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Native Films for Back to School - Special Savings
Educational Titles - Up to 50% Discount*
*Sale does not include Navajo Math Circles or Walking in Two Worlds
Native Documentaries
Just in time for starting back to school, we're extending an exceptional offer for schools to stock up on the educational version of our Native documentary films.

Prepare for Native American Heritage month in November, buy your favorite titles or stock your school library. Vision Maker Media is the premier distributor of work by and about Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

Don't miss this opportunity. 
New Films for Native American Heritage Month
We're excited to feature three films available for Native American Heritage Month in November. The Mayors of Shiprock and On A Knife Edge come to WORLD Channel's America Reframed Nov. 6 and 7, respectively. In addition, Metal Road soon will be available to purchase for November.

The Mayors of Shiprock focuses on a group of young Navajo leaders who meet to decide how they will help their community. The Northern Diné Youth Committee gives youth opportunities to directly make changes within their community.

On A Knife Edge is set against a background of rising tension and protest. George Dull Knife becomes politically active with the American Indian Movement, confronts the challenges of growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation and wrestles with accepting leadership of his storied family from his aging father.

Metal Road explores the dynamics of livelihood, family and the railroads through the lens of a Navajo trackman. Follow three Navajo railroaders from the 9001 Heavy Steel Gang as they leave their homeland to replace aging railroad tracks from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean under extreme weather conditions.
Help Us Meet Our Goal
Vision Maker Media has accomplished a great deal in 2017, thanks to continued financial support. However, we need additional help to make sure Native stories are told.

Our goal is to raise $30,000 by the end of the year.

What we accomplished in 2016:

  • Helped 38 filmmakers with technical assistance and the development of educational tools
.
  • Held more than 150 screenings nationwide

  • Engaged 2,000+ individuals through our events

  • Public Television programmers scheduled our films with more than 33,000 telecasts nationwide

  • Nearly 1 million people engaged with us on social media and 300,000 watched our films online
How Filmmakers Can Clear Rights for Copyrighted Material
Over the last decade, documentary filmmakers have found themselves, increasingly constrained by demands to clear rights for copyrighted material, according to the Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSI). Creators in other disciplines don't face such demands to the same extent, and documentarians in earlier eras experienced them less often and less intensely.

Copyright concerns fundamentally affect the creative choices media makers believe they can make. As part of its mission to provide educational support to creatives in media that matters, CMSI develops tools to better understand how to employ fair use, the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment, under some circumstances. Filmmakers, journalists, teachers, visual arts professionals, librarians, archivists and more all have collaborated with CMSI to clarify how fair use works with their most common practices. 
National Grants Help Expand
Vision Maker 2018 Film Festival
Two national grants will expand the reach and scope of the Vision Maker Film Festival, scheduled for April 20-26, 2018, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Sponsored by Vision Maker Media (VMM), in partnership with the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center and the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts , the festival will expand to include a filmmaker training program with members of the National Minority Consortia (NMC) . Each NMC will host a screening and bring in a visiting filmmaker who will work with a small group of emerging filmmakers in a year-long mentorship. The festival will feature workshops for documentary filmmakers that will be open to the public. 

The National Black Programming Consortia, the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting and Pacific Islanders in Communications, along with VMM will present award-winning documentaries. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding will assist in filmmaker honoraria.

Funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will assist VMM in mounting a three-year film festival tour in the region. In partnership with youth media training, VMM will convene at least six existing training programs across the country to develop standard curricula and best practices for working with Native youth.
NEA Report Addresses Documentary Filmmaker Challenges
A new report explores factors contributing to the economic challenges documentary filmmakers face. The challenges include the evolving technologies, emerging business models, transforming consumer behavior and uncertainty about future legal and regulatory frameworks.

Produced by the National Endowment for the Arts and the International Documentary Association, the report reflects current conversations in the field and provides an overview of key findings and actions that will strengthen the documentary ecosystem. Case studies serve as examples that contribute to building sustainable infrastructure for the documentary community.

Recommendations include:
  • Strengthen the field through knowledge exchange, technical assistance, cross-sector collaboration and professional networks
  • Research, data and metrics are critical to the sustainability and success of the ecosystem
  • The public sector needs continual engagement from stakeholders to accelerate its role as funder, convener and strategic and also examine the impact of various policies on the sector.

The report is the result of the Documentary Sustainability Summit held in February at the National Endowment for the Arts offices in Washington, DC in collaboration with the International Documentary Association.
American Film
Market & Conferences
Develop. Package. Pitch. Finance. License. Distribute. Whatever segment of the film industry you work in, the American Film Market (AFM) offers a week unlike any other for film industry professionals, Nov. 1-8, in Santa Monica, California.

Pitch Conference speakers include: Tobin Armbrust, Virgin Produced, Cassian Elwes, Independent Producer/Agent and On The Page's Pilar Alessandra.  Register early to get a preferred hotel and guaranteed lowest rate with AFM's exclusive hotel booking services.

Norman Film Festival, Norman, Oklahoma
Sept. 23

Ellensburg Film Festival, Norman, Oklahoma
Oct. 6-8

San Diego Film Festival, San Diego, Califonia
Oct. 7

Tulsa American Film Festival, Oklahoma
Oct. 11-15

Ray Evans Theater, Salamanca, New York
Sept. 29-30

Struthers Library Theater, Warren, Pennsylvania
Oct. 6

State University of New York College at Buffalo
Oct. 26

AISES, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado
Sept. 20


Human Rights Documentary Festival, New York City
Sept. 23

Tulsa American Film Festival, Oklahoma
Oct. 11-15

Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, New Mexico
Oct. 18-22

South Dakota Public Broadcasting
415 Main Street, Rapid City, South Dakota
Oct. 25


Landmark Lagoon Cinema, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sept. 1-7

Landmark Chez Artiste, Denver, Colorado
Sept. 1-7

Landmark Opera Plaza, San Francisco, California
Sept. 1-7

Landmark Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley, California
Sept. 1-7

Landmark Ken Cinema, San Diego, California
Sept. 8-14

Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Saugatuck, Michigan
Oct. 19

National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
Sept. 22

Rialto Theatre, Loveland, Colorado
Oct. 7

Boulder Main Library, Boulder, Colorado
Oct. 9


Oregon
Deadline: Sept. 15

California
Open Until Position Filled

Nebraska
Open Until Position Filled

Nebraska
Open Until Position Filled


Deadline: Sept. 15

Deadline: Sept. 30

Deadline Oct. 18

Deadline Oct. 27

Deadline Oct. 31


Deadline: Feb 15, 2018

Rolling Deadline


Deadline Sept. 26

Deadline Sept. 15

Deadline Oct. 19

Deadline Nov. 1

Rolling Deadline

Ongoing Deadline

Deadline Dec. 31


California
Deadline: Sept. 22

California
Deadline: Sept. 24

South Carolina
Deadline Sept. 30

Montana
Late Deadline Oct. 6

California
Deadline: Oct. 24

North Carolina
Deadline Oct. 31

Montana
Deadline Nov. 5

Colombia
Deadline Nov. 24