Applications Open November 1, 2021 to Create Films in an Incubator Space and Community Arts Program With Support From NBC, Telemundo and Universal
The After School Film Institute (ASFI) and the White Elephant Group (WEG Films) are creating life changing opportunities for filmmakers in South Florida. They’re partnering to produce The WEG Short Film Lab, a hybrid film and media incubator and community arts program servicing emerging filmmakers and underserved communities. The WEG Short Film Lab is part of ASFI’s Building Careers, Building Communities initiative made possible in part by the NBCUniversal Foundation, NBC6 and Telemundo 51.
The program will commission 8-10 short film projects ranging from $1,500 - $6,000, and provide creative and logistic production advising and additional resources in support of original short film projects. Applications open on November 1 on WEGFilms.com to anyone in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Winners will be announced in late December. “We have been very fortunate to have an amazing team of artists make up our own collective. The one thing we’ve struggled with is a lack of funding. Filmmaking can be an expensive endeavor, and support from generous funders have allowed us to create films that would otherwise be nothing but a daydream.” said Eddy Moon, Executive Producer of WEG.
The WEG Short Film Lab aims to serve the community through public arts programs. Commissioned filmmakers will be required to participate in a public arts program hosted by an ASFI nonprofit partner, all organizations servicing low-income communities throughout Miami-Dade County. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to start new projects/programs that in turn let us help more of our community”, said Dr. Devin Marsh, Director of ASFI. The program is seeking partners in Little Haiti, Allapattah, and Opa-Locka. Confirmed program partners include MEYGA Learning Center (Liberty City), Historic Hampton House (Liberty City), Belafonte Tacolcy Center (Liberty City) and Arthur & Polly Mays COTA (Goulds).
The WEG Short Film Lab will take an incubator approach to original project development, providing select filmmakers with uninhibited access to their own production office space. Commissioned filmmakers will attend a bi-monthly filmmaker incubator meeting to provide resources, like artist workshops, screenings and young artist mentoring.
To mark its completion, The WEG Short Film Lab will host a public screening of all the films commission complete with a post-screening Q&A. This event will be open to the public for free with only a suggested donation available to be volunteered by attendees. All donations will go towards a festival support fund supporting festival submissions costs and festival visits for all filmmakers. These opportunities aim to create conditions for long-lasting connections between Miami filmmakers seeking to develop both professional and artistic networks and participate in the development of the larger Miami filmmaking community.
A Miami-based film and media-tech collective producing provocative, challenging works by emerging artists. Established in 2013, the collective is composed of artists from unique backgrounds all coming together to create works in South Florida. The work ranges from narrative and documentary films, to commercials, and music videos, and even groundbreaking VR, AR and XR projects. The work created by the collective has screened at premiere film festivals domestically and internationally. Festivals include Florida Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, Third Horizon Film Festival, HBO’s New York Latino Film Festival, Inside Out Film Festival, New Orleans Film festival, Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival, Short Shorts Film Festival, amongst many more. Their work has also been distributed nationally both through streaming services and cable television.
The collective's most recent work ‘Birds of Paradise’ was commissioned by, and premiered at the Adrienne Arsht Center. The work was created by the Pioneer Winter Collective and produced by the White Elephant group.
The After School Film Institute is an established weekly after school program that teaches at-risk middle and high school students the aspects of the filmmaking process. The institute benefits from film industry professionals who generously volunteer to guide the students through conceiving writing, filming, directing, predicting and editing, which results in a student-produced film that is ready for entry into national and international film festivals.
ASFI brings renowned industry professionals into under-serviced inner-city schools to provide students with unique opportunities to explore and create the crafts involved in the filmmaking process under the supervision of celebrated industry mentors. In its involvement of distinguished industry and community leaders, ASFI aims to bring together the South Florida community under a single banner with the goal of offering students in underserved schools opportunities to create their own original works under the guidance and mentorship of leading industry creatives; ultimately resulting in a pipeline between participating schools and creative industries.
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