Festivals & Submission Opportunities
Ann Arbor Film Festival 2026 – Call for Entries
🎬 Experimental Shorts, Features | 🏆 Oscar-Qualifying (Best Experimental Short) | 🌍 🇺🇸 International, US
The 64th Ann Arbor Film Festival (March 24–29, 2026, Ann Arbor, MI) is now accepting submissions. As North America’s longest-running experimental film festival, AAFF celebrates bold, genre-defying work across animation, documentary, narrative, and hybrid forms. It is an Oscar®-qualifying festival for short films in the Best Experimental category.
Key Deadlines:
· Submissions Open: July 1, 2025
· Deadlines: September 9 to November 11, 2025
· Categories: Experimental, Student, Animation, Narrative, Documentary
Entry Fee: $20–$60 (varies by deadline and category)
Cartoons Underground 2025 – Call for Entries
🎬 International Animated Shorts | 🌍 🇸🇬 International, Singapore
The 14th Cartoons Underground (October 25–26, 2025, Singapore) is now accepting animated short films for its international and student competition sections. The festival champions bold, experimental animation under 30 minutes, completed after Jan 1, 2023. Submissions are via FilmFreeway.
Deadlines: July 15, 2025
Entry Fee: Free - $5
Funding / Labs / Grants
AXS Film Fund – Submissions Open
🎥 Documentary & Nonfiction New Media | 💰 Up to $10K | 🇺🇸 U.S.-Based Creators with Disabilities or Chronic Illness
AXS Film Fund supports creators of color in the U.S. who identify as having a disability or chronic illness. Funding is available for documentary films and nonfiction new media projects in development or production. In addition to financial support, grantees receive professional development and networking opportunities.
· Applications Open: June 17, 2025
· Deadline: July 31, 2025, 11:59 PM PST
· Notification: October 2025
Grant Amount: Up to $10,000 per project
Entry Fee: Free
Episodic Directing Intensive 2025 – Applications Open
📺 Episodic Directing | 🎬 Mid-Career Directors | 🇺🇸 U.S.-Based
Hosted by Film Independent, the Episodic Directing Intensive is a professional development lab designed to help mid-career filmmakers transition into television. Participants receive hands-on industry guidance, pitch training, and mentorship from working episodic directors and producers. Open to directors with strong indie credentials seeking their first TV directing opportunity.
Application Period: June 24 – July 22, 2025
Lab Dates: Fall 2025 (exact dates TBD)
Entry Fee: Free
Tools & Resources
BBC Writersroom Script Library
🖊️ Screenwriting | 🌍 International
BBC Writersroom offers a comprehensive script library featuring free downloadable screenplays from acclaimed BBC television, radio, and film productions. It includes scripts across genres—from drama and comedy to children’s and radio—and serves as an invaluable resource for writers studying professional formatting, structure, and tone.
Cost: Free
Boords Shot List Creator
🎥 Pre‑Production Tool | 📋 Shot Design, Framing, Team Workflow
Boords offers a free online shot list creator that helps filmmakers plan and visualize their scenes. Users can define shot types, camera movement, framing, and notes, all linked to script segments or storyboards. Ideal for directors, DPs, and ADs seeking to streamline set planning and communication.
Recent Highlight: New drag-and-drop interface and PDF export for production-ready shot lists.
Cost: Free plan available with core features; paid upgrades for team collaboration and advanced tools.
Job & Creative Opportunities
Supervising Editor, Justice – CNN (Washington, DC)
💼 Full-Time | 📰 News & Editorial | 🇺🇸 US-Based (On-site)
CNN is hiring a Supervising Editor to lead its Justice coverage across digital platforms. The role involves assigning, editing, and shaping high-impact stories related to the DOJ, FBI, courts, and legal affairs. The ideal candidate will have deep newsroom experience, sharp news judgment, and a track record of leading breaking news and enterprise journalism.
Deadline: No listed deadline – apply ASAP
Salary: $101,500.00 - $188,500.00/year
Crew Call – Film Marketing Coordinator (Austin, TX)
🎬 Feature Film Promotion | 💼 Marketing & Outreach | 🇺🇸 Austin, Texas
An Austin-based feature film production is hiring a Film Marketing Coordinator to support its outreach, media relations, and promotional strategy. The role includes developing press materials, managing social media content, coordinating community engagement, and assisting with film festival submissions.
· Start Date: Monday, September 8, 202
· Shooting Schedule: 40 hrs/week. Monday – Friday
· Wrap Date: Friday, November 07, 2025
· Compensation: $667/week
Crowd/Fix Animator – Netflix Feature Animation
🎬 Contract / Full-Time | 🎨 Animation | 🇨🇦 Canada
Netflix is hiring a Crowd/Fix Animator to join its Feature Animation team in Vancouver. The role focuses on enhancing crowd and background animation scenes—correcting movement, improving continuity, and adding polish to shots.
Location: Vancouver, BC (Hybrid: 3 days/week in office)
Deadline: No deadline listed – apply ASAP
Salary: Estimated $60,000–$90,000 CAD/year
Industry Pulse
AI for Filmmakers: Moonvalley’s Marey Offers $2 Custom Scenes
🤖 AI Tools & Ethics | 🇺🇸 US
Moonvalley has launched Marey, a filmmaker-focused AI video tool trained exclusively on licensed footage from independent creators. Unlike black-box generators, Marey allows granular control over shots—offering detailed prompts, revisions, and collaborative fine-tuning. Each rendered scene costs as little as $1–$2. The company is already in talks with studios, ad agencies, and creators seeking AI that enhances—not replaces—human storytelling.
Estimated read: 5 min
Illinois Approves $62M Hollywood River Studios Project
🏗️ Studio Expansion | 🇺🇸 US
The city of Wood River, Illinois has approved the sale of land for Hollywood River Studios, a $62 million film and esports production complex. The project will transform a former green tech site into five sound stages and a gaming arena, aiming to attract large-scale productions outside of L.A. Construction is set to begin in early 2026, with support from Illinois’ film tax credit program and promises of hundreds of new jobs.
Estimated read: 4 min
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