The Independence MovieFest Set to Launch

You may be asking yourself "What is the Independence MovieFest?" Well, the iMF is the latest online movie festival to spring up. It is making use of the latest technology to deliver DVD quality films to viewers and also an attempt to open doorways for independent filmmakers.

This is not the first online film festival I have heard of, not to mention other online film sites like ifilm.com and atom.com. It is, however, the first of the festivals that I have read anything about, and this one looks to be pretty interesting.

iMF is a collaborative effort between Kaneva, who pioneered the technology, and Campus MovieFest. They are the first festival to host all of the submitted movies online in DVD quality, this includes shorts and full features.

They have even set up a way for the films to be voted on in each of main categories. Online viewers will get a chance to vote on each of the films they watch with the top 25 moving on to be voted by the iMF panel. That goes for all 6 categories, drama, comedy, and documentary short and feature length. In addition to the top category awards, they will also be awarding the "Best of iMF" award to be awarded by the panel judges and the "Audience Choice," which will be selected by the online community.

I mention community, and I mean that. They are attempting to build a community of film fans and film makers alike. An interesting idea, combining the online world of film viewing and discussion into a one stop shop.

The site is currently open and accepting submissions, so all of you indie filmmakers make your way over to IndependenceMovieFest.com. There are some dates to be aware of for submissions, the deadline is May 15, 2006 with the winners being announced on, when else, Independence Day July 4, 2006.

Visit Kaneva.com to learn a bit more about the tech behind the festival. Not to mention, you can also sample their online offerings in online video and gaming.

You can also visit CampusMovieFest.com to learn more about Ideas United. They are dedicated to student film making.

I am intrigued by the idea of iMF, it seems to be a huge project. A project that could prove the future viability of such an enterprise. I look forward to checking out the submitted films.

So, be sure to head over to IndependenceMovieFest.com for more information.