Most film festivals and film-related events focus on the heavy hitting industry cities: Los Angeles, New York, London. Corey "CJ" Jennings, CEO of Next Generation Awareness Foundation, has been trying to shift the balance by bringing relevant contemporary programming to the likes of Baltimore, Newark, Charlotte, and Clarksville, Tennessee.
Framed as a kind of "continuing education" for the general public, the group is now in its fourth year of mounting the Urban Film Series Tour in cities that it considers underserved by other film-related events [we wonder if "film-challenged" is the p.c. term for that], as well as hitting old standbys Washington, D.C., New York, and--for the first time--Chicago.
NGAF is looking for filmmakers to submit films by 22 December for the series that will screen beginning February of 2007. The curriculum is heavily issue oriented and Corey tells us he is looking for "purpose-oriented filmmaking," so it's probably best to leave the po-mo dadaist experimental shorts at home, though we think maybe you could sneak something into their "New Trends" division. The festival is usually presented around a theme, and that theme varies by the community and by the local political landscape. Overall, organizers hope to look at the idea of "happiness" in the coming year from a number of economic, social, and historical vantage points.
