Seed&Spark Puts Spotlight on Diversity with New Slate of Independent Films - KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video -

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New selection spans all genres, from narrative features, comedies and documentaries to animations and experimental shorts.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) March 07, 2013

Austin, TX, March 7, 2013 – Seed&Spark, the world’s first crowd-funding and digital distribution site made just for independent film, added nine more films to the Seed&Spark Cinema collection. The new slate shines a spotlight on diversity: films made by minority filmmakers or films about under-represented communities, with a focus on women, the LGBT community, ethnic minorities and youth. The additions offer wide variations on the ‘coming of age’ theme and reflect how a generation learns to come into its own. Films span the range of crowd-pleasing genres, from incredibly crafted horror to the tense thriller western to the self-reflective rom-com documentary.

“We launched Seed&Spark to get more, different kinds of stories told from an insider’s perspective about communities who do not typically see their experience portrayed on film. Vivian Tse, our Director of Film Programming, has done an incredible job to bring together a slate of films that aspire to reflect a truly global generation coming of age. We’re unspeakably proud to be able to bring these films to their audience,” said Emily Best, Founder and CEO, Seed&Spark.

Seed&Spark Cinema offers a growing collection of ‘ready-to-view’ films available for streaming. Shorts stream for $0.99 and features for $2.99. Filmmakers keep 80% of the revenue. The selection spans all genres, from narrative features, comedies and documentaries to animations and experimental shorts.

Seed&Spark Cinema’s newly rolled-out slate includes award-winning films that were screened at international film festivals:

• Botiando, a short film by acclaimed director Victor Hugo Duran and set in South Los Angeles that provides a look into the life of a working class mother and her son;
• Elotes, a second short by Duran about the two adolescent boys in the South Bronx and a robbery that changes their friendship and their views on what it means to “to be a man”;
• Like the Water, a feature film directed by Caroline Von Kuhn about a young woman’s struggle to overcome grief when she returns to her hometown in Maine to write the eulogy for her best friend; The film received a Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Romanian International Film Festival (Jury Mention) and has been screened at festivals all over the world;
• 5 Weddings and a Felony, a feature-length romantic, non-fiction comedy made on a Flip Cam by Josh Freed, a twenty-something old bachelor who documents modern courtship, bumbling and mumbling through his journey to get laid and grow up. The film originally screened at 2010 DOCNYC and the Sarasota Film Festival;
• Alice Jacobs is Dead, a horror short by Alex Horwitz with a stellar cast, follows a scientist’s race to find the cure to a horrific virus before it turns his wife into something monstrous. The short won Best Horror at San Diego’s Comic Con and the DragonCon Film Festival. It won actress Adrienne Barbeau a Best Actress award at the Chicago Horror Film Festival;
• Lu’bba, a narrative short by Bahrain-born director Saleh Ness about a school boy who faces a recurring reality of life when he is dropped off to yet another weekend football game by his parents. The film screened at international festivals around the world including this year’s Slamdance;
• Shabbat Dinner, an award-winning LGBT short film directed by Michael Morgenstern, opening a window into the world of the upper middle class New York City society where two teenage boys find acceptance and truth during Shabbat dinner. The film premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and was an Audience Choice awards winner at the Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian, the ZERO Film Festival, and was awarded a the Crystal Cactus for Best Gay Film at the Out in the Dessert Film Festival;
• The Yellow Ribbon, an award-winning Western by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Marques-Marcet about a man who promises his bride never to ask her about the past and the yellow ribbon around her neck, evoking the ghosts that live beween us in our everyday lives. Screened at international festivals, the film received a Jury Award at Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and Best Director at the 41st Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena, among other honors.
• Saigon Electric, a feature about Vietnam’s hip hop and dance culture by acclaimed director Stephane Gauger, will be added to the site soon. It tells the story of a ribbon dancer from the country side who arrives in Saigon and makes friends with a rebellious street dancer. The film was a winner at Vietnam’s Golden Kite Awards, The Philadelphia Asian Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival;

More than 2,000 independent film fans are currently using the Seed&Spark site to support the creation of new films by supporting their crowd-funding campaigns, or by watching the available slate of ‘ready-to-view’ films in Seed&Spark Cinema.

Meet Seed&Spark at SXSW 2013
Meet the Seed&Spark team at the SXSW® Trade Show at Stand 826 from March 8- 17th, in Austin, TX. The team will demo the Seed&Spark site with newly launched new social viewing features.

Emily Best, Founder and CEO of Seed&Spark will be speaking at the 2013 SXSW® Film Startup Alley’s Meet the Insiders session: Filmmaker Entrepreneurs, on March 10, 2013 from 12:30 PM – 1:30PM and on the topic of DIY: How Crowdsourcing Has Saved Independent Film on March 9, 2013, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.

About Seed&Spark

Seed&Spark is building a truly independent filmmaking community where filmmakers and audiences come together for crowd-funding, production, and streaming distribution. Every time an audience member supports the making of a moving picture project (funding, following, sharing) they earn “Sparks” which can be redeemed to watch movies on the streaming platform.

Supporting films lets you watch more films: It’s the new ecosystem for filmmakers & audiences, and…that’s it! For more information, go to http://www.seedandspark.com and http://www.facebook.com/seedandspark, or follow us on Twitter at @seedandspark.

For more information about Seed&Spark, watch a short video, shot and produced ultra indie-style by the Seed&Spark team.

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