Netflix and Film Independent have just announced jointly they want to discover the next great independent filmmaker. The Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition will award one aspiring filmmaker the "means, guidance and resources" to make a full-length, narrative film, plus a $150K cash production grant funded by Netflix. Film Independent will provide "advisement and mentorship" to the winning filmmaker throughout the production of the film and will also screen the winner’s movie at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The winner will own all rights to his or her film, which will be given distribution online at Netflix. As part of the grand prize, the winner will also receive a four-week camera package donated by Panavision, 25,000 feet of Kodak Color Negative Film or 10,000 feet of Kodak Color Intermediate Film donated by Eastman Kodak Company, up to $75,000 in dailies and prints donated by Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, and a digital intermediate package with a maximum value of $150,000 provided by EFILM Hollywood. First-time filmmakers who have not yet created and publicly screened a full-length narrative feature film of 70 minutes or more are eligible. There is no fee to apply to the competition, but a maximum of only 2,000 submissions will be accepted. Full eligibility requirements, evaluation criteria and an entry application can be found online at www.netflix.com/findyourvoice.

The competition to be held between now and July 2009 is a three-stage process:
-- From today until February 9th, the competition will accept applications from aspiring filmmakers at www.netflix.com/findyourvoice.
-- Film Independent will review and evaluate all submissions to select 10 semi-finalists, who will be asked to submit a 2- to 3-minute video short related to the proposed program. The 10 semi-finalist video shorts will be uploaded to the competition website on June 5, 2009 and the videos will then be open to voting by the general public through July 5, 2009.
-- Five finalists will be determined by the video shorts receiving the most online votes. The winner of “Netflix FIND Your Voice Competition” will be selected from among the five finalists by a panel of judges consisting of independent film professionals, chaired by Josh Brolin.