The Coppolas Want to Reward Your Low-Budget Short

America’s favorite renaissance family, the Coppolas, are known for both creating and supporting some of the finer things in life: cinema, literary arts and, of course, wine.

Francis Ford Coppola’s annual screenplay competition in conjunction with his acclaimed literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, has been running for over 10 years now. Now, for the first time, the family business is launching a contest for completed shorts, judged by none other than Francis’ son Roman—an accomplished filmmaker in his own right. The Francis Coppola Director’s Short Film Competition is looking for short films from 3-10 minutes long, of any genre and subject.

"To me, the great hope is now that these little 8mm video recorders have come out, people who normally wouldn't make movies are going to be making them. And this whole 'professionalism' about movies will be destroyed forever, and it will really become an art form." —Francis Ford Coppola, 1991

From among the competition entries, five films will be selected for viewing at a private event during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and a grand prize of $5,000 will be awarded to one of those selections.

There’s no entry fee and you have plenty of time to make the work, so go for it! The deadline for entry is September 5, 2017. Read the complete guidelines and apply here.