Advancing African-American Filmmakers & Films

Advancing African-American Filmmakers & Film

BESLA is the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association whose mission is to advance the excellence of professionals in the entertainment, sports, and related industries. We invite filmmakers to submit their short films to screen at our annual conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, November 3-7, 2021. 

The Call for Entries: Filmmakers are invited to submit 5-10 minute short films that depict the African-American experience or films produced/directed by African-Americans. 

The Opportunity: The top 4 films will screen at the 2021 BESLA Annual Conference to top entertainment industry professionals. The 1st place winner's film and filmmaker will be profiled and featured on BET.com and potentially other BET social media platforms.

How It Works: Filmmakers have from September 10, 2021, until October 12, 2021, to create, upload and submit their film. Submissions are judged for admittance into the film challenge before jury review begins. Films are initially screened and films that score a 1 will not be allowed to compete in the film challenge. Accepted entries will compete in the film challenge. Once you successfully upload and submit your film to the BESLA Film Festival on our site, your film is reviewed by our festival screeners for admittance. You will receive notice if your film is accepted or rejected before voting opens. 

Once the voting opens, your film is juried by our preliminary jury panel and the global audience. From this first round, the top 10 films with the most votes and the top 10 preliminary jury-selected films advance to the finals round. If audience winners are preliminary jury selections, the preliminary jury may select additional films so that there are always 20 finalist films.

From the top 20 films, the BESLA Conference team will select the top 4 finalist films that will screen at the annual conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, November 3 – 7, 2021. One film will win "Best Film in Competition".

Entries will be evaluated based on the following judging criteria:
* Creativity (45%)
* Technical Merit (30%)
* Adherence to the Assignment (25%)
 

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SUBMISSIONS DUE BY

Submissions Closed

VOTING OPENS

Oct 12, 2021 at 12:00pm MDT (America/Denver)

VOTING CLOSES

Oct 18, 2021 at 12:00pm MDT (America/Denver)

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Oct 22, 2021 at 12:00pm MDT (America/Denver)

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FINAL TEAM AWARDS

1st Place : BET Distribution + Festival Screening

3 Honorable Mention: Festival Screening