We are the only festival that has two separate annual events, one on each coast.
We have a feature length and short screenplay competition each year.
We do not duplicate our program, we go through the entire prescreening
process to bring in fresh, new, talented filmmakers to each and every
event. We program multiple projects per screening, so you get a wide
array of entertainment at a reasonable price.
We
give personal attention by keeping the Official Selection in the loop
by email all the way to the event and offer them complimentary All
Access Passes.
We
try to cater to all filmmaker requests pertaining to preferred
screening programs, so that they can get the most audience to see their
project.
We offer
Official Selections the opportunity to promote their project with
FirstGlance™ at a fraction of the cost they would pay on their own to
advertise in local press.
We have an in-house printer that can help you defray costs of posters and postcards
The entry fee you pay online is the only fee you will ever have to pay.
We will never ask Official selections to pay for screening placement or booths.
We don’t charge exorbitant prices to either the filmmakers or the attendees at the festival.
We have after parties for filmmakers to mix and mingle and have a great time doing informal Q and A’s at the party venue
We
have cultivated a true indie spirit at our events and you can feel it
in the air when you take part as either a filmmaker or an attendee.
Opportunities for Shorts
We
are one of the only festivals to offer all Official Selections in our
short categories (shorts, shorts too, mini-docs, music video,
animations) the opportunity for distribution both online, and in retail
venues for sale and rent, at absolutely no cost to the filmmaker. This
program will produce two professionally glass mastered DVD sets each
year. With the growing opportunity for short films, we will also be
offering some amazing opportunities in the near future, including
download to own, personalized DVD mixes, cable offerings, handheld
downloads and other markets not yet tapped.
Our first DVD released in February 2006…Pick one up, so you can see what your future holds!!
Feature Length Opportunities
In
our feature length category, we have seen an amazing thing happen to
FirstGlance™ between 2004 –2005, Three Official Selections and one
Feature Winner acquired theatrical distribution after showing at
FirstGlance™.
FirstGlance™ screens approximately 10-12 features a year, so
if your Feature becomes an Official Selection you have a 25% chance
your project may get picked up for theatrical distribution.
We are currently working with a digital feature acquisition
and delivery company with 25 screens nationwide to up the odds for the
features in our festivals.
In the Press
We have been named by Moviemaker Magazine as “One of the 20 Best Film Festival Investments”
The Film Festival Guide’s Chris Gore has called us “One of the Indie Fests to Watch”
We are continually featured in Film Festival Today Magazine and have
been called the “only truly indie fest in Philadelphia, that truly
cares about indie projects”
Prize Packages
Our
prize packages vary and change from year to year, but every year they
get bigger and better. Our goal is to create a prize package which will
help the filmmaker create new and better projects. We are working hard
to add some amazing prizes to our packages.
We look forward to 2006 and are in negotiations to acquire
HD and MiniDV camcorders, editing programs and the computers to edit
on, camera support, sound equipment, lighting kits, writing and
storyboard programs, location services, royalty free music and
professional scoring, video rawstock, insurance deals, studio time,
etc.
All short subject winners also get free entry and exhibition
at the sister festival, so they get exposure on both coasts as well as
the opportunity to be on the FirstGlance™ DVD. The DVD prize alone is
worth over $1000.00 per project for glass mastering and creation of the
DVD itself.
About Us
FirstGlance™
Film festivals began in 1996 in the basement of a small theater in
Center City Philadelphia.We started as a small theatre company in
Philadelphia that wanted to help fellow filmmakers get their projects
shown in a public venue for others to enjoy. It’s mission was a one
time weekend to show projects that might otherwise not be seen by
moviegoers in the Philadelphia area. With a rented video projector and
a bunch of large screen TV’s, we had a successful weekend showing about
20 projects to about 150 people. After the event we received multiple
calls and emails from filmmakers and attendees. The FirstGlance™ Film
Festival was born. FirstGlance™ decided to move forward and make its
festival an annual event. With filmmaker interest, our sister festival
opened in Burbank California in 2000 to a similar audience in a 35 seat
screening room and has also become a growing annual event.
By 2005, The FirstGlance™ Film Festivals have shown over 400 quality
projects to over 10,000 attendees and has grown to 200 seat venues with
state of the art projection capabilities.
To date, FirstGlance™ Film Festivals has produced sixteen film
festivals and has broadened its audience of both filmmakers and
attendees. Currently, FirstGlance™ Film festivals receive close to 1000
entries per year and show close to 80 projects a year. To read about
our growth, you can check out our success stories page.
In 2005, FirstGlance™ finds itself on the cusp of a new generation,
where 24p, HD, and computer animation can be created on a budget. With
the creation of new technologies, short films will be the next hot
acquisition. In the past year, we have acquired an acquisitions arm for
short films (live action, docs and animated) and FirstGlance™ is on the
ground floor of the technology offering filmmakers distribution of
short films to cable, internet, retail and rental, DVD distribution,
airline network distribution, handheld technologies (iPod, Cell phone,
and handhelds). With the potential for your project to be seen by
millions of people all over the world and the opportunity for you to
profit from each market, don’t pass up FirstGlance™.
We want to be your venue of choice for theatrical, distribution to DVD, Cable, HD, and Internet.
Four feature length films that placed in our festivals have received
theatrical distribution and the creation of our first DVD, available
online and retail.
In our continuing efforts to support, encourage,
exhibit and create new opportunities for truly indie filmmakers, we
hope you are as excited as FirstGlance™ to become a part of what is
sure to become the next generation of viewing, both in the theater and
on TV and the Web.
