Connection Café: Lights.Camera.Help. - Films for a cause find their festival

	Lights.Camera.Help. - Films for a cause find their festival
	Posted by at Apr 19, 2009 01:27 PM CDT Categories: Advocacy, Nonprofit Trends, NPtech, Social Media

camera If you haven't already heard, a few great minds in the nonprofit and social media worlds have a new event on the horizon to help bring the power of video to the nonprofit and advocacy space with the Lights. Camera. Help. Nonprofit Film Festival (yes, a film festival exclusively designed for all you do-gooders out there!) I've written here often on the power of video for the nonprofit space on such topics as how nonprofits can enhance their online presence with video, why video is so powerful for storytelling and even top tips on how to best utilize video for the nonprofit space - so I'm excited to see nonprofit video getting more attention with this new festival started by none other than Mr. nonprofit video himself David J Neff, Aaron Bramley and Rich Vazquez.

In short, Lights. Camera. Help. is an annual film festival dedicated to telling the story of nonprofit and grass roots organizations through the use of film and video. Through this event, films and videos with a cause directly related to a nonprofit or grass roots organization will be subject to a rigorous criteria by a panel of judges. The films and videos will gain notoriety by being considered the best in one of several distinct categories.

This festival is the first of its kind and is a pillar of the City of Austin, a prominent city in the non-profit, grass roots and activism communities. These organizations, along with filmmakers, will use the festival to spread the word about their cause, develop a community of followers, and expand the film-for-a-cause genre.

Several non-profits are already lined up to submit their films for judgement. So far, the organizations that have promised submissions are United Way, Capital Area Food Bank, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the American Cancer Society. General submissions open April 30.

And for anyone who live in the Austin, Texas area, Lights. Camera. Help. is holding a screening party to celebrate to opening of submissions here in Austin on Thursday, April 30th 7:30-9:30pm at Southwest Key. Anyone interested in joining the festivites should contact contact@lightscamerahelp.com to RSVP where representatives from the American Cancer Society, United Way, the Capital Area Food Bank and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary will speak about the value of the films-for-a-cause genre, show a trailer for their films and then formally submit their films.

For more info, contact contact@lightscamerahelp.com or Aaron Bramley at (917) 678-4590. And of course, check out this rad video by @Daveiam and @AaronMSB.