Our mission is to provide an alternative venue for independent filmmakers to screen during South by Southwest (The Official Film and Music Conference in Austin, TX) --RxSM happens simultaneously, but completely independently of South by Southwest, to give the thousands of cinephiles and industry professionals that come to the beautiful city of Austin, TX an alternative viewing experience. RxSM champions cutting edge and unique cinema and offers programming to the first time filmmaker that The Official Conference may not have room for in their programming.
By submitting your film to RxSM, you are also submitting to the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival that takes place March 19-22 in Victoria TX.
TWO SUBMISSIONS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!
We are a filmmaker's festival--founded by filmmakers, organized by filmmakers and programmed by filmmakers.
The programmers at RxSM are members of Film Exchange, an international network of indie film festivals whose mission is to help regional films find international audiences. Film Exchange is committed to provide screenings for exceptional indie cinema year round.
SOME HISTORY
RxSM, (The Self-Medicated Film Expo) was started in 2010 by four indie filmmakers, Jeff Orgill, Anthony Pedone, Elizabeth Spear and Stephen Floyd after their films were not programmed by South by Southwest Film & Music Conference in Austin, TX. Unwilling to fall silent to their "official rejection" letters they mobilized and organized their own festival to run simultaneously with the Official Film Conference. Now in its sixth year, RxSM continues to provide an opportunity for filmmakers to host a screening and grants them a voice during Official Film Conference taking place in Austin, TX in March.
In 2011 the festival expanded across state lines with the help of ReelFest director, Rod Webber in Boston MA. ReelFest and RxSM took place on the same days, so the festival directors shared programming and cross promoted each other's festivals The two entities programmed a simultaneous world premiere of Elizabeth Spear's film LITTLE GODS, (the first feature film ever shot and edited on the iPhone4), Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi, Don Avlo's El Hijo La Chingada and a film that had its world premiere at the first RxSM, The Why.
In 2012 RxSM joined up with SLACKER MAGAZINE and pushed this same idea of program exchange internationally--sharing programming with The Radar Hamburg International Independent Film Festival, Foburg Festival in New Orleans and The Victoria TX Independent Film Festival. This expansion allowed us to grow the festival from one day to three days, and we were able to program 62 films.
In 2013 RxSM became home to the Crossroads Award Competition. Festivals from NYC, NOLA, Hamburg and Corpus Christi sent the winners of their Best Feature, Best Doc and Best Short film to compete for the Crossroads Award, and to be featured along with our regular submissions. Three films Watchtower (winner), Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1st runner up) and Luminaris (second runner up) were selected to screen at the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival, and The Crossroads Award.The winners shared a $5000 cash prize.
2014, we screened 131 films in the city of Austin in 4 venues. New partnerships were made at Spider House Village, The New Movement and Juju Foto Factory. RxSM helped several films find distributors including, Imagine I'm Beautiful, Lawrence and Holloman and Mother's Milk. The Crossroads Award Finalists saw the strongest slate of films to date with 2 of finalists, When I Walk and Voices coming from the newest addition to the Film Exchange Network, International Film Awards Berlin. When I Walk took home the Crossroads Award and $2500, with Drew Tobia's, See You Next Tuesday in the first runner up spot garnering him $1500 in prizes. Voices took home $1000.
In addition to $5000 in prize money Film Exchange awarded 3 filmmakers with incentive packages valued at $10,000 each. The incentive program was designed to bring filmmakers back to Texas to shoot their next film. Each filmmaker was awarded the use of Film Exchange's 4k camera production package that includes Canon C500 camera, a full set of Zeiss cinema and compact prime lenses, lights and sound package.
Incentivized filmmakers also have access to the Film Exchange 4k post production studio located in Victoria, TX. Film Exchange offers assistance to the incentivized productions with location scouting, permitting, locating extras and negotiating free meals and lodging. This year's winners were, Lydia Hyslop (Burnout), Bryan Storkel (Little Hope was Arson) and Jeff Brown (Sulfuric).
What is the Crossroads Award?
The Crossroads Award is awarded to a filmmaker each year that shows unique style, exceptional craft, and the power to communicate their vision. given away at The Victoria TX Independent Film Festival in April.
Who is eligible to win The Crossroads Award?
Anyone who pays a submission fee is in consideration for the award. The RxSM staff nominates 3 films--one documentary, one short, and one feature to compete with the 12 films from the festival exchange program. The best doc, best feature, and best short from those 15 films 3 will travel to Victoria in April to be screened, and one will be selected by the jurors for The Crossroads Award. Those 3 films will split a $5000 cash prize with $2500 going to the winner of the Crossroads Award, $1500 for the 1st runner up and $1000 for the second runner up.
In addition to The Crossroads Award, 17 other awards are given away at RxSM, but for your film to be in competition you must pay the submission fee.
What other festivals are in the ExChange program:
Victoria TX Independent Film Festival (www.vtxiff.com)
The International Film Awards Berlin (www.filmawardsberlin.de)
Timecode:NOLA (www.timecodenola.com)
South Texas Underground Film Festival (www.Southtexasundergroundfilm.com)
Polly Grind (www.pollygrind.com)
Marfa Film Festival (www.marfafilmfest.com)
What is, Film Exchange?
Film Exchange is a multi-market screening network comprised of seven regional, US and International film festivals. We strive to help regional films find international audiences.
To learn more about Film Exchange go to
www.filmexchange.org
What is the Crossroads Award?
The Crossroads Award is awarded to a filmmaker each year that shows unique style, exceptional craft, and the power to communicate their vision. given away at The Victoria TX Independent Film Festival in March.
Who is eligible to win The Crossroads Award?
Anyone who pays a submission fee is in consideration for the award. The RxSM staff nominates 3 films--one documentary, one short, and one feature to compete with the 12 films from the festival exchange program. The best doc, best feature, and best short from those 15 films 3 will travel to Victoria in April to be screened, and one will be selected by the jurors for The Crossroads Award. Those 3 films will split a $5000 cash prize with $2500 going to the winner of the Crossroads Award, $1500 for the 1st runner up and $1000 for the second runner up.
In addition to The Crossroads Award, 9 other awards are given away at RxSM, but for your film to be in competition you must pay the submission fee.
About the Texas Indie Incentive Program
In the Summer of 2013 Texas Philanthropist, Robert Hewitt Jr. purchased $350,000 in film production equipment for Film Exchange and encouraged our team to expand our services into film production . The gear included products from Canon, Blackmagic, Zeiss, Lectrosonic, Sennheiser and DaVinci. In an effort to encourage our alumni to produce their next films in Texas, we decided to pass this great fortune on to filmmakers and ask them to come back to shoot in Texas. The package is awarded to one filmmaker in each category: short, feature and doc with only one stipulation-- YOU MUST COME TO TEXAS TO SHOOT!