Festival Data:

• Established: 1981
• Genre: Experimental - New Media (click to see)

• Competitive
• Online Festival

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Since 1981, the annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival, an international juried competition and award tour, has been fulfilling its mission to advocate, exhibit and reward cutting edge works from independent film and videomakers. The festival is known for its national public exhibition program, which features a variety of bold contemporary works drawn from the annual collection of 50 award winning films and videos.

Following a rigorous jurying process, the festival launches its national tour each January. Over 70 institutions welcome the Black Maria Festival, and each individual program is custom tailored, ensuring an accessible and meaningful experience for varied audiences at theaters, museums, colleges, libraries, film societies, microcinemas, and community organizations from coast to coast.

Today the works exhibited by the Black Maria Film and Video Festival explore the human condition as well as the creative potential of the medium. They offer a mosaic of artistically conceived film and video forms (documentary, experimental, animation and narrative) but with an emphasis on cutting edge sensibility. The Festival Tour exhibits the winning works in various thematic and artistic configurations tailored to diverse audiences at venues which are conducive to the genuine appreciation of the work.

Individual programs vary in length (although most are approximately 90 minutes) and are curated from the award winners by experienced festival programmers in conjunction with representatives from the host institution. A festival curator travels to each venue to introduce and oversee the exhibition of the work and to facilitate audience discussion. Program booklets with descriptions of all the works available in the annual collection are provided to each audience member.

In addition to these programs, The Black Maria Film and Video Festival has recently begun a special collaboration with the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. Works which have been showcased in the seminar are considered for exhibition in the Black Maria and if accepted, are highlighted and arranged in special presentations.

Film Submissions:

• Submission formats: VHS, 16mm, 35mm, DVD
• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/ entry_form.php