DOORPOST FILMMAKING CONTEST ANNOUNCES FINALISTS
In round one, contestants tackled the topics of love, greed, redemption, pain, forgiveness, freedom and energy in non-genre specific shorts less than five minutes in length. Each submitted film went through a two-level judging process consisting of online viewers and a panel of film industry pros.
The 15 finalists are:
Luis DeLeon, Rendered, Brooklyn, NY
Debs Gardner-Paterson, Aime, London, UK
Lev Goren, The Race, New York, NY
John Gray, Freedom to Live, Atlanta, GA
Jeff Guerrero, Therapy, Austin, TX
Erik Hollander, Big Ticket, Nashville, TN
Shalini Kanyayya, Vita’s Garden, Brooklyn, NY
Mishka Kornai, 3187345, Palo Alto, CA
Mazia Lahooti, Sprawl, Perth, Australia
Tim Morgan, Repeat Off, Hogansville, GA
Ben Pierce, Still Alive, Rio Vista, CA
Jason Roberts, The Good Guy, Los Angeles, CA
Boris Schaarschmidt, Elenora, Los Angeles, CA
Bragi Schut, Scarecrow Joe, Los Angeles, CA
Kevin Will, Is This Blasphemy?, Santa Clarita, CA
Nathan Elliott, director of the Project, says the submissions surpassed expectations. “This is a globally, ethnically and racially diverse group of filmmakers that have one important thing in common: they’re enormously talented,” he notes. “We’re excited to see how their talent will manifest itself in the second round.”
The 15 finalists’ films will debut between August 17 and 31, with final round voting to occur in September. The Film Project will culminate with a Festival in Nashville on September 13th.
The Doorpost Film Project provides a grand prize totaling $100,000 and second and third place awards for $30,000 and $20,000, respectively. In addition to the $100,000 grand prize, the first place winner also receives scheduled private meetings in Los Angeles with development studios for prospective film deals.