover the truth about her father’s...

"Covariance" has been accepted into the 12th Annual Independent Days Film Festival in Karlsruhe, for May 2012. This is the 7th festival acceptance for the film. For more info and to see a trailer, please visit: http://www.dawnwestlake.com   ...

Derby City Film Festival Announces 2012 Selections  56 films to screen during the three day festival including 24 International films from 16 Countries, 8 World Premieres & 5 US Premieres    LOUISVILLE, KY. (January 2nd) —    The organizers of The Derby City Film Festival are pleased to announce the selections for the 2012 edition to be held in February. In total 56 films will screen during the three day festival which will be held February 17th - 19...

First off, apologies for the delay on updates via Fest21... Its been a busy few years and running a festival as a one-man-army is no easy task! Now though, heading into our 4th year, I'm happy to announce that we are bigger and better with more to offer at the fantastic underground festival - the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival. Kicking off in Sept from the 7th - 9th, our 4th year see's us settle in the beautiful Strand Cinema of East Belfast. Northern Irelands oldest cinema and ho...

by Robert BerryFor all Paris residents who are also lovers of cinema – a Venn diagram with a broad intersection if ever there was one - watching Woody Allen’s recent Midnight in Paris must have provoked a series of uncanny recognitions: the steps at the top of Rue de la Montagne Ste-Genevieve without the overspill crowds of drinkers from the Bombardier pub, entrance to Polidor on Rue Monsieur le Prince, but with the tables arranged slightly differently. Allen’s film presents an impossib...

Meet Iranian – New-Zealander Faramarz Beheshti, winner of Best Non-European Independent Documentary at ÉCU 2011 for “Salam Rugby”. It is a story of women rugby players in Iran, which may sound like an anomaly, but as this documentary shows, Iranian women are more than ready to dive into the scrum if only the authorities would let them. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 competitive sports for women were actively discouraged and it wasn't until the social reforms of the 90s that wome...

HorrorQuest Film Festival is now seeking films for 2012... Our first year was a Huge success, and we can only hope this year will be even greater! We are a horror/genre and looking for features and shorts in the following categories.  Horror Thriller Sci-Fi Fantasy Dark Comedy Dark Drama Documentaries (If they deal with horror or dark subject matter.) And Animation.  If you would like to submit your film please go to www.thehorrorquest.com and click on, "Submit You...

Derby City Film Festival announces 2012 sponsor/partners Local and National businesses and organizations to the 4th Annual film festival LOUISVILLE, KY. (December 21st) —   The Derby City Film Festival is excited to announce the following sponsor partnerships for the 4th Annual Edition which will take place February 17th-19th at the Clifton Center in Louisville Kentucky: Attendees who bring a packaged food item to the box office when they purchase their ticket or...

Recently ÉCU has started a partnership with the Festival del Cinema Indipendente di Foggia, an annual event – organized by the Province of Foggia, with from the Regione Puglia and European Union, through co-financing from the European regional development- that this year has decided to open its contest to Europe. The festival shares the same goals of the European Independent Film Festival: to discover and to promote the best independent cinematography that defends the creativen...

ÉCU Film Festival 2012 presents together with social innovation partner Holken Consultants its newest award “ÉCU E-Inclusion Film Award”. What is E-Inclusion ? E-Inclusion is a method in filmmaking that utilizes innovation to achieve a wider audience viewership, whether by use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) or by pure individual imagination. We are looking for films that use creative ways to make it possible for any one with any social, cultural, ...

- GET INVOLVED HERE - On Monday 28th November ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival, Paris's premier showcase for independently financed shorts and features, will attempt to write - and produce - a short film entirely made up of contributions crowd sourced via the Twitter social network. With an opening scene setter provided by the festival, it is then up to their followers to provide all successive dialogue and actions, creating new scenes, introducing other characters, building up...

  http://www.ecufilmfestival.com/?p=10005 Accademia Nazionale del Cinema: the tricks of the trade of an Oscar Prize and a King of dubbers. Last month ÉCU on the road, made a stop in Bologna, at the Accademia Nazionale del Cinema, for a double screening! The Accademia hosts five courses attended by students from over 60 Italian cities. The original mission, namely to educate and prepare students in order for them to be able to understand, confront and successfully overcome th...

Andrew Shermin shares his experience of making a film and using crowdfunding. This summer I shot a documentary about Paris that I produced myself, and am now trying to use crowd-funding to finish it. The concept was simple: a vision of Paris that was taken straight from reality, just a camera and a tripod on the street, offering a vision of the city that both confirms and subverts the fantasy of Paris that different media create. The images are like “moving postcards.” I was able to...