PJFF, SMNA team up to offer cash prizes

Published in the June 26 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Staff Report

“San Martin – the Movie”? It might not quite be an epic from Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, but the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance (SMNA) and the Poppy Jasper Film Festival (PJFF) are teaming up to award cash prizes for the best short films made about the community south of Morgan Hill.

The SMNA will give two grant awards of $125 each — one for students 18 years and younger and the other to a non-student — for the best short films made about San Martin. Submitted entries can be in any genre and must be “family-friendly,” said Donna Brodsky, who is on the committee organizing the contest.

Suggested topics for a San Martin film can include a history of the community, a tour of the San Martin wineries, or a story about the Wings of History Museum located by the San Martin Airport, she said. But filmmakers can focus on a topic that interests them.

“The San Martin Neighborhood Alliance Grant Committee realized that the Poppy Jasper Film Festival grant award, different from any other received in the past, was a terrific way to support creative arts in the community,” Brodsky said. “Those on the committee felt that when people enter and make a film about San Martin, they will learn much more about the community than they knew beforehand and could win some money too. We’re asking students, budding filmmakers and professionals that if they look close enough and do their homework, they’ll come up with something really entertaining.”

San Martin has never had a film made uniquely about its community. That’s why the SMNA Grant Committee asked the PJFF to sponsor the San Martin Film Competition.

“There is much more to San Martin than meets the eye,” Brodsky said.”There is history if you dig deep enough. There are also lots of quirky individuals, but above all there is a unique and wonderful community that, frankly, has gotten a bad rap because of a handful of fractious folks who do not represent San Martin as a whole. There is a wonderful opportunity to use various locations for any type of film anyone would want to make; hills, farms, caves, lakes, barns and even McMansions.”

Deadline for entries is Oct. 15. The maximum length of the film is 15 minutes. It is free to enter the contest.
A special screening of the accepted films will be held at this year’s Poppy Jasper Film Festival; at the Granada Theater Nov. 8-10.
For more information, visit www.PoppyJasperFilmFest.org.