In the words of the great WC Fields, “Never work with animals or children,” BisonBison Film Festival: A Student Competition is having a workshop about that subject. Attorney Jennifer Tunder will discus the legalities of working with animals and children in films.  

Jennifer Tunder is an attorney licensed in Oklahoma and California. Her film practice includes entity formation, contract review, document/contract drafting, researching, educating and consulting. Her clients include local filmmakers and out-of-state filmmakers, many of whom film in Oklahoma to  utilize the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program for film and Television. Prior to practicing law, Jennifer gained 11 years experience in entertainment while living in Los Angeles. For six of those years, Jennifer was a DVD producer for a variety of films and TV shows. She had the privilege of working with studios, such as Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., in creating compelling, award winning content for “The Big Bang Theory,” “Fringe,” and the epic documentary re-release of the “40th Anniversary of Woodstock.” Jennifer received her B.A. in Mass Communications from Oklahoma City University, and a Certificate in the Business and Management of film, TV and new media from UCLA Extension. She received her J.D. from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Jennifer enjoys spending time with her family, reading crime fiction, watching Britcoms, going to the DeadCenter Film Festival, traveling and enjoying her home state of Oklahoma.

BBFF workshops will be Sat. April 4 starting at 10am and are free/open to the public through the generosity of the Ponca City Arts and Humanities Council. All workshops will be held at the Festival Venue, Carolyn Renfro Event Center/Hospice of NCO, 445 Fairview Ave, Ponca City OK.

DARRYL COX, a professional film/TV actor/stunt coordinator for over 35 years, will present a workshop on basic film set safety procedures. Mr. Cox’s film credits include Robocop, Bottle Rocket, Wildlife, Necessary Roughness, A Perfect World and Arlington Road. His TV credits include Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, Dallas, LA Law, General Hospital, North and South and In Plain Sight. He has worked with such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Wes Anderson, Clint Eastwood, Terrence Malick, Oliver Stone, Bille August, and Paul Dano. Currently, Cox teaches “Acting for the Camera” in Los Angeles, Dallas, and at the University of Oklahoma. He is a former officer in the U.S. Navy, serving on the destroyer U.S.S. Forrest Sherman and now resides in Norman, Oklahoma.

CRAIG PASQUINZO will present a workshop on how a documentary project is started. Mr. Pasquinzo is a highly accomplished leader with experience in documentaries and academia. He has over ten years of experience in television, film, live events, development of international production, editing and screenwriting. Currently on the faculty of the University of Arkansas, Pasquinzo instruct students in the creation of documentary short films, including script writing, videography, and editing. He recently finished a University of Arkansas documentary project: Tibetans in Exile Today, which was chronicled the Tibetan struggle starting from the Chinese invasion in 1959 to the present day. He also organized 16 university students on a three-week videography trip to India, in 2015 and 2017, to record interviews of Tibetan subjects.

The Early Bird deadline is Wed. December 19, 2018. A $5 discount is applied to the submission fee, making the fee $25 instead of $30.  As of today, we have 11 films submitted from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. Hey students in Nebraska and Oklahoma, let's see your submissions! Remember the final deadline is February 2, 2019.

WE would like to introduce the 2019 Festival Selection Committee:
L to R, seated: Mindy Littlecook, Sam Stuart, Gayle Williams
L to R, standing: Dolley Rolland, Chris Littlecook, Stephe Long, Jeri Casey Nash, Todd Stuart, Shane Bereman, Carla Rafferty
Not Pictured: Winston Henry, Jose Cervantes, Lance Garret
Remember: WE'RE WATCHING!

“A Very Unmerry Early November” by Danielle Trausch, University of Nebraska Lincoln
“Tell My Family I Love Them” by Erik Harken, University of Kansas
“DEFACEMENT” by Maura Conry, Johnson Co. Community College (Kansas)
“Not Alone in This” by Micah P Watney, Sterling College (Kansas)
“The Passenger” by Nathan Light, Wichita State University 
“Two Houses” by Jasmine Jones, Southeast Missouri University
“Kostym” by Jeffrey Mundinger, University of Missouri Kansas City 
“The Book” by Kyle Womelduff, University of Missouri Kansas City
“The Scotsman” by Russell Gummelt, Missouri Western State University
“A Shelter First” by Bryan Pollard, University of Arkansas
“Out of the Woods” by Andrew Epperson, University of Arkansas
“Homeless in Boomtown” by Denzel Jenkins, University of Arkansas
“Mono Color” by Ross DeFehr,  University of Oklahoma    
“The Case of the Stuffing Slasher” by Anna Frieden, University of Oklahoma
“Self Portrait” by Faun Harjo, University of Oklahoma
“Mr. Sandman” by Ian Rogers, Northern Oklahoma College
“Chicago Lady” by Joshua Gallas, University of Texas Arlington
“Take Care” by Joseph Tesfaye, University of Texas Arlington
“Mom” by Hien Dinh, University of Texas Arlington
“Hugo’s Plane” by Jo-X Cruz, University of Texas Arlington

BisonBison Film Festival wished to express our gratitude to Geoffrey Smith for his service as our Festival Outreach Coordinator for the past three years. He approached this duty with energy, creativity and enthusiasm. Much of the growth the Festival has experienced is due to his efforts. Best of Luck in your new adventures, Geoffrey!

That is an excellent question. All films are submitted through FilmFreeway. From that site, the Selection Committee (eight people) view ALL of the films. As committee members are watching, we ask them to think about these
11 questions:
Is the film too slow and how does it grab your attention within the first minute?
How will the sound quality transfer to the large screen format?
Does it have originality?
Do you care about the characters and are they memorable?
How is the overall image quality and will it transfer to the large screen format ?
For a documentary, is it just a profile which can be told in a minute?
Is the story too predictable?
Is there a specific goal or theme?
If there is a soundtrack, does it match the visuals?
Can you connect emotionally?
Was the performance consistent and entertaining?

When the committee member is ready to select, there are four categories which are a 1-10 score, with one being the lowest:
Content (Story, Writing, Coherence)
Technical Excellence (Sound, Lighting, Cinematography)
Acting
Overall Impact

These scores are averaged. Then the committee meets and considers: the averages and any comments or notes; whether the films will fit in the limited time frame to show the films; if someone has submitted before; the number of films representing the six states involved; and if a member of the committee is willing to fight for a specific film to be included.

After the films are selected, then those films are released to the jurors.

The submissions deadline closed on Feb. 2, 2018. BBFF is very proud, excited, overwhelmed (and other thesaurus entries of amazement!) to announce we had 50 total submissions! Now comes the very difficult task of decided which films we accept into our limited time slots. Then it is on the to jurors (see more about these three fabulous individuals on our Jurors page) for the Award of Excellence decisions. No later than March 1, hopefully before, we will announce our selections. Of course, the three films chosen as the winners will be announced at the Saturday night event (March 31).

Trish Avery, the SAG-AFTRA DFW Local Executive Director, and she represents over 2500 professionals in TX, OK and AR. Check  out her info on the Workshops page!