Independent Black Film Festival Extends Deadline for Entries

The Independent Black Film Festival early-bird registration rates are available only through December 10, 2003.

The Independent Black Film Festival, where the lines blur between entertainment and technology, films and video games promises to bring together minds from digital technology, music videos, feature films and video games for a week of panels, cultural events, screenings and socializing.

The Independent Black Film Festival will bring something that's been lacking in the urban film, technology and music industries: the ability for individuals in these different businesses to interact through an official forum.

To that end, the festival will include screenings of full-length feature films, short films and a special animation movie category in tribute to the emerging urban 3D animation and gaming markets. The exploding popularity of video games, technological advances and a new wave of digital artists exploring the narrative aspects of the game genre have all but obliterated the lines between videogames and movies.

Panel discussions will include topics such as The Independent Spirit: An Urban Perspective for Filmmakers of Color," Careers in Entertainment: From Hollywood to Atlanta," The Global Impact of Urban Film," Hip Hop as a Vehicle for Change in the Movie Industry," Technology and Filmmaking: How technology is revolutionizing filmmaking," and Marketing vs. Filmmaking -- Soul of the Film Industry."

Within the festival, Entertainment Arts Research & Digital Solutions will provide professional training courses of the SOFTIMAGE®|XSI® software, a subsidiary of Avid Technology, in response to the accelerating demand for trained urban animators and gamers on the industry's leading nonlinear 3-D production environment.

In true Atlanta style, the Independent Black Film Festival will feature nightly entertainment events that will allow participants the opportunity to mingle with colleagues in the unique party atmosphere that only Atlanta can provide.