Registration Opens For The 14th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - March 1, 2018 - PRLog -- Registration opened today for the Film Lab's 14th Annual 72 Hour Film Shootout ("Shootout"), which will take place in early June.  Filmmakers began registering online at www.film-lab.org for the worldwide filmmaking competition, designed to promote gender and ethnic diversity in media and empower emerging female filmmakers and filmmakers of color.  Judges already confirmed include Marci Phillips (Executive Director of Casting for ABC Primetime), Daniel Sakaya (President of CrossingsTV), Antony Wong (Program Coordinator at the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), of The City University of New York (CUNY)), influential blogger and actor Erin Quill, and award-winning filmmaker Myra Velazquez.  NBC executives Grace Moss, Director of Entertainment Diversity Initiatives for NBC, and Jandiz Cardoso, head of all in-front-of-the-camera initiatives for NBCUniversal's Talent Development & Inclusion Department, will be offering one-on-one mentorships to winners of this year's Shootout.

Between March 1^st and June 1^st, the Film Lab will host a series of events to prepare filmmakers for 72 intense hours in June, during which filmmaking teams are given a common theme at the start and then have 72 hours to write, shoot, edit, and complete short films up to five minutes in length.  This year, the Film Lab says it intends to focus on gender roles and female empowerment.  "The issue is obviously very timely, in light of #MeToo and #Weinstein," explained Film Lab President and actor Jennifer Betit Yen.  "In fact, Film Lab's production arm just completed a TV pilot, Mirror Mirror, addressing gender issues in the workplace through a half hour comedy.  In the words of actor, Tim Scanlin, it's what happens when an Erin Brokovich type goes up against a Wolf of Wall Street type.  Our 2018 Shootout Coordinator just came off editing the pilot and is very much interested in the topic of gender roles and equality issues."

The 2018 Shootout management team includes the Shootout Coordinator, award-winning editor and director, Jatin Chhugani (Mirror Mirror, Perfect Donor), SAG-AFTRA actor Anna Lisa Hill, producer and director Kazuki Akiba (Viacom, AMC Networks), filmmaker, podcast producer and comic performer Ed Lee, and recent Barnard graduate, Kadaja Brown who worked as assistant director on the AAFL TV production Mirror Mirror.  Said Coordinator Jatin Chhugani, "At this year's Shootout, we will be pushing to promote positive messages about gender equality and race consciousness. I'm very excited to see the work of the many talented women and people of color who submit films this year."

Registered competitors gain access to nearly a year's worth of programming ranging from filmmaking how-to workshops to networking events.  Shootout teams compete for film festival and television exhibition, mentorship from top executives at major networks, such as ABC and NBC, cash, and other prizes.  The top ten films have the chance to screen their films at the prestigious Asian American International Film Festival, the only festival of its kind on the East Coast.  Teams also have an extended time period within which to submit a television version of their Shootout film for possible televised showcase by the Film Lab's new production arm AAFL TV, for a special spring Shootout TV series on CrossingsTV (Time Warner Cable, Xfinity, etc.).   Prize sponsors include Face Off Unlimited, Bakerly, Bridging Cultures 101, CrossingsTV, and more. More at www.film-lab.org.