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The San Antonio Film Commission, a division of the City of San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, is pleased to announce the Student Film Project, a unique grant program. Graduate-level thesis and pre-thesis student filmmakers will compete for a $25,000 grant to produce their student film in San Antonio, and will be required to blog about their experience on www.studentfilmproject.com. This user-generated content will provide the film commission with valuable marketing materials, clips, photos and testimonials promoting the City of San Antonio as a film production destination.

"By attracting graduate-level filmmakers to our city, we are reaching a group of filmmakers that know they are headed into commercial filmmaking," notes San Antonio Film Commission Director Drew Mayer-Oakes, "but those filmmakers may not have all the resources they need to fully realize the vision of their thesis or pre-thesis films. That's where we come in."

Students are asked to apply for the Student Film Project grant by submitting a short film idea, script, vision statement and other materials which will be judged by a panel of artists, filmmakers, producers and industry professionals. The winning grant recipient will then complete their proposed thesis or pre-thesis film entirely in San Antonio.

University of Texas at Arlington assistant film professor and San Antonio native, Ya'Ke Smith recently learned of the film commission's program. "I always tell my students that funding and locale is critical for their film's success - San Antonio is a vibrant city with locations suitable for all types of projects," notes Ya'Ke. He should know. His latest award-winning film "Katrina's Son" was filmed entirely in San Antonio. "I can't believe student directors now have this opportunity from the film commission in San Antonio," Ya'Ke continues, "it's really amazing."

The San Antonio Student Film Project is now taking applications for Spring and Summer 2012 films. Early application deadline is December 23rd, 2011, with a late application deadline of January 31st, 2012. Early applications will receive priority over late applications in the event of a grant application judging panel results tie. For more information please contact Drew Mayer- Oakes, director, San Antonio Film Commission (1.210.207.6730) or www.studentfilmproject.com.

Follow the student film project on twitter @studentfilmproj, and follow the San Antonio Film Commission @filmsanantonio.

The San Antonio Film Commission is a division of the City of San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, and is funded through a hotel/motel occupancy tax. The film commission is a full service agency whose mission is to promote the art and craft of filmmaking in San Antonio to positively affect the City's economy.

Resources:

www.studentfilmproject.com