Postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the Memphis Film Prize – the small festival with the big reward – returns to the Malco Studio on the Square this weekend.
Ten short films compete for the $ 5,000 prize that makes the Memphis Film Prize and its parent festival, the Louisiana Film Prize, particularly lucrative events for the winners.
The 10 finalists for the Memphis Film Prize, selected from dozens of submissions, will be shown in the studio several times a day on two screens, Friday and Saturday. Entrants will rate the films and the winner (s) will be announced on Sunday based on a combination of the audience’s results and a jury.
The film award, which was organized in Louisiana in 2012 and then essentially “franchised” to Memphis, is intended to promote local film production and demonstrate the economic impact of filmmaking.
Typically, filmmakers who sign up for the festival have about six months to complete a 5 to 15 minute long film shot entirely in Memphis and Shelby Counties. The jury limits the films to 10 finalists, which will then be shown during the film award festival.
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However, COVID-19 broke the rules for a loop for the film award. Some filmmakers were already deep in their 2020 films when the festival was canceled last year. Therefore, this year’s competition includes both films produced in 2020 and 2021.
In addition, the organizers decided to expand the appropriate filming locations to every location in Tennessee so that filmmakers outside of Shelby County would not have to travel here and potentially interact with a larger number of people at risk.
Festival screenings are on Fridays at 2 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. and at 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets range from $ 30 for general admission to $ 150 for a “VIP” pass with access to food and drink in the “VIP Lounge” and so on. The demonstrations will be “COVID Compliant”: participants will have to wear masks and only half of the seats will be available in each auditorium.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit memphisfilmprize.com.
Indie Memphis Film Festival goes on sale
Passes are available now for the Indie Memphis Film Festival, which is expected to return to a variety of venues in Midtown and beyond – including the Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse, Crosstown Theater, Summer Quartet Drive-In and Malco Studio on the Square – for the October 20-25 schedule.
Presented by Duncan Williams Asset Management, the organizers believe that the 24th Indie Memphis Festival should become as “normal” as possible – if “normal” can be applied to an event that regularly engages in work that challenges traditional forms of life and want to expand cinematic expression, representation and method.
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Last year, due to the pandemic, Indie Memphis canceled the indoor public gatherings that formed the basis of the festival and presented its screenings, panels and filmmaker talks as online and outdoor events. The online / outdoor component will continue, but most films should be shown in traditional venues but with fewer seats available due to social distancing protocols. This means that, according to the organizers, films could sell out faster than in previous years.
Indie Memphis will announce its film and event schedule during a public “preview party” on September 14th. Single tickets for individual demonstrations and events will be available on September 21.
There are different types of passports. To buy a pass or for more information, visit indiememphis.org/21-festival-passes.
Meanwhile, Indie Memphis returns to Public Screenings next week with Annie Berman’s partially Memphis-made “The Faithful: The King, the Pope, the Princess,” a new documentary that explores concepts of fandom, memorabilia, and legacy in the context of Elvis, Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana. The film will be shown at the Crosstown Theater on August 14 at 7:00 p.m. and admission is $ 10. “The Faithful” will be the first indoor Indie Memphis film since the restored version of 1946 “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” was shown at the Ridgeway Cinema Grill on March 11, 2020.
