HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — There's some great news for filmmakers in Arkansas. The 2023 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (HSDFF) will be held on October 6 - 14, 2023.
The festival is now in its 32nd year and will launch a new Filmmaker Forum to help connect filmmakers and industry leaders on October 9 and 10.
Funding for the Filmmaker Forum will be provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and it will serve as a major area for documentary filmmakers and industry leaders from the south/mid-south and areas across the country to gather.
The forum hopes to establish and form even stronger ties between public media and filmmakers. This includes several organizations including ITVS, Arkansas PBS, and Reel South.
The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is the longest-running documentary film festival in North America, and for three decades it has supported the works of several southern-based filmmakers.
The forum is designed to offer a new resource to filmmakers in the region through the use of partnerships with local organizations. It also aims to increase access to information and resources and offers different perspectives on what the best path forward is for documentary filmmakers.
“Given the disruption caused by the pandemic, which led to several key events in the South shutting down, as well as the obvious current distribution challenges faced by all filmmakers, we feel the time is right to start a new initiative for filmmakers throughout the South and Mid-South to deepen connections between filmmakers here and industry everywhere,” said incoming HSDFF Executive Director Ken Jacobson, who championed the Filmmaker Forum. “Partnering with public media puts our best foot forward toward supporting a burgeoning community of Southern filmmakers, shining a light on creative storytelling, and building new bridges with audiences.”
The Filmmaker Forum was created for filmmakers at all stages of their careers and is open to producers, directors, editors, and cinematographers who have a major credit on at least one completed short or feature film.
Registration for the forum is free for Arkansas-based filmmakers and HSDFF alumni and will cost a nominal fee for others to attend.
For more information on the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival to register for the Filmmaker Forum, please click here.