DIY Films Not Involving T&A

We're sure everyone and their mother are hard at work (pun fully intended) on homemade porn for the Stranger, but there's another amateur movie contest going on in town, and its deadline is already looming. The Northwest Film Forum is presenting the 8th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival this October, but entries must be postmarked by July 25th in order to be eligible. This gives you a little over one week to get your feature-length (>50 min.) or short film (<50 min.) shot, edited, and mailed off. We're sure that's more than enough time for any future Miranda July or Craig Brewer to create a masterwork. Check out the criteria here, as well as the submission form (there's no entry fee). If you've got some movie-making ideas but are lacking the means to do so, you're in luck: the NWFF rents cameras, sound and lighting gear, and editing equipment. So get to it!

Need more motivation? How's about cash money, son?

And now we've got cash awards to announce. Thanks to the festival's sponsor, Altoids, we'll be offering two big prizes. The Altoid Independent Cinema award for best feature comes with $5000 in cold, hard cash and a theatrical run (with a cut of the box office, naturally) in Northwest Film Forum's cinemas. The award for best short film is no slouch either, what with $2500 in cash and $2500 in services/equipment. Once again, many of the screenings will be free of charge to attend and we'll be giving away things like free memberships and [other] stuff (again, thanks to Altoids).

The filmmakers whose works have been accepted to the festival will be notified by September 16th. Seattlest can only assume the losers will also be informed, via letter, exactly how much they and their movies suck.