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Welcome to the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission

Greetings and welcome to the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission’s new web site! Brimming with new features and up-to-date information, we invite you to come in and look around to get a peek at what Memphis & Shelby County have to offer film productions of all sizes. Take a minute to browse our location library in Reel-Scout, check out our diverse production guide, or get a taste of productions that have shot here and utilized our crew base over at Film Memphis TV!

Supporting Partners of The Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission:

Special thanks to Christopher Reyes, Sarah Fleming, and the crew over at Live From Memphis for their outstanding hard work in making this web site possible. Thanks also to content editor Jon W. Sparks.

The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission, like other publicly-funded film commissions in the U.S.A., works only with funded productions and does not assist producers in securing funding for projects.

The Film Commission's Website makes available hiring/casting information from third parties. This information is to be used as general information only. Although such information is believed to be generally reliable, the posting of the information on the commission website does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or solicitation from the Commission. Nor does the Posting imply any assurance regarding the accuracy of the information, the funding of the project, the completion of the project, or the payment to crew/vendors/cast.

Indie Memphis winners announced

Mon - 05 Nov Written by Jon W Sparks

The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission is proud to have participated in this year's Indie Memphis Film Festival and to have provided cash awards to Hometowner category winners.

Here are the winners:

Best Hometowner Feature - Open Five 2 ($1,000 cash award presented by the Commission)

Best Hometowner Narrative Short - Pretty Monsters ($500 cash award presented by the Commission)

Best Hometowner Documentary Short - As I Am ($500 cash award presented by the Commission)

Honorable Mention for Hometowner Narrative Short - Twine Sleep

Honorable Mention for Hometowner Documentary Short - Spiritual Transit

Special Hometown Jury Award for Local Significance - Antenna

For details on all the winners, read John Beifuss' story in The Commercial Appeal here, and Chris Herrington's story in the Memphis Flyer here.

Here's a full list of the Indie Memphis winners:

Narrative Feature Awards:

Best Narrative Feature — Red Flag

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature — Quartet

Nice Shoes Award — Sun Don't Shine

Duncan-Williams Screenwriting Award — Red Legs

Special Jury Award for Cinematography — Pavilion

Documentary Awards:

Best Documentary Feature — Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

Special Jury Prize for Documentary Feature — Very Extremely Dangerous

Best Documentary Short — Mr. Smith's Peach Seeds

Special Jury Prize for Documentary Short — Abuelas

Audience Award for Documentary Feature — Antenna

Audience Award for Documentary Short — Cardboard Titanics

Short Films Awards:

Best Short Film — Throat Song

Best Animated/Experimental Film — The Hunter

Special Jury Prize for Cinematography — Suspended

Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance — Robert Longstreet (for Cork's Cattlebaron and What Happens When Robert Leaves the Room)

Audience Award for Narrative Short — Morning Stroll

Hometowner Awards:

Best Hometowner Feature — Open Five 2 (Commission Award)

Best Hometowner Narrative Short — Pretty Monsters (Commission Award)

Honorable Mention for Best Hometowner Narrative Short — Twine Sleep

Best Hometowner Documentary Short — As I Am (Commission Award)

Audience Award for Hometowner Film — As I Am

Special Jury Prize for Local Significance — Antenna

Festival Committee Awards:

First Annual Indie Memphis Lifetime Achievement Award — Rod Pitts

Soul of Southern Film Award — Pilgrim Song

Ron Tibbett Excellence in Filmmaking Award — Reconvergence

'Children of the Wall' screening at U of M Nov. 5

Thu - 01 Nov Written by Jon W Sparks

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Memphis is hosting a special screening of Children of the Wall. The film will screen at University Center Theater on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public.

Children of the Wall was done by Memphis filmmakers Eric Swartz and Sarah Christine Bolton. It features interviews with artists, musicians, street performers, photographers, singers, painters, writers, a raw food artist, a film producer, dancers, actors, and arts administrators who tell their stories about living and working in a city struggling for an identity after 30 years of division. Many of the artists profiled in the film were in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989, and they discuss how that historic event reshaped the city and their creative lives.

Children of the Wall is a client of the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission. For more information, go here.

Sachs coming for retrospective at Indie Memphis

Thu - 01 Nov Written by Jon W Sparks

There's an Ira Sachs retrospective at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, a tribute to a hometown director who has been getting notice for his strong work.

Being screened throughout the festival are: Memphis-filmed Forty Shades of Blue and The Delta; a program of short films; Sachs' 2007 film Married Life; and his latest - Keep the Lights On, which will also make its local theatrical run Nov. 9 at the Malco Studio on the Square.

The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission has had Sachs as a client since his earliest filmmaking efforts. John Beifuss' story in The Commercial Appeal here, describes a reflective Sachs:

"He remembers shooting The Delta, a movie by 'youthful people, when I was not frightened or concerned about who I was in the industry of film. The only person watching us was Linn Sitler,' he said, referring to the longtime Memphis film commissioner who 'gave encouragement to someone who needed encouraging. There was something very moving about being embraced by Memphis in that way.' "

Read all of Beifuss' story here. Here's a story from Chris Herrington at the Memphis Flyer on Sachs as well as the festival's lineup. And for more info on Indie Memphis, go here.

Pictured: Scene from Keep the Lights On.

Indie Memphis opens Thursday

Sat - 27 Oct Written by Jon W Sparks

The Indie Memphis Film Festival kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday, Nov. 4. The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission is a sponsor of the 15th annual event, as it has been for previous festivals.

The opening night gala screening is the premiere of Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me at 6:30 p.m. at Playhouse on the Square. Tickets are $15, or $25 (includes admission to after-party at Ardent Studios). Here's John Beifuss' story on the Big Star documentary.

The festival is offering 38 features, many with Memphis connections. The Commission has worked with filmmakers who have projects in the festival, including Memphian Ira Sachs who is having the local premiere of the critically acclaimed Keep the Lights On; the documentary Antenna, by C. Scott McCoy and Laura Jean Hocking, about the Madison Avenue punk rock nightclub; and Kentucker Audley's Open Five 2 (Audley is also appearing in Sun Don't Shine). Also, Memphis' Paper Moon Productions was producer of Pilgrim Song.

For more info in Indie Memphis, see the Memphis Flyer article here and The Commercial Appeal's story here.

Also being screened are 70 shorts, and there is a lineup of panels, afterparties, live music and other events.

For more information on the festival, visit Indie Memphis.