[cinestory]

Moondance International Film Festival

Moondance

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Objective

The objective of the Moondance International Film Festival is to inspire, motivate, promote and encourage the best writers & independent filmmakers, from every country in the world, and to inspire a greater understanding about the vital role of the arts in enhancing creativity, community spirit, and the preservation of our cultural heritage. Moondance also promotes & rewards work which depicts women & girls in a positive light, &/or has lead roles for women actors over 40. We strongly encourage films, TV movies & pilots & written works which show viable alternatives to gratuitous violence & that depict non-violent conflict resolution, which we actively promote within the international film community.

  • The Moondance International Film Festival is much more than an annual film festival! It is a unique community, a supportive, productive, and creative year-round collaboration between independent filmmakers and movie audiences, between writers, composers and the world of filmed entertainment. Show More

Deadline/Entry Fees

Contact contest for this year's deadline.

WinningScripts Pro $5 Off Coupon

Rules

Submission categories:
  • ANIMATION FILM
  • FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM
  • FEATURE FILM
  • FEATURE FILM FOR KIDS
  • FEATURE MUTI-MEDIA FILM
  • SHORT DRONE FILM
  • TRAILERS
  • FEATURE SCREENPLAY
  • FEATURE SCREENPLAY FOR KIDS
  • FILM SCORE
  • LIBRETTO
  • MUSIC VIDEO
  • MUSICAL FEATURE SCREENPLAY
  • MUSICAL SHORT SCREENPLAY
  • ORIGINAL TV MINI-SERIES (1 HR)
  • SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM
  • SHORT FILM
  • SHORT FILM BY KIDS 18 & UNDER
  • SHORT FILM FOR KIDS
  • SHORT MULTI-MEDIA FILM
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY BY 18 & UNDER
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY FOR KIDS
  • SHORT STORY BY KIDS*
  • SHORT STORY FOR KIDS*
  • SHORT STORY*
  • STAGEPLAY
  • STAGEPLAY FOR KIDS
  • TV MOVIE OF THE WEEK (MOW)
  • TV EPISODIC (1/2 HOUR)
  • TV EPISODIC (1 HOUR)
  • TV FEATURE FILM
  • TV PILOT SCRIPT
  • RADIO PLAYS (drama & comedy)
  • RADIO DOCUMENTARIES
  • TREATMENTS
  • DRONE FILMS

* up to 3 stories for single fee

COMPETITION GUIDELINES: Please go to: http://moondancefilmfestival.com

Awards

SPIRIT OF MOONDANCE AWARD
This award category is for women writers, filmmakers and film score composers. Men may be co-writers or co-filmmakers, but the entry must be submitted by a woman.

MOONDANCE SEAHORSE AWARD
This award category is for men writers, filmmakers and film score composers. Women may be co-writers or co-filmmakers, but the entry must be submitted by a man.

MOONDANCE SANDCASTLE AWARD
This award is for male and female writing or filmmaking teams where both men and women or a man and woman work as a team on the project.

MOONDANCE SEASHELL AWARD
For men and women radio play writers. Comedy and drama, fiction and non-fiction, half-hour and hour long.

MOONDANCE COLUMBINE AWARD
Films and writings may be submitted by either a man, a woman, a male/female team or a young person 18 and under. The work must reflect non-violent conflict resolution, alternatives to violence, or show why violent resolution to conflict is counter-productive. The submitted material should not contain gratuitous violence.

MOONDANCE DOLPHIN AWARD
This award is for young people 18 years of age or younger, male or female. Moondance accepts submissions for this award in the genres of short narrative, documentary or animation video film, as well as short screenplays, short stories or short stageplays.

MOONDANCE CALYPSO AWARD
This award is to encourage a spirit of enterprise in saving the environment, habitats and wildlife by creative individuals from around the world. The award is presented to the person who expands knowledge of our world, seeks to improve our quality of all life on the planet.

MOONDANCE GAIA AWARD
This award is to encourage and inspire contemplative, meditative, spiritual and inspirational films and scripts. The award is presented to the person who seeks to elucidate and improve the spiritual quality of all life on the planet, and contributes to the betterment of the world spirit.

MOONDANCE ATLANTIS AWARD
This award is for writers and filmmakers who have submitted projects from a foreign country outside the US.

MOONDANCE STARFISH AWARD
This is an award for comedy projects submitted by writers and filmmakers.

MOONDANCE NEPTUNE AWARD
This unique award is presented to a male or female writer or filmmaker, over the age of 75, who has created either a single work of the highest quality or a body of quality work, and who continues to strive for excellence in his or her career in the entertainment industry, and who inspires and encourages others by his or her example.

THE MOONDANCE ABYSS AWARD
This new Moondance award was created for very well-made and meaningful thriller, horror or supernatural films, written works & film scores. An abyss, usually in the ocean, is a chasm that is so deep and vast that its extent is not readily visible, without further exploration. The winning works in this awards category also have a deeper, and often hidden, message, lesson, moral, or important idea that bears further thought.

MOONDANCE MERMAID’S PEARL AWARD
The award is presented to honor and recognize women in the film industry who have contributed most to insuring that women’s work is recognized and appreciated for its worth, who help women achieve success in film, writing & music, and who have themselves contributed a vital body of work, and who continue to contribute to this vital effort. The pearl in the award is a symbol of women’s efforts to make something meaningful and valuable from our struggles to overcome that “grain of sand” women often encounter, when trying to express themselves and succeed within the international film and entertainment industry. The resulting lovely pearl is a reminder of what beautiful things women can accomplish.

MOONDANCE SEVEN SEAS AWARD
A new award category has been created: the MOONDANCE SEVEN SEAS AWARD. This is an award for a winning project created by writers, filmmakers & composers, who enlighten others, help change perceptions about another culture and/or place, and promote cross-cultural knowledge and awareness, through the art of film, writing or music, and, thus, encourage a better understanding of the world’s people.

Moondance

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Contest Comments

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Moondance International Film Festival

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Contest News

Spirit of Moondance Leads to Script Option

by Heath Davis Havlick

I won the Spirit of Moondance award at this year's Moondance International Film Festival for my comedy feature script, Santa Eulalia. (I know, I know; everyone hates the title but me!) I had decided to go as soon as I was named a finalist, smelling a good networking opportunity. It didn't hurt that the festival had been billed by someone as "the American Cannes" and that several films previously shown there had won Academy Awards. I packed my bags and flew to Boulder.

Flying to Boulder, renting a car and staying in the Hotel Boulderado may seem like a big expense just to network, but I had two lines of thought: 1) I was going to the festival with an option offer that would almost cover the expenses, and 2) you just never know who you're going to meet. One person I intended to meet was an agent-turned out he was the only agent there, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I checked in and got my name badge, replete with a shiny green star which denoted a winner. Just about every person I met had a starred name badge, because just about every person there was a winner. The festival's founder created a variety of awards among each category, of which there are legion: short documentary film, long documentary film, radio play, stage play, screenplays of many kinds, and so on. Most of the winners showed up; most of the non-winners did not. That's probably pretty standard.

"I sent her the script the night I got home from the festival. She read it within a week and asked if she could show it to her producer. Then she showed it to a friend who's written and directed two British comedies. They optioned the script last week."
I took a workshop the first day, "How to Get an Agent," not because I don't know how to get an agent, but because I DO. The best way to get an agent is to meet one and hope you hit it off. So, I took the workshop, where I learned more about what NOT to do than what to do. For example, don't forego a $350,000 deal on your family comedy because you, as an unknown, want to direct it yourself, only to come back to your agent a year later asking if you can get that same deal back because of course you've failed to make the film yourself. Yes, some screenwriters are really that clueless.

I also paid for a one-on-one session with this agent, who gave me valuable information on my option offer, and for his other workshop, "How Hollywood Works." He rambled a bit, but always in an entertaining way, and offered good details about the business. For instance, when working your way through the Hollywood Creative Directory, focus your efforts on the creative affairs person or the head of development. He passed out lists of good Web resources for screenwriters and explained the difference between a letter of interest and a letter of intent. And, as hoped, he asked to see my work.

And then there was the networking. As I alluded to earlier, only this one agent made an appearance at Moondance. As a friend who'd been to the festival before put it, "There's not a lot of money and power walking around." So much for the "American Cannes." However, there were plenty of writers, and writers happen to be some of my favorite people. We exchanged business cards at the workshops and exchanged ideas and battle stories over lunch and at the networking cocktail events. I met a stage director who has embarked on a second career as a screenwriter, a couple from Pennsylvania who are trying to figure out how to break into TV writing, a playwright who occasionally writes screenplays based in Asia, a lawyer who writes science fiction scripts.

I also met a lovely, sweet lady from London who'd won an award for the short version of a documentary she'd produced and directed. She sat next to me because there was nowhere else for her to sit at one of the cocktail parties. We began to chat about the film on crop circles-whose makers very loosely used the word "documentary"-we'd seen the night before, and I remarked that I had a different take on the subject as I'd written a comedy about a young man in Wales who fakes crop circles. She asked about it, so I gave her my pitch as a way to quickly explain the story's premise. To my surprise, she asked to read the script. That's a request I never turn down.

I sent her the script the night I got home from the festival. She read it within a week and asked if she could show it to her producer. Then she showed it to a friend who's written and directed two British comedies. They optioned the script last week.

So, I'd say going to the festival was worthwhile. And I'd recommend going to whatever festivals or conferences you can. Screenwriting is about so much more than writing. It starts there but then takes you into the realms of marketing and networking and business and&I'll be checking in throughout the coming year with updates on my "year after the win"-will I end up in development purgatory, or will I be flying to Europe to watch my script being filmed? Will I have time to finish my new spec or spend all hours outside my full-time job doing rewrites? We'll soon find out.

Heath Davis Havlick is an award-winning comedy screenwriter with three screenplay options. A former freelance journalist and MovieBytes contributor, she currently works in PR and marketing. She can be reached at irelandfiend@yahoo.com.


Updated: 11/11/2010

Moondance International Film Festival

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Submit Report Card

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First-time user? Register now to receive FREE email contest updates, news, results, deadline reminders and more. Rest assured, information submitted here is held in strict confidence. MovieBytes never sells or in any way distributes email names or addresses. We promise!

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