Chances are you love film. We do too. Foreign language imports. Popcorn studio films. Animation. Comic book adaptations. Intimate dramas. So how fortunate are we that we can help filmmakers get their movies made… and screen them at the Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA… and celebrate the best of them at the Independent Spirit Awards? It’s our organizational mission.

We’re also committed to supporting and amplifying those films with original voices, unique approaches and filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. It’s no secret that getting a film made is difficult. 20 years ago Film Independent created Project Involve – a diversity mentorship program for filmmakers from communities under-represented in the film industry.

There are now over 1,000 Fellows — alumni of Project Involve, the Filmmaker Labs, Spirit Awards grant winners and Los Angeles Film Festival Jury winners. Film Independent Fellows include:

• ŸRamin Bahrani (At Any Price)
• Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
• Nekisa Cooper and Dee Rees (Pariah)
• Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad)
• Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace)
• Lynn Shelton (My Sister’s Sister)

Filmmakers Effie T. Brown and Javier Fuentes-Leòn are also Film Independent Fellows, and board members, and regular members too. And they’re both in agreement on Project Involve. Javier sums it up:

“Effie and I cannot overstate the impact Project Involve has had on our careers as filmmakers. Project Involve provided us with invaluable mentorship, professional development and encouragement, and a community of like-minded filmmakers who became collaborators and friends. We suspect that other Fellows’ participation in Project Involve, the Filmmaker Labs, the Los Angeles Film Festival and/or the Spirit Awards has had a similar impact.”

That’s the impact we want Project Involve to have — on individual filmmakers’ careers and on the film industry as a whole.

But we can’t do it without your help. Join us in honoring 20 years of Project Involve by contributing in any amount:

CLICK HERE to make a donation in support of Project Involve.

CLICK HERE
 to become a member in support of Project Involve — and get connected to an awesome community of filmmakers in the process!)

Thank you for your support. Stay tuned for more on events celebrating the 20th anniversary of Project Involve.

Click to learn more about 20 Years of Project Involve

September 25th, 2012 • 1 Comment