Advancing African American Filmmakers and 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 live, at our annual conference, Nov. 8 - Nov. 12, 2023 at the Hyatt Ziva Punta Cana, Domincan Republic. 

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 2023 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. Additionally, the top four films will receive a non-exclusive distribution deal on AudPop's new channel, AudPop TV. 

How It Works: Filmmakers have from September 14th, 2023, until October 12th, 2023, 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. Please do not submit films you have previously submitted to the BESLA Film Festival: new entries only.

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 at our annual conferenceand from these, one film will win "Best Film in Competition" and receive a distribution deal with BET.

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

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AudPop is a social impact video platform connecting Creators, businesses, and audiences globally. We believe that real stories can change the world. That’s why we connect Creators with brands and audiences through the creation, curation, and promotion of authentic video content. AudPop powers turn-key video submissions and video production through connecting mission- driven brands and creators/filmmakers. Brands use AudPop to crowd-source addictive, gorgeous video content at scale from our award-winning diverse global filmmaker collective and to get the exact video that they need. AudPop has worked with many brands including Verizon, Southwest Air, GoDaddy, Hilton Worldwide, and DELL. AudPop supports a community of 79K global filmmakers and creators, has 15K short films on its platform, and has operated over 500 online film festivals, video contests, and film challenges awarding over $10M in cash and prizes to global diverse creators. Founded in 2013, AudPop is committed to facilitating collaboration and creating meaningful change.

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Become a PRO member of AudPop and submit to every opportunity for free. Up to 20GB a week of upload space + 4K/1080p uploads. PRO members receive opportunities to license and monetize their films. PROs are connected to brands looking to hire local filmmakers. Other opportunities for PRO filmmakers include production funding for feature documentaries, narratives, and animations and marketing your career to our followers. $14/month or $140 paid annual (2 months free). Go PRO here: https://audpop.com/upgrade

SUBMISSIONS DUE BY

Submissions Closed

VOTING OPENS

Oct 12, 2023 at 12:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

VOTING CLOSES

Oct 19, 2023 at 12:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Oct 26, 2023 at 12:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

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FINAL ROUND PRIZE DESCRIPTION

First place winner wins distribution with BET!

FINAL TEAM AWARDS

4 Top 4: Festival Screening