In the Spotlight today is the 11th Annual Zero Film Festival – New York, a robust celebration of cinema that’s exclusively in the service of self-financed filmmakers. Drawing from a globally interconnected community of creative professionals, Zero Fest excels at pushing its participants not only to new levels of creativity and ingenuity but also to greater levels of public exposure.
Zero Fest prizes include a $750 USD Audience Choice Award, as well as a Grand Jury Award. Additionally, filmmakers who earn distinction at Zero Fest’s New York festivities are automatically eligible for programming at other Zero Fest events in major cultural centers including Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. An array of exciting and competitive categories welcome feature films, shorts, experimental and animated works, music videos, and webisodes. Zero Fest isn’t impressed with star power or big budgets – in fact, this festival welcomes only the creative, ingenious filmmaker who finances his or her own work.
Since its modest beginnings in 2007, Zero Fest has screened over 2,000 films created by cineastes across six continents. Numerous Zero Fest filmmakers have leveraged their festival success to secure distribution of their work, as well as to net financing for additional film projects. Zero Fest alumni include Lena Dunham (Girls,Tiny Furniture), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night) and Chad Hartigan – winner of the Sundance “Best of Next!” award forThis is Martin Bonner.
MISSION & OBJECTIVE ZFF is an independent, not-for-profit organization firmly committed to supporting under-represented filmmakers and screening the world’s best self-financed films for cinema lovers everywhere. ZFF focuses on community, inclusivity, innovation and good times on planet Earth.
MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL Numerous alumni of Zero Fest alumni have earned career-boosting distribution deals. Darine Hotait, whose film Beirut…Hide & Seek received Zero Fest’s Audience Choice Award in 2010, soon found her work being spread far and wide. Other filmmakers celebrated at Zero Fest — including Lovisa Inserra, director of Betty Bangkok — have received funding for future projects. Most importantly, Zero Fest alumni enjoy fruitful relationships with other filmmakers, media professionals, and news outlets during the festival and beyond.
If you’re a self-financed filmmaker with a truly independent spirit, submit to Zero Fest today!
