Film Prize to Kick Off Its 14th Year and is set to Celebrate Second Year of Photo Competition

by Melissa Brannan, Prize Foundation

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Prize Foundation will officially kick off the 2024 Prize season and the award-winning Louisiana Film Prize for its 14th year after a record-breaking 2023. The free kickoff event will be held at the Remington Garage (211 Market St) on Wednesday, January 31 from 6:00pm until 9:00pm. The celebration will include a networking mixer for filmmakers along with a celebration of the local creative community. All filmmakers, actors, crew members, and lovers of the Prize are invited to attend.

The event will also include the Prize Foundation and Bossier Parish Community College’s showcase and presentation of the winner of the Golden Lens 2023 photography competition. The Golden Lens challenged photographers from all over the country to capture downtown Shreveport and downtown Bossier City during Prize Fest 2023. Those who arrive during the 6:00pm-7:00pm hour of the Kick Off event will have the opportunity to view the showcase and cast their vote to help select the Audience Choice winner. Both the Audience Choice and Judges’ Choice winners will be announced later in the evening.

“Last year was a benchmark year for all the things we do” said Gregory Kallenberg, Executive Director of the Prize Foundation. “We saw some of our biggest numbers for Film Prize and our other endeavors. We are hoping that this kick off gets on the same successful path for the organization, activates our creative entrepreneurs and ultimately, leads to another amazing Prize Fest.”

Registration for the Louisiana Film Prize is open now at prizefest.com. To be eligible for the $25,000 prize, films must be shot in the state of Louisiana. However, if the winning film is shot in Caddo Parish, the grand prize goes up to $50,000. Rough cuts are due to the Film Prize office by July 9, 2024. Filmmaking grant raffle tickets will also handed out during the event. The raffle drawing will be held after the rough cut deadline and will provide reimbursable grants for production costs of several lucky filmmakers.

Since launching in 2012, the award-winning Film Prize has encouraged and incentivized filmmakers to choose Shreveport and Northwest Louisiana as a place to make movies and try out new ideas, leading to the creation of over 1000 short films featuring the work of thousands of creative entrepreneurs and resulting in over $25 million in economic impact.

Prize Foundation

The Prize Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2012. Our mission is to promote economic growth, workforce development, youth job training, creative class entrepreneurial buildout and increased tourism through education, entrepreneurship, conferences, contests and festivals in Shreveport and Northwest Louisiana. The Prize Foundation operates six major initiatives year-round: Louisiana Film Prize, Film Prize Junior, Startup Prize, Food Prize, Music Prize, and Fashion Prize. Each Prize has a qualification process, engagement with economic and cultural resources, an educational component, a public exhibition and a grand cash prize.

Louisiana Film Prize

The Louisiana Film Prize invites filmmakers across the country to make a short film between five and fifteen minutes long to compete for the largest short film cash prize offered in the world. The chief requirement is that the films must be shot in Louisiana. The top twenty films that have been submitted are then screened for audiences and judges during October’s Prize Fest and a winner is chosen based on the votes from both of these factions.