About the Film Festival
New York’s Beneath the Earth Film Festival is a year-long search for independent films that serves as a catalyst for outstanding projects to reach a global audience.
Too often films are made with the objective of pleasing everyone, which makes it unsurprising that nine out of ten movies made in Hollywood fail. The current marketing model for movies is antiquated. Trying to reach a mass audience by putting all the fixin’s into one movie is an uninspired, unconfident approach to movie-making and a compromise of artistic quality. Technology has made it easy to connect film watchers with the types of films they like. And for a filmmaker this means that no matter how esoteric or a mainstream your film is, there are individuals out there that can be brought together to fill all the seats of a virtual theater.
We don’t believe in appealing to the masses for the sake of it. We believe in pursuing a vision. We get excited about uncovering the fruits of an uncompromising and relentless labor. And we get equally excited about delivering that labor of love to the specific individuals that will appreciate it.
There’s power in an audience of one and even more power in several audiences of one. Our goal is to galvanize all those audiences and use their collective force to propel talent, that wouldn’t otherwise have a chance, forward.
How It Works
Four seasonal competitions are held throughout the year during which work of high production quality, clever writing and strong performances are offered the chance to be reviewed by authorities in the film world. The winners of each season then go on to compete for the culminating grand prize. All winners will receive recognition and exposure as well as a monetary prize.
Categories
* Documentary Short (under 60 minutes)
* Documentary Feature (over 60 minutes)
* Feature Film (over 60 minutes, all genres)
* Short Film (under 60 minutes, all genres)
* Animated Short (under 60 minutes)
* Animated Feature (over 60 minutes)
* Music Video (music video under 15 minutes)
* Experimental Short (under 60 minutes)
Prizes & Recognition
Contestants can submit their film to one or more of the festival’s categories. A Best Picture will be selected in each category.
In each seasonal competition, the best picture of each category will win:
* $100.00 cash prize
* Placement and recognition on the Beneath the Earth entertainment platform
* Eligibility to win grand prize
Grand Prize winners in each category will win:
* $500-$1,000.00 cash prize*
* Placement and recognition on the Beneath the Earth entertainment platform
* Valuable media exposure and promotion
*Short films and music videos receive a $500.00 cash prize, while feature length films receive $1,000.00.
Audience Award
Finalists in the seasonal and the final competitions are eligible to win the Audience Award. The Audience Award is determined by online vote and is granted to the film with the highest number of votes during the designated voting period. The Audience Award winner will receive placement and recognition on Beneathearth.com.