American Film Festival - Opportunity in Poland

US in Progress Wrocław 2016 submissions are now open. This little-known event in Poland offers American indie filmmakers one of the biggest opportunities in the world to meet the international trade in an intimate and fun setting. Every year one of the films here seems to make it into Sundance. The filmmakers get to know European buyers, sellers and programmers. The great thing about European film festivals is that they do not take your money and then refuse your film. They cost nothing to apply and can make your reputation abroad.

Submissions are now open for the sixth edition of the US in Progress (October 26-29), a co-production forum held in Wroclaw, during 7. American Film Festival. Applications for projects will be open until August 15, 2016. No entry fee is required.

Please go to www.americanfilmfestival.pl/usinprogress or click here for detailed regulations and entry form.

US in Progress is a unique event presenting independent American projects in final production stages to top European buyers (sales agents, distributors and festival programmers), post-production houses and festivals in order to help them achieve completion and to foster the circulation and general exposure of American independent work in Europe. The forum is composed of invitees-only screenings of the American feature narratives in rough-cut stage with a filmmaker-producer teams in attendance. Formal one-to-one talks and informal meetings further facilitate networking and exchange.

Applications are open for US-produced narrative feature projects in post-production stage:

• looking for completion money, services and sales agent or European distribution
• projects in post-production when applying, with at least 30 min of the film edited and to reach feature format by the presentation date. If selected, the feature-length version of the rough/fine cut will be presented. No excerpts or trailers will be accepted.
• projects with no US or international premiere nor European sales representation prior to October 2016 are eligible.

To the selected 4-6 projects the organizers will offer:

• a flight to Poland for 1 team member and 3-day accommodation during the US in Progress (October 26-29) in Wrocław, Poland
• networking opportunities during the American Film Festival parties and events
• post-production and promotion packages worth of $40,000 total
• exposure to the European buyers in a friendly professional environment.

US in Progress team wishes to congratulate to US in Progress alumni premiering at TriBeCa Film Festival opening on Wednesday April 13th:

• The Loner directed by Daniel Y Grove
• Mike Ott and Nathan Silver's Actor Martinez
• Live Cargo by Logan Sandler
• Deb Shoval's AWOL

US in Progress takes place twice yearly, in Paris, France (June, 7-14) during Champs-Elysées Film Festival and in Wroclaw hosted by the American Film Festival in fall (October 25-30, 2016). Paris edition submissions have just closed and we are looking forward to receiving your work for Wroclaw edition.

US in Progress is a joint initiative of the Polish New Horizons Association and the French Champs-Elysées Film Festival (in collaboration with New York-based Black Rabbit Film).

After being called one of '25 Coolest Film Festivals of the World', American Film Festival has been recently placed on the MovieMaker's list of "Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, 2016". The magazine assures that American Film Festival plays a tight collection of the year's best American indie films, as well as the two-day U.S. in Progress event for works-in-progress (winners receive handy post-production packages). And if shooting in Poland appeals to you, AFF should be your favorite resource: Participants enjoy presentations from the Polish Film Institute, Polish production and post-production houses, and a field trip of Poland and Lower Silesia shooting locations.

About Sydney Levine

Sydney Levine is an executive of longstanding in the international film business. She is a writer of the popular blog on international film business, SydneysBuzz which also has run on Indiewire, IMDbPro and IMDb since 2008 when Amazon acquired her twenty-five year old company FilmFinders. In 1988 Sydney created FilmFinders, the industry’s first database of worldwide features used by distributors, sales agents and festival programmers acquiring features. It became industry standard for organizing and tracking the rights-buying activities of the film business and was adopted by the Cannes Marché and developed into what today is called Cinando.com. She and her partner, Peter Belsito continue to provide consulting and strategic planning for producers, national film organizations and other educational initiatives in international film business at Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, Germany's Deutsche Welle Akademie, Talents in Berlin, Sarajevo, and Guadalajara, EICTV the international film school in Los Banos, Cuba, Chapman University, UCLA Extension, Vilnius University, et. al. She organizes, moderates and participates in panel discussions on the international film business, as well as producing white paper research and reports on SydneysBuzz.com. Sydney works with the markets in Cannes and Berlin in administering buyers’ data for North America, Latin America and Asia and gives tours of the market to newcomers. She opens the Cannes Shorts Corner with a presentation on The International Film Circuit for shorts. She has currently completed a book about Latin American Film Financing published in Spanish by the Guadalajara University Press. The English version on the Iberoamerican Film Business will be published in the fall of 2016.

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