Festivals

Social Issues DocFest

The Third Annual Bay Area Social Issues Documentary Film Contest (SI DocFest) held its screenings and award ceremony at the Camera 12 Cinemas in downtown San Jose on Saturday, February 6, 2010 from 2 to 6 pm.

The ten Semifinalists were announced on the SI DocFest website (www.sidocfest.com) on January 25 and will be screened at the February 6th event. A reception at the theater complex capped the evening.

The SI DocFest is not a traditional film festival, but rather a contest narrowly focused on high school students, the documentary genre, social issues, and the greater Bay Area community. Participants are asked to create a short documentary (8-12 minutes) profiling individuals or organizations that are making or have made a difference in the community through their work and dedication to social issues. At last year’s event, the organizers awarded more than $25,000.

Schools from all over the Bay Area continued to show a significant amount of interest in the SI DocFest in its third year. The teams that submitted completed films were judged by the organizing committee, which selected a group of ten Semifinalists. These films are being evaluated by a team of independent judges, which will select and rank six Finalists.

The top three films were announced at the awards ceremony, with first place receiving $10,000, second place $6,000 and third place $4,000. Each award will be equally divided between non-profit organizations or individuals profiled or designated in the winning documentaries, the schools represented by the winning filmmakers and the filmmakers themselves in the form of cash scholarships. Cash awards for the non-profits associated with the other Finalists and Semifinalists will also be presented.

The SI DocFest has been conceptualized and organized as a volunteer-based endeavor by Do Good Docs Corporation, a non-profit organization co-founded by San Jose residents Monica and Loreli Alba. Monica, 22, is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, while Loreli, 19, is a sophomore at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Camera Cinemas, the leading independent movie theater company in the South Bay Area, is an official sponsor of the SI DocFest.

For more information, go to Social Issues DocFest