New website offers entree to emerging filmmakers

Reuters

An acclaimed movie producer and the former head of Fox Television Entertainment have built a new kind of studio that taps into an aspiring community of moviemakers on the Web to cultivate the next great talents.

Deepak Nayar, behind such films as Buena Vista Social Club and Bend It Like Beckham, and Sandy Grushow, the former chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group, launched Filmaka (http://www.filmaka.com) yesterday after more than a year of testing the site and recruiting professional filmmakers worldwide.

The site solicits short video clips for a competition judged by some of the industry's biggest names - directors Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader - as well as an audience of regular Web users.

Next week, the site will announce a winner of its film contest, who will direct a feature film produced by Los Angeles-based Filmaka.

To date, Filmaka has received submissions from nearly 3,600 filmmakers spanning 95 countries.