Midwest Movie Maker

FunMill Films second annual film festival is accepting submissions now Technology has opened up the world of filmmaking to nearly anyone who wants to make their passion project. You can write the screenplay, draw the storyboards, shoot the footage, edit the film, and premiere it on YouTube, Vimeo or another similar service all on your phone . What technology can’t do - not yet, anyway - is give your film true industry cred. One way you can gain that stamp of approval? Have your movie screened at a film festival.  What a film festival can do for your movie Even today, most industry professionals see film festivals as an arbiter of talent. Though submission criteria vary, most festival organizers will view, select and screen the best films submitted. Large or small, festivals want to succeed. Sharing great stories with audiences is how to do that. If your film is selected for screening, it tells a producer or financier that you are serious about your passion and can create consumable...

Kristina Michelle, co-founder of the Horror Hotel Convention, on the set of Horror Hotel Autumn is the favorite season for most horror movie fans. As Halloween approaches - fittingly, you might say, at the end of October’s life - scary movies debut and horror film festivals open their dungeon doors. That’s changing. Summer is giving Halloween a run for its money. That’s when independent thriller lovers and devotees of bone-chilling ghost stories check in to Northeast Ohio’s Horror Hotel Convention . The festival, now in its fourth year, takes place the first weekend of June. This year's festival comes to town June 5 to June 7 at the Clarion Inn & Conference Center in Hudson, Ohio . We took a few minutes to speak with Kristina Michelle , one of the convention founders, to learn more about the show: Midwest Movie Maker (MMM) : Tell us about the Horror Hotel Convention. What’s it all about and what does it celebrate? Kristina Michelle (KM) : Horror Hotel is an...