Miami Film Festival Celebrates Knight Heroes Return with Funding & Mentorship Opportunities s For Local Filmmakers

Announcing a new direction for its popular Knight Heroes program, Miami-Dade College's acclaimed 39th annual Miami Film Festival is proud to launch a new partnership with Field of Vision's IF/Then Shorts initiative, a fund and mentorship program for short documentary filmmakers.

This inaugural collaboration will provide grants and direct mentorship to eight local filmmakers, along with a major panel focused on both narrative and documentary short-form series development that will be open to the entire community. The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022.

"Since its inception in 2019, Miami Film Festival's Knight Heroes program has inspired confidence in South Florida film creatives to find personal paths to realize their own cinematic visions," said Jaie Laplante, Miami Film Festival's executive director & co-director of programming. "With the support of Knight Foundation, we are thrilled to take this program to a new place of resonance by collaborating with the celebrated experts at IF/Then Shorts."

Now in its fourth edition, Knight Heroes is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where bright and bold filmmakers share their insights, observations, and advice about their creative paths and future outlooks through conversations about their own creative heroes. Last year's edition featured filmmaker Radha Blank (The Forty-Year Version) with her inspiration Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Old Guard) and filmmaker/actress Amy Seimetz (She Dies Tomorrow) accompanied by producer Adele Romanski (Moonlight, Never Really Sometimes Always).

The 2022 Knight Heroes program consists of two parts:

● Open Call for Short Documentary Development Funding & Consultation program applications - South Florida filmmakers are invited to submit their short documentary project ideas for development funding and expert consultation on a wide range of topics at miamifilmfestival.com/knightheroes2022. IF/Then Shorts Co-Directors Caitlin Mae Burke and Merrill Sterritt will select eight filmmaker projects to receive a development grant of $500 each from the Knight Heroes program. The winners will be announced in mid-February. Additionally, each filmmaker will receive a one-hour consultation with a distinguished expert in the field on industry tropics tailored to their specific areas of interest.

This program is open to filmmakers living and working in the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe. Online applications open at 10am on Monday, Jan. 10 and close at 11:59 pm on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. For more information on how to apply, visit miamifilmfestival.com/knightheroes2022.

● "Scaling a Short Film into a Short Form Series" Festival Panel - On Saturday, Mar. 5 at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Downtown Miami, Miami Film Festival will host a public 120-minute panel that is open to the entire South Florida film community. The theme of the panel is "Scaling a Short Film into a Short Form Series" with panelists to discuss their expertise in development, acquisition/streaming and short film or short form series filmmaking. Panelists will share what they look for in series pitches (scripted and non-fiction), how they program standalone shorts for their platforms and answer questions from the audience. A happy hour event for filmmakers and registered guests of the Miami Film Festival 2022 will follow. COVID safety protocols in accordance with CDC and Miami-Dade County guidelines for event gatherings will apply and be enforced.

"We're so grateful that the Miami Film Festival and Knight Foundation recognize the value in supporting regional documentary shorts," said Merrill Sterritt, Co-Director of IF/Then Shorts. "The Knight Heroes program has created an exciting opportunity for IF/Then Shorts to deepen our longstanding work in the South by connecting with and supporting South Florida filmmakers. As we further our commitment to regional and community-inspired filmmaking, we can't wait to hear what stories these filmmakers want to tell and how we can be helpful collaborators."

The 10-day Miami Film Festival is scheduled to take place March 4-13, 2022. For updates, visit miamifilmfestival.com.

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