Through a generous grant from the Mississippi Film Office, Mississippi Film and Video Alliance wants to support filmmaking efforts in the state through the Emerging Mississippi Filmmakers Grant Program.

The Mississippi Film and Video Alliance is open to filmmakers from the entire state for the 2017 competition to help fund up to $2,500 for Mississippi made films. This serves as the 15th anniversary of the grant program and this year the MFVA board has expanded the award to also include submission waivers from numerous festivals throughout the state.

Festival waivers include Oxford Film Festival, Crossroads Film Festival, AfterGlow Film Festival, Sun & Sand Film Festival, Rails to Reels Film Festival, Festival South Film Expo, Clarksdale Film Festival and It’s About You Film Festival.

Projects requiring less than $2,500 will also be considered.  The program was created to help develop Mississippi’s film and video artists as the next generation of Mississippi’s legacy of storytelling. The grant is available to working and emerging Mississippi filmmakers. The program is open to legal residents of Mississippi, 18 years of age and older. Filmmakers have one year to complete their film after receiving the grant.

The MFVA board is made up of the following filmmakers: Melanie Addington of Oxford, Philip Scarborough of Jackson, Michael Williams of West Point, Coop Cooper of Clarksdale, Casey Dillard of Tupelo, Miles Doleac of Hattiesburg and Catherine Leatherwood of Long Beach. Nina Parikh of the Mississippi Film Office also acts as liaison for the board.

MFVA has helped fund over 50 projects in its fifteen years as an organization. Applications and supporting material must be received on or before August 1, 2017. For the second year, the MFVA is accepting digital applications and all information is available at http://www.msfilmandvideoalliance.org/grant/.