Forest City Film Festival seeks to woo filmmakers to London with $60K prize
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
The Forest City Film Festival is about to get national attention.
The festival and the London Film Office have joined forces to offer the largest cash prize in the country — $35,000 —and another $25,000 in goods and services for a filmmaker to make a feature film in London.
The Pitch contest will be judged by a jury at the Ontario Screen Creators Conference here Oct. 22-24, a component of the festival that starts Oct. 19 and continues until Oct. 30.
“It’s truly something that is going to draw the attention of filmmakers,” said Dorothy Downs, noting the contest is open to independent filmmakers with “viable” projects that have budgets of at least $150,000.
“We are taking our support for regional filmmaking to the next level by helping filmmakers work here.”
At least 50 per cent of the feature must be filmed in London. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 1 and a panel of industry experts will select the best of the proposals for the pitch contest that will require the filmmaker to be in London.
The pitches will be made to a panel of industry leaders including CBC, Amazon Studios, and Canada Media Fund. Visit the website fcff.ca for more information or to register.
“Once they see our city and its potential, they may decide to film here even if they don’t win the contest,” said Downs, who has worked on the pitch project for close to three years.
The London Film Office was approved by city council in April and is part of the London Economic Development Corp. (LEDC)
“London is an untapped market for filmmakers,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the LEDC.
“We wanted to create a buzz across the indie film industry and give them unique and compelling reasons to look at London. We have great locations, a great workforce, great talent here and an attractive business environment.”
Twitter.com/JoeBatLFPress
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.