Memphis has always been known as a playground for developing raw, untapped talent and fostering the creative community, regardless of age, income or community. StoryBoard Shorts Doc Fest harnesses that tradition in a grass-roots festival and competition open to all, designed to help budding filmmakers prepare their work, meet important industry contacts, and gather resources and support needed to show their work, finish their short films or submit them to larger festivals.
Doc Fest is a new talent development initiative that provides budding filmmakers with an open invitation to submit their short* nonfiction films (*10 minutes or less) to be screened and reviewed by film industry experts and entered into a cash-prize competition. Finalists’ works will be screened in person May 11, 2024. Filmmakers are encouraged to submit works that meet the StoryBoard mission of supporting and shining a light on local arts, history, culture, and community.
By definition, a storyboard represents a work in progress. And since its inception, StoryBoard Memphis has become a local platform and curator, an opportunity for budding storytellers across all demographics, with finished works or works-in-progress or who may not feel yet ready for larger multimedia publications. Since our beginnings we have met and honed that mission, as many of our new storytellers have gone on to publish books and have gotten gigs with local publications like The Commercial Appeal and The Daily Memphian.
StoryBoard Shorts Doc Fest applies the same methodology, providing new filmmakers with opportunities and pathways to have their short works and works-in-progress seen, rated and reviewed, preparing them for entries into the larger, established festivals.
Categories include films created locally in Memphis and Shelby County; regionally outside county lines in the Mid-South (Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana); nationally and internationally outside the Mid-South. Additional categories for 901 teen filmmakers in partnership with local libraries and local college and university filmmakers within Shelby County.
ABOUT THE LOGO:
The StoryBoard Shorts Doc Fest logo was inspired by StoryBoard’s founder’s circa 1950s Paillard-Bolex 16mm film camera, used by adventurers and artists, and documentary filmmakers and film students. Notable filmmakers and artists known to use this camera were Andy Warhol, Steven Spielberg, Jean-Luc Godard, James Dean, David Lynch and Marilyn Monroe.
It was popular for its ease in filming and for its spring-wound, hand-crank power system, which enabled filmmakers to film without battery or ancillary power. In recent years it has enjoyed a renaissance in its usage by artists and film students.
