The Ballad of Friday and June (2009) from Jollyville Pictures on Vimeo.

This was a big favorite of mine on the festival circuit last year. It’s short, funny, poignant, heartfelt, and other adjectives that mean “wonderful.”

Now you can watch it in its entirety online and see what I mean.

For your approval I humbly submit the following:

Both Sides of the Fence – Festival Programmers Who are Also Filmmakers: When you watch hundreds of films a year it makes you want to grab a camera and make one of your own. Programmer/filmmakers discuss the how working in the festival world affects their filmmaking and vice-versa. Proposed by Jesse Trussell and me. Vote for it.

Regional Filmmaking: Revenge of the Flyover States – The best film festival in the U.S. is in Texas, so why should the best filmmakers in the country have to live in New York or Los Angeles? Working filmmakers from the so-called “flyover states” talk about the challenges and advantages of making movies outside of the cities traditionally associated with filmmaking. Also proposed by me and Jesse. Vote for it.

Sex it Up! – What’s the difference between art and porn? The old joke is that “one is in focus,” but it’s also an aesthetic distinction that is increasingly irrelevant. Just as more “mainstream” indie filmmakers are utilizing explicit themes and imagery in their works, a new school of directors working on the adult side of the industry are creating works that defy the porn clichés. Even if you’re not looking to bare all, here’s your chance to learn from each and tell stories that move past the bedroom door to embrace the full range of our experiences. Proposed by Lisa Vandever of Cinekink. Vote for it!

Jennifer Amman, Festival Production Manager for the Telluride Film Festival, leaves her position with this rather public message. I’ve never met Jennifer or been to Telluride, but the video provides a glimpse into the problems (and backstage tensions) that exist at many film festivals these days. Sponsors are harder to come by these days and money is tight all over. It’s tempting to side automatically with Jennifer, but as Sarasota Film Festival programming director Tom Hall rightfully points out:

. . . cutbacks to festival budgets are an absolute reality right now, and that one of the main issues facing any non-profit at this time is setting new, adjusted priorities and getting organizational buy-in for those changes. I don’t think there is anyone working at festival today, from a Board President to a volunteer, who has faced down a change to the landscape and hasn’t thought to themselves “This is the last straw.” I know I have, I know everyone has; it’s all part of being under-paid, over-worked and deeply passionate about the integrity of the event you’re putting on.

That said, finding savings in the morning meals of your volunteers (if true) makes you an easy target for ridicule.

Marie Castaldo, 52, of Queens, New York, was arraigned on Tuesday night on charges of first-degree scheme to defraud, third- and fourth-degree grand larceny, petit larceny, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree harassment. “The defendant is accused of duping advertising and film industry vendors into providing their services for free to her film festival by – in most cases – making a small up-front payment and then refusing to make any further payments,” Brown said.

Back in January I posted a link to an article in which the charges were first leveled at Castaldo – it seems the wheels of justice have finally rolled around to address the complaints.

It’s always a good idea when submitting to any festival to do some research on the festival in question – using Google’s blog search tool and looking for the name of the festival with the words “scam” or “rip-off” is a quick way to find out if there have been complaints in the past.

Read the story at wireupdate.com.

HOW TO GET YOUR FILM INTO FILM FESTIVALS! & What to do When You get There! from Sylvia Binsfeld on Vimeo.

Check out this new instructional video on preparing your film and submitting it to film fests. Some good interviews with filmmakers and festival staffers about how to get ready. It’s a fine companion to Film Festival Secrets.

How to get Your Film Into Film Festivals! Insider Video–Trailer from Sylvia Binsfeld on Vimeo.

Here’s the event info on Facebook if you want to RSVP, but if you prefer you can just show up at Deans Montrose, 315 Fairview Street, Houston.

Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create the world’s largest user-generated feature film: a documentary, shot in a single day, by you. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.

For more information, visit youtube.com/lifeinaday.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone struck on the idea of a film fest at Burning Man. Luckily for potential attendees, the folks who organized this one have a ton of experience. They’re going to need it – the conditions they’ll face are unlike those at any other film festival.

I have a ton of notes on this and I’ll be writing a longer entry soon, but the festival’s call for entries ends tomorrow (Thursday, July 15th) so I wanted to get the word out today. If you have a short film that would be cool to show at Burning Man, now’s your chance. Here’s the link to submit. There’s also an official Facebook page for the festival.

I just got word that the festival will be screening their films on “The Engine,” a 1000-pound “light and steel sculpture” that is essentially a portable projection system. Sounds cool.

If the lure of a laid-back film festival in one of the world’s most dynamic cities isn’t enough, pile on the festival’s Screenwriting Conference, which features intimate conversations and workshops with working screenwriters like Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3), John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), and David Simon (The Wire). (Personally I’m looking forward to hearing from Jon Lucas, who wrote The Hangover.)

Naturally attending a festival like this one is better (and cheaper) when you’re a participating filmmaker, so get your film in today. Details on submitting to the festival can be found on the AFF web site.

I know that when I think of DIY filmmaking, one of the first filmmakers who comes to mind is Tony Comstock, whose wonderful film, ‘Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together,’ played at CineKink a few years back. He and his wife, Peggy, have been producing and distributing explicit documentaries for the past decade – and they regularly top Amazon sales lists for number of DVDs sold. Obviously, they’re doing something right – during a recent distribution/marketing panel I attended, Tony was tweeting me from a sailing excursion through the Caribbean, prodding me to ask the participants how many of them owned a yacht.

Overall, I think Comstock Films exemplifies how many filmmakers on the “porn/erotica” side have—largely through necessity—become proficient in getting their work out there and noticed once it’s been produced.  Rather than waiting on the hope of some distributor picking them up, the need is there to reach out to an audience directly, bringing with it a front-running understanding of all the tools necessary to do so, especially staying on top of reaching out through the internet, including supreme mastery of SEO and finding ways to circumvent the many technical road-blocks that are intended to inhibit sexual content.

Read Peep Show Interview with Cinekink Director Lisa Vandever Part One at FilmSnobbery.

Be sure to check out the Programmer Profile of Lisa Vandever too.