MOONDANCE 2016 CALL-FOR-ENTRIES:
Accepting submissions
January 1 through June 30, 2016
PLEASE VISIT THESE PAGES ON THE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO:
LINK TO SUBMISSION CATEGORIES LIST
LINK TO AWARDS CATEGORIES LIST
LINK TO THE MOONDANCE MISSION STATEMENT
Moondance is also accepting submissions at:
https://filmfreeway.com/festival/MoondanceInternationalFilmFestival
MOVIEBYTES members can get a $5 discount on Moondance entry fees until the regular submission deadline, with the special MovieBytes code! And it’s free to become a MovieBytes member.
WHAT’S IN THIS NEWS-BLOG:
CALL FOR ENTRIES
WOMEN IN FILM, WRITING & MUSIC
Women In Film & Video
Alliance Of Women Directors
INSIDER INFO FOR FILMMAKERS
Directing Actors in Film
7 Tips for Creating Winning Documentary Films
Making a Great Promotional Trailer
Music in Film
MOONDANCE RECOMMENDATIONS
Free Dolphin Activist
Festival That Is Killing Koalas
Parrots & PTSD?
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
MOONDANCE & WOMEN IN FILM, WRITING & MUSIC
Sophia Coppola
Women filmmakers, women writers and women music composers are vocal and active participants in the social forces that shape our culture. They portray women as three-dimensional, complex human beings, and thus defy the demeaning and pervasive stereotypes perpetuated by the mainstream media. Our work on reaching out toward women filmmakers, women writers and women composers everywhere in the world is primary and ongoing. Women writers and filmmakers from all six continents, and from a wide diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups are an integral part of our mission and goals. We seek to inspire and invigorate this creative potential of women to perceive, conceptualize, and produce their works for the benefit of the world society. Equity creates new standards, which accommodate and nurture differences. Equity fosters the individual voice, investing women with confidence in their own authority. Equity unleashes the creative potential. READ MORE:
WOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO (WIFV) of Washington, D.C. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the professional development and achievement for women working in all areas of film, television, video, multimedia and related disciplines. WIFV supports women in the industry by promoting equal opportunities, encouraging professional development, serving as an information network, and educating the public about women’s creative and technical achievements. WIFV is part of an umbrella organization called Women In Film & Television International (WIFTI), which is a network of more than 35 chapters around the world. Our membership in WIFTI allows us access to filmmakers from NY to LA to Auckland to Dublin.
For a complete list of WIFTI chapters, visit our web site & join us: http://www.wifv.org
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Dedicated to the education, support & advocacy of women film directors. The Alliance of Women Directors fosters a community of professionals to advance the art, craft and visibility of women directors in the world of film, television and new media. AWD is dedicated to creating opportunities for women’s voices in the world entertainment industry. We believe it is vital that stories are told from all perspectives. We are committed to providing support and advocacy for women filmmakers through resources, tradecraft workshops and mentorship opportunities. Visit the website & join us: http://www.allianceofwomendirectors.org
INSIDER TIPS FOR FILMMAKERS:
When judges preview films for film festival competitions, or when distributors look at films they may decide to screen in theaters, or during Academy Award nomination season, or when a talent agent may decide to take you on as a client, or when a production company or film studio is watching your demo reel or trailer, and considering you to direct a film, the actors’ performances are one of the most important elements they look for in the film. You may have a unique story, the best cinematographer, incredible editing, memorable film score, interesting locations, fabulous action scenes, great dialog, and impressive production values, but…if any of the actors, not just the lead actors, fluff a scene, or are wooden, over-act, are amateurish, or are simply unremarkable in their roles, you’ve just lost all credibility as a film director, and you may not ever get a second chance. READ MORE:
At Moondance International Film Festival, we look for documentary films that entertain, inform, inspire, encourage and educate. We believe that films can contribute to a healthier society, and that films should encourage the active involvement of audiences to connect and act collectively to address global challenges. Moondance screens doc films that are innovative, distinctive, compelling, educational, engaging, and relevant to varied audiences, and which encourage active participation. READ MORE:
First, select an interesting subject for your documentary film! A subject that is of interest to a wide-ranging audience, and will be the kind of project many different types of film festivals will select for screening. A unique story, well-told is what gets selected and wins. READ MORE:
Great film trailers are in a special class of their own; little polished gems that showcase your film, and make people want to see more! But film trailers can be more difficult to make really well than the entire film, itself. It can be more time-consuming, judicious editing must be a main concern, you have to tell the main story, theme & concept quickly, harder scene decisions need to be made, and you need to sell your film in less than three minutes. Can you tell the main story, introduce the lead characters, show the main conflict, and give the viewer a visual, memorable impression in under three minutes? And, remember, you need to hook the viewer in the first few seconds! You probably don’t even have a full 3 minutes to do the job, unless the first 30-60 seconds are fantastic. READ MORE:
The power of music in film! Music is the non-verbal, unspoken dialog in a film. A feature film needs at least 30 to 40 minutes of music, which is one of the most important elements in a successful film. Take a look at: 1. A film score can be artfully used to…2. The major categories of a film score are…3. Along with a good screenplay, and great dialog, music is what makes a film memorable! All of these vital crafts and elements contribute to making the “Dream Factory” world of the film believable to movie audiences! READ MORE:
Don’t miss reading all the other great filmmaking & writing articles in the
written by the pros exclusively for Moondance!
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:
Guatemalan girl & tourist
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know when it will be too late.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Dominique Browning photo
“CARPE DIEM (Seize the Day): Regret for wasted time is just more wasted time.” ~Mason Cooley
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Vincent Van Gogh, “Wheat-field with Crows”
It’s your life, not someone else’s. How do we navigate myth and religion, the hero’s journey, the personal inward quest for meaning, the feminine divine, eternity, and bliss? All human civilization, throughout time, has centered on this cri de coeur, a passionate cry from the heart, the yearning to experience a life of meaning. ~ Joseph Campbell
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“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” ~ John W. Gardner
MOONDANCE RECOMMENDS & SUPPORTS:
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FREE DOLPHIN ACTIVIST RIC O’BARRY FROM DETENTION IN JAPAN!
Ric O’Barry (of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project) was detained in the Tokyo Airport on Jan. 18, and has since been held in a deportees facility and repeatedly interrogated. Barry is perhaps most known for his role in the 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary “The Cove,” which details the horrific slaughter of hundreds of dolphins each year in Taiji, Japan. As a result of this spotlight and his continued work to stop the hunts, he has become a target for surveillance and repeated interrogations by the Japanese government. TARGET: Japanese Ministry of Justice; Immigration Bureau of Japan. Please sign this petition now, demanding that Japanese immigration officials stop making up reasons to detain Ric O’Barry and release him immediately!
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BAN NOISY MUSIC FESTIVAL THAT IS KILLING KOALAS!
Scientists believe koalas are dying off in massive numbers because music from a local festival is causing them a great amount of stress. We need to try and ensure this festival is moved or banned in order to save as many koalas as possible. Scientists believe koalas are dying because noise from the Byron Bay Bluesfest is stressing them out. This festival needs to be moved to a more appropriate location or banned in order to ensure that koalas can continue to thrive. One study showed that almost all of the koalas that lived near the festival grounds died shortly after it was held. Another study showed that all of the koalas living in a particular area left to find new homes while the festival was taking place.
Unlike many other wild animals, koalas are not nomadic. Therefore, moving to a new location causes them a great amount of stress. Not only is there a chance that they will be attacked by dogs while trying to relocate, but they may also have adverse encounters with other koalas. Just as bad, their low energy levels as a result of eating eucalyptus leaves makes it so they are much more vulnerable to becoming sick and getting serious diseases whenever those energy levels are rapidly expended. If we do nothing, these beautiful animals will likely continue to quickly die off. SIGN THE PETITION:
NEWS OF INTEREST:
WHAT DOES A PARROT KNOW OF PTSD?
An unexpected bond between damaged birds and traumatized veterans
could reveal surprising insights into animal intelligence!
Macaw Parrot
Excerpts from a New York Times article
by Charles Siebert, January 28, 2016
Parrots, among the oldest victims of human acquisitiveness and vainglory, have become some of the most empathic readers of our troubled minds. Their deep need to connect is drawing the most severely wounded and isolated PTSD sufferers out of themselves. In an extraordinary example of symbiosis, two entirely different outcasts of human aggression — war and entrapment — are somehow helping each other to find their way again.
There is abundant evidence now that parrots possess cognitive capacities and sensibilities remarkably similar to our own. Veterans, of course, share similar psychological scarring, but asked how it is that the parrots succeed in connecting where human therapists and fellow group-therapy members can’t, the answer seemed to lie precisely in the fact that parrots are alien intelligences: parallel, analogously wounded minds that know and feel pain deeply and yet at a level beyond the confines of human language and prejudices. READ MORE:
Please forward this news-blog to your creative artist colleagues!
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com
BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog
No trees or natural habitats were harmed in the creation of this news-blog!
Top beach photo by John White, Australia
