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$10,000 Up For Grabs In San Antonio "City On The Rise" Film Contest

SAFilm

The 20th annual San Antonio Film Festival is over, but I found out there’s now another reason to get behind a camera. That other reason is big bucks.

“We’re giving away $10,000 to San Antonio filmmakers to essentially come up with a commercial for the city," said San Antonio Film Fest’s Adam Rocha. Here’s what Rocha said they’re looking for:

“Essentially an emphasis on the renaissance of the urban core areas, areas that aren’t always necessarily depicted in the popular spotlight," he said. "Everybody knows about the River Walk and everybody knows about the Alamo. But who really knows about the new south reach of the river?"

They’re looking to stretch the San Antonio story in new directions.

"You know, cool places like that that maybe the hipsters might know about but not necessarily the average Joe that is visiting our city,” he said.

I asked Rocha how long or short are they supposed to be.

"The length is over 30 seconds and I believe under seven minutes," he said.

The contest is called "City on the Rise" and is a collaboration between the San Antonio Film Festival and, as Rocha notes,  a group that wants to position San Antonio for high tech growth.

“We teamed up with the 80/20 Foundation, which is the baby of Graham Weston and Rackspace," Rocha said.

San Antonio used to be a brain drain city, but now, according to 80/20, it’s rated as #6 on the Brain Gain rating. Rocha credits the arts scene here as part of the reason for that change.  

“I do think that arts has been at the forefront of putting the brain drain to a stop,” he said.

As to how to win the video contest, Rocha has some simple suggestions:

"It’s gotta be fun, and cool. Boom!"   

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii