The Indie is about helping independent filmmakers secure distribution,
the Holy Grail of filmmaking. We have relationships with distributors friendly
to independent filmmakers. Click the Distribution page button on the left to
read stories about some of these distributors.
Indie awards go to those filmmakers who produce fresh, standout
entertainment, animation and compelling documentaries. The Indie is a
showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices.
The Indie is a virtual festival. It does not have physical screenings.
Rather, winners are promoted via targeted press releases to media outlets and
The Indie’s email database of more than 28,000 filmmakers and industry insiders.
The Indie recognizes filmmakers who demonstrate exceptional achievement
in craft and creativity. First-time filmmakers are often recognized. It receives
entries from all over the world.
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Rules/Judging |
Entries must have been produced within the past two years.
Submissions in other than English must be subtitled or include an English
transcript.
Multiple entries are allowed and may be entered in multiple categories.
The entry fee is $50 per entry per category.
A brief clip of winning entries may be streamed on the Accolade website.
Written comments describing entries are invited.
Entries will not be returned.
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Get Involved |
It’s a given that filmmakers want to maximize distribution and to gain as many
viewers as possible. The Indie is known to buyers and distributors.
Winning an Indie gives buyers and distributors the confidence that your
production is of high quality. The Indie is an award recognized for its
rigorous evaluation process.
This competition is designed to help winners achieve the recognition and viewers
they deserve. Indie staffers frequently share distribution ideas and
industry contacts that help promote the careers of the winning filmmakers. The
Indie helps generate publicity and buzz. The Indie has a strong online
presence and shines the spotlight on top winners at The Indie website and
via press releases to a list of over 28,000 industry professionals.
We welcome your participation in The Indie.
Please submit your best work.
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A Rising Filmmaker
New Yorker Vanessa Taylor explores various mattresses.
By Debbie L. Sklar
Producer/Writer Vanessa Taylor has always dreamed of making a film and thanks to her tenacity and her passion for cinema her dream has come true.
Vanessa, along with her sister-in-law/director, Susan Watson Taylor, bring us The Mattress Hustle, which follows a young couple’s antics as they transition from entry level jobs to the careers of their dreams. Dreams do not come without
sacrifice and both give up their posh-high rent N.Y.C. apartment-living for a
retreat to parent’s digs plagued with young siblings and no privacy. “Eros
ultimately rules and inspires their solution to ‘being together’ but not without
hilarious situations that involve getting to know their neighbors habits and
pets just a bit too well! However, all is well that ends well and they land in
new careers paths --- still madly in love.”
READ MORE >>>
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Director Denise Zmekhol
Talks about Children of the Amazon
by Alex A. Kecskes
Sao Paulo-born filmmaker and photographer Denise Zmekhol can capture the soul of
a subject and bring it to life with compelling, palpable emotions. Her recent
documentary, Children of the Amazon, underscores her talent and unique
voice as an auteur with a gift.
A gift she honed to perfection when from 1987 through 1990, Zmekhol assisted on
several international television documentaries, which took her through the
Brazilian states of Rondonia, Acre, Pará, and Mato Grosso. She visited such
diverse tribal communities as the Kaiapo, Surui, Arara, Negarote and Kaxinawa
and brought her own unique perspective to each encounter through her stunning
photographs. Zmekhol also interviewed and photographed the union leader and
environmental activist Chico Mendes with his family—one month before his
untimely assassination.
READ MORE >>>
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Indie Fest filmmaker
achieves success
By Michael Langston Moore
For any aspiring filmmakers or screenwriters out there, Jerry G. Angelo has some
words of wisdom:
“Knowing what you want to accomplish is not possible.”
Sounds bleak?
Well, not really. In fact, Jerry G. Angelo is a young
writer/director/actor/producer who has created several film productions, won a
handful of awards, and received wide acclaim. At age 31, Jerry has been
fortunate enough to accomplish a great deal. He has been involved with film
since 2003 in a variety of capacities, and has even appeared in an acting role
on the series “24.” But if you ask Jerry, he never would have foreseen his
moviemaking success.
READ MORE >>>
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 Good-Bye Brother
Skylight Kunming Documentary Pays Homage
By Debbie L. Sklar
Rather than just say a simple good-bye to their brother, the late Michael
Sutherland of Santa Barbara, who died in an unexpected white water rafting
accident in his adopted home of Kunming, China in 2007, his siblings made a
short documentary film called Skylight Kunming: A Tribute to Michael
Sutherland, in his honor via their production company, Zag Zoo Films located in
Paris.
READ MORE >>>
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 Bad
Blood: The Hunger,
not the typical Horror Fare
A Macabre Thriller ... With a Twist of Class
By Debbie L. Sklar
Horror films are here to stay. So say the filmmakers of Bad Blood: The Hunger,
actor/director Conrad Janis and Writer/Producer Maria Janis.
Conrad Janis with over 700 acting credits is perhaps best known as Mindy’s
dad on Mork & Mindy, the popular sitcom starring Pam Dawber and Robin
Williams. Janis, as the eminence grise of Bad Blood...The Hunger, stars
and directs opposite three-time Academy Award nominee Piper Laurie, as Carrie,
the wry but menacing matriarch of the film. Janis' wife Maria, an actress with
countless credits herself, wrote and produced Bad Blood: The Hunger and
they both talked enthusiastically with Indie Fest about their horror
film, why they wanted it to be different, and what’s next for this busy couple.
READ MORE >>>
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Spanish Filmmakers Have a Hit
Inspired by Spielberg
By Debbie L. Sklar
Inspired by Director Steven Spielberg, Spanish filmmakers Sadrac Gonzalez, 25,
and Sonia Escolano, 28, have created an award-winning film that leaves viewers
mesmerized.
Myna Se Va (Myna Has Gone) is a graphic, yet heartfelt foreign film about Myna,
a young illegal immigrant woman from an eastern country that is at war. She
works as a home assistant for a married couple and their young son. When the
couple goes on a trip, Myna has to shoulder all of the responsibilities for the
household, as well as the child. However, one night...
READ MORE >>>
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 Reclaiming the Music Video in the Name of Change:
The Socially Conscious Entertainment of Stephan Galfas
By Nate Long
Years ago, in the late sixties and seventies, revolutionary music changed the
way a generation interacted with its entertainment. Rather than passively
suckling at the teat of commercial pap, the radical youth of the day sought out
music that carried a tune and simultaneously seethed with a demand for social
change. In the past several decades, it is hardly debatable that this same
desire to produce challenging music has all but subsided.
Unfortunately, this intellectual laziness has informed much of the music video
output of the last thirty years. In order for a video to be a successful
artistic endeavor, it seems, it must fit into the rigid mold of...
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Fishing for an Oscar
An Interview with British filmmaker Chris Jones
By: Laura Lee
When making a film, it helps to have a clear vision. British director and author
Chris Jones proclaimed his goal to make an Oscar-worthy short film and found
people ready to join his journey every step of the way. The result, Gone
Fishing, is 10 minutes of visually lush and emotionally touching story telling.
It has won numerous awards, including an Indie Fest award, received critical
praise and, yes, it was short-listed for the coveted golden statue.
The genesis of “Gone Fishing” was an off-hand comment during a film seminar.
Jones, who is the co-author of the Guerilla Film Makers Handbook, had
carved out a niche for himself as a master teacher...
READ MORE >>>
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Empathy for the Devil:
An Interview with Damian Chapa
By: Laura Lee
Some of the most surreal scenes in Damian Chapa’s bio-pic Polanski feature a spooky Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan -- or
perhaps it is Satan himself -- acting as a technical advisor on the film
Rosemary’s Baby. The cinematic Roman Polanski has sought this character’s
input to make the personification of evil more “realistic.” As his guide
to the dark side of human nature, Chapa chose Roman Polanski.
It was this “attraction to the dark side of life” that intrigued Chapa, the
writer, director and star of Polanski. Although he has seen all of Roman
Polanski’s films, Chapa has never been a great fan of the Polish-born director’s
work.
READ MORE >>>
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Secrets to Love Revealed: A Journey to Find the Happily Ever-After
A California filmmaker shares insight and tips for a better relationship
By Debbie L. Sklar
Love is very much in the air, but in a different way for filmmaker Tracie
Donahue of Foresight Productions.
Thanks to her film, in which she is the executive director, called “Secrets to
Love: A Journey to Find the Happily Ever After,” her friends are now calling her
the “Love Doctor,” and she couldn’t be happier.
In the film, viewers go along with the 38-year-old divorced mother of three
children ages nine, 14, and 16, to look for answers in finding and maintaining a
healthy, happy love. They learn things like...
READ MORE >>>
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