OurStage

Amid a tough economic climate for indie films, Lance Weiler, a guru of the open-source DIY indie film movement, is launching on July 26 a new-model open-source film fest, From Here to Awesome. Melding social networking and viral Web marketing, the "discovery and distribution festival" showcases twelve micro-budgeted features selected from 115 submissions via a complex online process. The features, many of them weary vets of the global fest circuit, plus ten shorts, are being distributed in many different ways, including handheld devices, Amazon Unbox, Netflix, Hulu and VUDU. All revenues will go to the filmmakers. Soledad is Gone Forever – directed by Mabel Valdiviezo A psychological drama that explores the chilling consequences of political persecution through the eyes of Soledad Gonzalez, a young Chilean photographer living in San Francisco. Based on real accounts, this short to feature presents an intimate portrait of the Chilean exile community in the United States.