ABOUT THE LIBERATION FILM FESTIVAL
The Liberation Film Festival (LFF) was launched in November of 2010 by the Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation and premiered its first screenings in January of 2011. The LFF is dedicated to bringing new human interest documentary works and short features to fresh, diverse audiences. It runs concurrently with the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration events in San Francisco and takes advantage of nearly 20,000 celebrants attending every year.
NEW LIGHTS FILM PROJECT
The New Lights Film Project (New Lights) started in 2017 as a competitive film program of LFF spotlighting the works of promising high school film-makers. In 2018 participants from the 9th thru 12th grades in the Northern California region - particularly the San Francisco Bay Area - can submit their original short films, judged by noted filmmakers, scriptwriters and award-winning media critics for a chance to be officially screened at the Liberation Film Festival in San Francisco in January.
2018 marks the 50th year since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, and New Lights is focused on three-minute video expressions on the meaning of Dr. King's words in today's society. The MLK2018 theme is "The Urgency of Now," and it is taken from Dr. King's speech on August 28, 1963.
We encourage varied forms of expression, including reading on camera with an basic iPhone | Android phone. The focus this year is on your own original thoughts that you bring to the conversation.
Successfully selected films will be made available throughout the MLK2018 weekend (January 13-15) in San Francisco, as well as during the MLK commemorative week of reflection from March 3 - April 7.