Student Film Festival 'Fine Cut' Celebrates 25 Years of Short Films From Southern California Film School Students With Call For 2024 Entries and Spring Summit Event on April 20
Press Contact
JP Shields
747.201.5886
JPShields@pbssocal.org
Select programming will also be available to stream on PBS.org and the free PBS App. Members of PBS SoCal get extended access with PBS Passport.
Los Angeles, Calif. – March 22, 2024 – PBS SoCal, Southern California's flagship PBS station, announced today that the annual FINE CUT Festival of Films is celebrating 25 years of showcasing local student filmmaking and is now accepting submissions for the 2024 season from local film school students. The festival encourages promising filmmakers who are currently enrolled in or recently graduated from Southern California film schools to submit short films (25 minutes or less) in the categories of Documentary, Animation and Narrative for consideration for prizes as well as to be included in a series of broadcast episodes airing locally and streaming this fall. Following the broadcast, each episode of FINE CUT will stream at pbssocal.org/finecut and on the free PBS app. The deadline to submit short films for consideration is May 31, 2024 at filmfreeway.com/FineCut.
To mark the 25th anniversary in 2024, FINE CUT will be hosting a “Spring Fine Cut Film Festival Summit” designed to provide tomorrow’s generation of filmmakers with opportunities to engage with various entertainment industry experts. All semi-finalists and finalists of the 24th Annual FINE CUT Festival of Films will be invited to event as well as students from any regional film school or educational organization that emphasizes the arts.
Hosted by Radford Studio Center, the Summit will take place on Sat., April 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Stage 19 at Studio City’s Radford Studios (4024 Radford Ave, Studio City, CA 91604). To sign up for the event, students can click here or go to pbssocal.org/finecut
The FINE CUT Festival of Films is PBS SoCal’s flagship program showcasing local student filmmaking for 25 years, with funding made possible by The Bridges / Larson Foundation. In 2023, a variety of prize packages from Keslow, The Camera Division, Adobe, Wacom and more were valued over $45,000 were awarded to the three winners with one honoree selected as The Jack Larson Southern California Student Filmmaker Award commemorating FINE CUT founder Jack Larson's commitment to fostering new generations of filmmakers in Southern California.
Top films submitted for the FINE CUT Festival of Films will be evaluated by a select, to-be-announced panel of judges consisting of esteemed entertainment industry experts. The 2023 judges included Director/Writer James Lee Hernandez (Max’s “McMillion$,” Apple TV+’s “The Big Conn,” Paramount+’s “Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza”), Writer Kelly Younger (“Muppets Haunted Mansion,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Candy Cane Lane”), Creator and Director Elizabeth Ito (“Mall Stories,” “City of Ghosts”), Cinematographer Alison Kelly (Marvel's “Ironheart,” “NCIS Hawaii”), Story Supervisor/Story Artist Michael Herrera (“Zootopia Plus,” “Bye Bye Bunny,” “Encanto”), Director Yemisi Brookes (BBC’s “A Life A Life In Ten Pictures,” Max’s “Beanie Mania,” “Generation Hustle”), Creator/Executive Producer Karissa Valencia (Netflix’s “Spirit Rangers”), Director/Show Runner Everett Downing (“My Dad the Bounty Hunter”) and Writer/Director Tina Mabry (Max’s “Insecure,” FX’s “Pose”).
Each of the four winners received valuable prize packages including two $10,000 camera packages from Keslow Camera and The Camera Division, a membership to the International Documentary Association (with exposure to 3,000 IDA members), Stage TH!S rental package $3,500 estimated value, a $1,300 Wacom Cintiq 22 design tablet, four 12-month subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud, $1,000 Quixote Production supplies rental, and tickets to the KCET Cinema Series. Honorees will also receive prizes donated from some of the industry’s most reputable names including Toon Boom, Dragonframe, Entertainment Partners, DCP for All, APM Music, Proko, TV Paint, My Mix Spot, Foundry and Backstage.
The FINE CUT program also includes a fall awards ceremony/screening event that last year was hosted by Variety Television Editor/KCRW “Screengrab” Host Michael Schneider and his Variety colleague Senior Entertainment Writer Angelique Jackson. The event took place just prior to the series’ broadcast premiere where honorees in each of the three categories and The Jack Larson Award recipient were awarded their prizes.
In 2023, the online submission process garnered over 350 short films submitted from over 40 Southern California schools. 88% of the finalist’s films had a lead character or main subject from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group and 77% of the directors were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. 70% of the films had at least one female producer.
RULES: Student filmmakers must be at least 18 years of age and currently enrolled or have been enrolled in a Southern California School January 2022 to present. Films completed prior to January 1, 2022, are not eligible for consideration for FINE CUT. Films that have been submitted for FINE CUT consideration in previous years are not eligible for submission for 2024 FINE CUT consideration. All short films selected by the expert judging panel will be part of one of a series of broadcast episodes and all accepted shorts are eligible for awards in the Competition. Short Films must have a total running time of 25 minutes or less, including credits. Read the full rules and regulations at FilmFreeway.com.
This festival is a tribute to Fine Cut founder, Jack Larson. In the late 1990s, the actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer had the idea of creating a student film series that would provide talented students with the much-needed opportunity to have their short films selected for television broadcast. Larson understood how difficult it was for young filmmakers to get broad exposure for their work because, typically, student work is only seen at special screenings and film festivals. Larson thought that public television was an excellent platform for providing critical visibility to emerging filmmakers. PBS SoCal shares Larson’s enthusiasm for showcasing local student filmmaking and 25 years later, FINE CUT continues to be a flagship program for Southern California’s flagship PBS organization.
For more information, follow us on social at @pbssocal
Funding for Fine Cut is generously provided by The Bridges/Larson Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Creative Recovery LA Fund.
About PBS SoCal
PBS SoCal uses the power of public media for good, strengthening the civic fabric of Southern California and providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world. As a local, donor/member-supported non-profit organization, PBS SoCal manages 7 channels — including 2 primary broadcast channels, PBS SoCal and PBS SoCal Plus as well as 5 digital subchannels. With a commitment to make content available anytime and anywhere for free, PBS SoCal is reaches nearly 19M viewers in the region with programming that reflects the diversity of Southern California and showcases the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content spanning Education, News, Environment and Arts & Culture. PBS SoCal programming is available to viewers over-the-air, on all key streaming platforms via the free PBS App and PBS KIDS App. PBS SoCal also sparks the sharing of ideas at in-person cultural events and community conversations as well as prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by bringing bilingual, hands-on learning experiences to the community for free.