FESTIVALS
Now celebrating its 25th year, Alaska’s largest film festival returns with ten days of bold cinema, glacier hikes, and longform Q&As. Set in Anchorage’s Bear Tooth Theatrepub and other venues, AIFF showcases narrative, doc, animation, Alaska-made, and even iPhone shorts—plus new categories like Best Sports Doc and Native Voices Award.
Key Details:
Final Deadline: September 1, 2025
Festival Dates: December 5–14, 2025
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, US
Celebrating its 13th year, the Toronto Short Film Festival returns each March with a curated slate of over 100 short films, music videos, and documentaries from around the world. Known for its intimate screenings and filmmaker attendance, the festival highlights low-budget, high-impact work by emerging and independent creators.
Key Details:
Regular Deadline: October 31, 2025
Festival Dates: March 2026 (TBA)
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
FUNDING & LABS
Run by NASA and the Houston Cinema Arts Society, CineSpace invites filmmakers worldwide to submit short films (under 10 minutes) that creatively use actual NASA imagery. All finalists screen at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival in November, with top winners receiving up to $10,000. Genres can range from drama to animation, music video to experimental.
Key Details:
Final Deadline: September 7, 2025
Event Dates: November 6–16, 2025
Prizes: $10,000 (Grand), $5,000 (Second), $3,000 (Third)
Europe’s longest-running training initiative for factual filmmakers, the 10-month Masterschool offers workshops, mentorship, and international industry access to help participants develop and pitch their documentary or factual project. Alumni have gone on to premiere at Sundance, IDFA, and earn Oscar nominations.
Key Details:
Deadline: December 1, 2025
Support: €30,000 value in mentorship, travel scholarships, market access
Eligibility: Europe-based producers; U.S. producers also eligible
TOOLS & RESOURCES
OBS Studio is a free, open-source app used globally for video recording and live streaming. It supports high-performance real-time video/audio capture, multi-scene editing, hotkeys, VST plugins, and customizable transitions. Widely adopted by streamers, educators, and indie filmmakers alike, it’s also extensible through plugins and scripts.
Best For: Indie creators, educators, live streamers, and filmmakers producing talkbacks, behind-the-scenes, or remote shoots.
Talk Studio is an all-in-one, browser-based platform that lets creators live stream or record content without installing software. It supports multistreaming to YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, and more, and allows you to invite guests, share screens, and customize branding. Free to start, with premium features under the Streamlabs Ultra plan.
Best For: Filmmakers, podcasters, and content creators looking for a simple way to go live or record professional-quality video directly from their browser.
JOBS
Join the team behind Philadelphia’s top-rated station, 6abc, to assist in producing specials, digital content, live events, and parades. Interns will gain hands-on experience from shoot planning to post-production using Adobe Premiere Pro.
Key Details:
Dates: September 8, 2025 – January 3, 2026
Location: Philadelphia, PA (on-site)
Pay: $22/hour
The Washington Post is hiring a seasoned photojournalist to join its award-winning visuals team in Washington, D.C. The role involves producing high-impact visual storytelling across breaking news, features, and enterprise assignments.
Key Details:
Location: Washington, D.C.
Type: Full-Time
Pay Range: $92,600 – $138,800/year
INDUSTRY PULSE
A new piece from The European Business Review explores how intelligent infrastructure is changing every stage of the film pipeline. From pre-production to pitch decks, AI tools like Runway, Unreal Engine, and Filmustage are helping smaller teams work faster and smarter.
Estimated read: 4 min
From Kevin Costner’s Horizon to new studio builds, Utah is emerging as a serious player in U.S. film production. Local officials are lobbying for expanded tax incentives to compete with New Mexico and Georgia.
Estimated read: 3 min
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