Today the Richard Rolland Foundation announced a $10 mil filmmaking grant promoting the theme of "We're No Strangers To Love." When asked about the submission deadline, a spokesman replied, "you know the rules, and so do I." Submissions must be under five minutes length and no longer. "A full commitment's what I'm thinking of," added the red-haired spokesman. "You wouldn't get this [offer] from any other guy."

Filmmakers are asked to strive for emotional realism and "to tell you how I'm feeling. Gotta make you understand." More information on the grant is on their site.

Megaprops to Writer Boi, yo. Word up. Sentence up. Paragraph up.

Another heads-up. Celtx has just been updated to 0.996.

New features from the release notes are listed after the jump:

ElizabethB writes, "I wanted to reach out to you about a contest currently taking place that may be of great interest to you and your fans. In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Blade Runner, we are seeking artists of all mediums (film, photography, painters, designers, writers, etc.) to submit a personal piece that has been inspired by the film. Please visit bladerunnercontest.com for more information and do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. This is a great platform for your audience to showcase their work and I hope you will pass this information on and encourage them to participate. Thank you so much for your time."

Vima! writes,

From Klaus Voelker:

Users and filmmakers worldwide are encouraged to shoot a short movie between 2 and 8 Minutes and upload this movie to Yahoo! Video. Our jury will then pick the 15-20 best short-films which will be part of the theatre movie Global City Beats. All users whose short film is chosen to be part of the movie will receive 1.000 Euro and a share from the theatre income..

If you haven't noticed, filmmaker.com has a brand-spanking-new look. Over the last few months, old content from over 10 years of fmc has been migrated to the new system. It's not all here yet (LOAFS and DUMPS are on their way), but the goal is to move as much stuff over as possible. In fact, we've made every effort to continue to move content from the very early days of filmmaker.com, when it ran on CGI perl scripts, to its days in W-Agora, to phpnuke, and now finally to the new system, which will allow filmmaker.com to grow into the 21st century.

So keep coming back, and look forward to tons of new features and improvements!

No need to create a new account-- your old one has been migrated and should continue to work as before.

NFCProducer writes, "Attention Documentary Filmmakers!

The time is here for the International Documentary Challenge (IDC)! The IDC
is a timed filmmaking competition developed by KDHX Community Media and
sponsored by Hot Docs, SILVERDOCS, the International Documentary
Association, the Documentary Organisation of Canada and the creators of the
48 Hour Film Project.

The Premise: Filmmaking teams from around the globe have just over 5 days to
make a short non-fiction film (4-8 min.) Hot Docs Canadian International
Documentary Film Festival, this year's Presenting Partner, will host the
theatrical premiere of the finalists and an awards ceremony in April. A
traveling showcase of the winners will play festivals and film series across
the world, a DVD will be released, and television distribution will be
pursued. The IDC takes place this March 1-5, 2007."

sifilmfestival writes, "Richmond County Savings Foundation presents the 2nd annual Staten Island Film Festival June 20-24, 2007

Early Bird Deadline January 5, 2007 (postmarked).
Regular deadline February 2, 2007 (postmarked). "

hilofilmfestival writes, ""High Concept / Low Budget - because $40 million can kill a good idea."
The hi/lo film festival has been presenting film you won�t see at the multiplex in San Francisco since 1997.

We accept films under 30 minutes in any genre, shot on any format � narratives, docs, experimental, animation, music video, bring it on!

*Nov. 15, 2006 Early Bird Deadline, submission fee: $20
*Dec. 15, 2006 Regular Deadline, submission fee: $25
*Jan. 15, 2007 Last deadline, submission fee: $30
(*postmarked by dates)
Films Produced Outside of North America Have the Submission Fee Waived"