NEW YORK - March 1, 2021 - Registration opened today at www.film-lab.org for the Film Lab's 17th Annual 72 Hour Film Shootout ("Shootout") filmmaking competition, which will take place in early June. Filmmakers began registering online at www.film-lab.org for the worldwide filmmaking competition, designed to promote gender and ethnic diversity in media and empower emerging female filmmakers and filmmakers of color. Judges include Marci Phillips (Executive Director of Casting for ABC Primetime), Antony Wong (Program Coordinator at the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), of The City University of New York (CUNY)), John Tintori, the Chair of NYU's graduate film program, Daniel Sakaya of CrossingsTV, and more.

The Film Lab will host a series of spring events to prepare filmmakers for 72 intense hours in June, during which filmmaking teams are given a common theme at the start and then have 72 hours to write, shoot, edit, and complete short films up to five minutes in length. Due to the pandemic, the Film Lab held the 2020 Shootout in "isolation," encouraging filmmakers to shoot alone, at home. The result was a breathtaking and unique body of exceptional work. "We may film in isolation again this year, due to health and safety concerns," noted Film Lab President, actor Jennifer Betit Yen. "Given the great accomplishments made by filmmakers in isolation last year, we expect they'll rise to the challenge even more successfully this year."

The 2021 Shootout Coordinator, Shing Chung, commented, "I see the Shootout as a community for filmmakers and creatives to collaborate and network. Therefore, there will be more networking and community events each month that serve two purposes, creating a pipeline between the Shootout Team and the filmmakers and hosting a platform that allows contestants to meet and hopefully collaborate on future projects."

Registered competitors gain access to nearly a year's worth of programming ranging from filmmaking how-to workshops to networking events. Shootout teams compete for film festival and television exhibition, mentorship from top executives at major networks, such as ABC, cash, and other prizes.

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Shing Chung