Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, announced this week the Second Annual Project Catalyst! Project Catalyst (formerly known as the C3: Project Market) will be held at the Directors Guild of America, May 4 – 5, 2013, during the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Project Catalyst serves as a launch pad for filmmakers of Asian descent to showcase their narrative feature projects to Financiers, Producers, Production Companies, Artists, Agents, Managers and Industry Executives.
Over the course of two days during last year’s Project Catalyst, filmmakers, combined, had over 140 meetings and numerous networking engagements, enabling them with the contacts, information and confidence they need to make their film. Each meeting was pre-chosen by each Industry Participant to discuss the production of their film, fine-tune their pitch, and/or to simply make a connection with the industry.
An esteemed jury comprised of Daniel Dae Kim, Iris Yamashita and Teddy Zee awarded the Jury Prize to Liselle Mei and Derek Nguyen for their film SEEING RED in which they also received a cash prize. Honorable Mention was awarded to Musa Syeed and Nicholas Bruckman for their film THE DOCTOR.
Organizers of the 2013 edition of Project Catalyst seek to find unique and visionary stories, including high-concept, experimental and genre films of any budgetary range. Filmmakers selected to participate in Project Catalyst will have the opportunity to meet with industry participants from the television and new media world who are looking for distinct and new voices.
Up to ten narrative filmmakers will be chosen for Project Catalyst. In addition to participating in panels, a pitch session and one-on-one industry meetings, a cash prize to be determined by an esteemed panel of jurors will be announced at the closing ceremonies of the Festival.
Narrative features by directors and/or screenwriters of Asian Pacific American and/or Asian descent are welcome and encouraged to submit. Submissions materials must include a treatment and/or feature-length screenplay, a DVD of the applicant’s prior work, a budget top sheet or summary that breaks down the total funding need for the project. Additionally, applicants must be at least 18 years old.
Project Catalyst entries must be received by December 21, 2012 (early deadline); or by January 25, 2013 (regular deadline). The late submissions deadline is February 15, 2013. Early deadline entries must include a processing fee of $50 U.S. (domestic and international); regular deadline entry fees are $60 U.S. (domestic and international); and late deadline entry fees are $75 U.S. (domestic and international). Notification of selection will be announced in mid-March 2013.
Submissions information and complete guidelines for the 2013 Project Catalyst are now available online at: http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013/project-catalyst. For more information on the Film Festival call (213) 680-4462 x21 or e-mail: festival@vconline.org; or visit the Festival website at vconline.org/festival.