Hometown Cinema was founded in 1996 by an undergraduate student at Indiana University in hopes of bridging a noticeable gap between student filmmakers and the entertainment community. Hometown Cinema provides a stepping stone between a student’s film education and film career, offering a festival that takes place every April in Bloomington, Indiana, and an ongoing online festival- [ www.hometown.z.com ]
The festival is for students and run by students. Every April, Hometown Cinema hosts approximatelly 10 Entertainment Industry guest speakers to offer lectures, mentor, demonstrations, and serve as the judges for the student film competition. Over the past four years, Hometown has brought such elite guests as Frank Capra Jr., Shane Black- Screenwriter “Lethal Weapon”, Alex Rose- Producer “Norma Rae”, “Overboard”, Bob Chapek- VP Marketing Buena Vista, and many more. We have also placed over 20 students in premiere internships and jobs.
The online festival began in May 2000 and currently houses student films from all over the nation. On the z.com website, Hometown is found under the filmmaker’s section, where they share space with Jerry Bruckheimer and Oliver Stone. With a principal of quality over quantity, Hometown Cinema launches student films that will be in competition until September. Every three months the online festival will refresh, with new opportunities for student filmmakers. The website also will feature (late July) many programming initiatives, including Filtered- an interactive, behind the scenes look at an under $5 million independent film, a pitch your project contest, quality interviews, games and chances to grow interactively as a student filmmaker.
The 4th Annual Hometown Cinema Festival will take place April 27-29, 2001, and the Online Festival- [ www.hometown.z.com ] is ongoing and should be checked often for updates.
Hometown Cinema can be reached at [ hometownc@hotmail.com ] , Attn: Shannah Compton, Executive Director, or Ward Roberts, Assistant Director, or corporate offices at [ 818-634-0314 ] .
