Winter Film Awards (WFA) is a volunteer-run and operated celebration of the diversity of local and international film-making. Our Mission is to recognize excellence in cinema and to promote learning and artistic expression for people at all stages of their artistic careers with a focus on nurturing emerging filmmakers and helping them gain recognition and contacts to break into this difficult industry. We pride ourselves on our diverse collection of Festival selections, allowing our audience to enjoy films they normally wouldn’t think to seek out. WFA is a minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
In the past few years, there has been an explosion of binge watching, streaming services usage and internet celebrities. All of this has led to the rise of the web series. A web series can be anything from the thoughts of a teenager sitting in a bedroom with big dreams and a video camera to … More Gemma and the Bear: We’ve All Been There, right?
Life’s big questions are the subject of the indie film Ben & Ara, which will be screened on February 23rd at 8 p.m. as part of the Winter Film Awards Festival. Ben, played by Joseph Baird, is a doctoral philosophy student, stuck in a fog of uncertainty on all fronts: what’s the right topic for his thesis? … More Actress Constance Ejuma Contemplates Life’s Big Questions in Ben & Ara
Scrolling through picture-perfect Instagram shots inspired Thais Francis to write her first-ever film, Late Expectations, showing at Cinema Village on Saturday, February 20 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the 2016 Winter Film Festival (February 18 to 26 in New York City). In the short film, high school senior India seems to be living a … More Director Thais Francis Takes On Social Media in “Late Expectations”
It’s Annabelle’s first day at a new school in the short film, Bunny New Girl, screening on February 20th at 8 p.m. at Cinema Village as part of the Winter Film Awards Festival in New York City. That feeling of anxiety is something that anyone whose family moved when they were a kid can relate to, but for … More Director Natalie van den Dungen Tells How Being a New Girl Herself Inspired “Bunny New Girl”
We live in a very complicated world, but sometimes it’s the little everyday things that can really drive you mad. For writer/director Cinder Chou, a fairly mundane annoyance became the inspiration for her first film, What Happened to Susan, screening on February 20th at 8 p.m. as part of the Winter Film Awards Festival in New York … More Filmmaker Cinder Chou Tells How a Smelly Sweater Inspired “What Happened to Susan”
Unmanned drones like quadcopters and fixed-wing aircraft are at the center of new airspace regulations by the FAA. While the FAA deliberates on rules and regulations, states, cities and other national organizations have implemented their own no-fly zones. To help find safe places to fly, the people at MapBox have created an awesome map of the established no-fly areas where drones are not permitted around all major airports, military bases, and national parks across the country. … More Don’t Fly Drones Here
Two-Year Study Reveals Women Account For Only 6.4% of Film Directors – Dropping to Just 3% for Major Box Office Titles. Warner Bros and Disney hired no female directors at all, despite collectively releasing 53 films in total. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) today released its inaugural Feature Film Diversity Report analyzing the gender … More DGA Publishes Inaugural Feature Film Diversity Report
Because it is a privilege to make films and deal with all the headaches that come with it. And, hopefully, when we are finished, we can stand back and say “I made that”.
Now you can read the entire series on Gender Parity in Theatre on HowlRound.com curated by Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Co-President, Shellen Lubin. #ParityPerc Click here to see all the articles in the piece! Exploration on How Change Happens and Where We Go From Here by Shellen Lubin StageSource’s Gender Parity Task … More Gender Parity in Theatre #ParityPerc
Sound quality is really important in the film festival judging process. We can forgive a lot of technical errors for a great story, but lousy sound simply will not cut it. … More Don’t Let Amateur Sound Crush Your Film Festival Dreams
Stephen Follows has crunched the hard data and posted another incredibly detailed set of useful tips to help in your crowdfunding campaign. Here are specific film crowdfunding tips and nuggets of advice to help you create a successful film crowdfunding campaign based upon research into 47,809 film crowdfunding campaigns launched on Kickstarter. … More Film Crowdfunding Tips – What the Data Says You Should Do
Students filming for a school project were arrested after officials said they caused panic when they were seen walking near the 101 Freeway with fake guns on Sunday. … More Film Students Cause 101 Fwy Shut Down with Fake Guns, LASD Says
Many filmmakers have felt the pain of failing to raise money for a short or feature film, and often give up on their ambition, but here’s why crowdfunding failure matters. First of all, any film or creative project, no matter the genre, has to earn the creator a monetary return, otherwise the filmmaking itself is … More Filmmakers Have to Fail at Crowdfunding to Succeed
Tutorial and shopping list to create a simple, sturdy video lighting kit that works great for interviews, presentations, instructional videos, and much more! Most of parts can be found at your local hardware or home improvement store and the rest you can find online. Even better, the whole project will cost only about $130-150 USD, depending on the quality of lamps you choose. If you shop locally, avoid shipping costs, and buy used stands you should be able to put this kit together for about $100 USD. … More Video Lights For All: How to Build a Complete 3 Head Kit on a $100 Budget
This incredibly detailed and data-heavy examination of crowdfunding data from StephenFollows.com is a must-read as you consider your fundraising options. … More The Statistics Behind Film Crowdfunding
INDIE FLURRY 