AGBO, the production company of filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo, on Thursday announced the return of its virtual short film festival No Sleep ’til Film Fest, intended to uplift emerging filmmakers.
A two-day festival that’s free to enter, No Sleep ’til Film Fest invites filmmakers from all over the world to make a short film of three minutes or less in only 48 hours, for a chance to win prizes and receive ongoing mentorship from the independent studio. Worldwide submissions will open from September 27-29, with a creative prompt to be released online at 5 p.m. pt on the 27th. Submissions are due at the same time on September 29, with winners to be announced November 6th.
In addition to receiving a filmmaking prize package, the top three winners will join the AGBO Storytellers Collective, an alumni network of winners from other AGBO-sponsored festivals and fellowship programs such as the Russo Brothers Italian American Filmmaker Forum and the Slamdance Film Festival Fellowship, the same festival the Russos received their start at in 1997.
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The festival’s panel of judges include AGBO Co-Founders Anthony and Joe Russo, Partner Donald Mustard, Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Innovation Officer Jake Aust, Chief Marketing Officer Marian Koltai-Levine, Co-Presidents of Story Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely, President of Film Michael Disco and President of Television Scott Nemes. Current Storytellers Collective members will also participate in judging, selecting an additional winning filmmaker to receive the AGBO Storytellers Collective Award and join the alumni network.
In the past three years of the festival, No Sleep ’til Film Fest has received more than 2000 submissions from over 60 countries. 2023 winners included “Time of Your Life” directed by Darren Hinchy (Canada), “Just a Sec!” directed by Tanya Lialina and Teodor Klimov (Georgia), and “02:00 Minutes” directed by Grace McLeod (U.S.). These films can be found on the AGBOVERSE and AGBO social channels, where the winning films from this year will also premiere.
Known for their work on Marvel films like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, among others, the Russo Brothers most recently signed on to direct and produce the studio’s forthcoming films Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, with Iron Man‘s Robert Downey Jr. to return to the MCU in the role of Doctor Doom.
Other credits for AGBO include Amazon MGM’s Citadel, The Gray Man and the Extraction films for Netflix, and Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, to name just a few. Among the Russos’ other upcoming projects as producers is Frank E. Flowers’ action drama The Bluff starring Priyanka Chopra and Karl Urban.
Join the No Sleep ’til Film Fest competition and view official rules and guidelines at the link.
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