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AGBO ANNOUNCES FOURTH ANNUAL GLOBAL COMPETITION FOR EMERGING FILMMAKERS, “NO SLEEP ‘TIL FILM FEST”

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AGBO announces the return of their filmmaking competition, “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest,” inviting filmmakers from all over the world to make a short film in only 48 hours. As part of AGBO’s commitment to championing emerging filmmakers, the two-day festival challenges participants to make films that are three minutes or less for a chance to win prizes and receive ongoing mentorship from the independent studio. The virtual festival will be open world-wide for submissions from September 27th – 29th with a creative prompt released online September 27th at 5pm PT; filmmakers will have 48 hours to write, produce, and edit their films based off the prompt. All submissions are due at 5pm PT on September 29th and winners will be announced November 6th.

The top three winners receive a filmmaking prize package equipped with essential resources and best-in-class equipment to use for future filmmaking opportunities. They will also join the AGBO Storytellers Collective, an alumni network of winners from other AGBO-sponsored festivals and fellowship programs such as the Russo Brothers Italian American Filmmaker Forum and the Slamdance Film Festival Fellowship, the same festival the Russos received their start at in 1997 as emerging filmmakers.

While AGBO develops relationships with their award-winning filmmakers and grant recipients, the goal is to maintain ongoing, meaningful dialogue, serving as mentors and champions beyond the formal timelines of fellowships and competitions. Not only is the Collective designed to ensure these filmmakers stay connected with the studio, but also with each other, fostering a community of globally diverse, like-minded creatives. 

In the past three years of the festival, “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest” received a total of over 2000 submissions from over 60 countries. 2023 winners included “Time of Your Life” directed by Darren Hinchy (Canada), “Just a Sec!” directed by Tanya Lialina and Teodor Klimov (Georgia), and “02:00 Minutes” directed by Grace McLeod (US). Previous winners’ films can be found on the AGBOVERSE and AGBO social channels. The winning films from this year will also premiere on these channels.

The festival’s panel of judges include AGBO Co-Founders Anthony and Joe Russo, Partner Donald Mustard, Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Innovation Officer Jake Aust, Chief Marketing Officer Marian Koltai-Levine, Co-Presidents of Story Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely, President of Film Michael Disco and President of Television Scott Nemes. The current Storytellers Collective members will also participate in judging, selecting an additional winning filmmaker to receive the “AGBO Storytellers Collective Award” and join the alumni network.

The filmmaking prize package includes high-level, industry standard tools to provide the winners with the best gear for their storytelling endeavors, supplied in sponsorship by RED Digital Camera, Blackmagic Design, GoPro, Avid, happy® coffee and AGBO.

It was recently announced that AGBO is producing “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” alongside Marvel. In addition to AGBO’s record-breaking releases which include “Citadel” for Amazon MGM Studios, “The Gray Man” and both “Extraction” installments for Netflix, AGBO has produced multiple films for emerging filmmakers including Sam Hargrave for the “Extraction” franchise, The Daniels for the Academy Award-Winning Best Picture film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Natalie Erika James for “Relic” which was named a National Board of Review top ten film of 2020, and Ari Costa and Eren Celeboglu for the Asa Butterfield-Natalia Dyer horror thriller “All Fun and Games.” AGBO’s upcoming production, “The Bluff”, for Amazon MGM starring Priyanka Chopra-Jonas has another emerging director at the helm, Frank E. Flowers, directing his second feature film. 

To join the competition and to view official rules and guidelines, please visit https://AGBO.com/NoSleep AGBO’s “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest” will open for submissions September 27th, 2024, and close September 29th, 2024. There is no entry fee, the festival is free to enter and open to filmmakers worldwide.

Ted aka Steady is a film critic and the managing editor forCountdownCityGeeks.com. He has covered some of the largest pop culture events in the world including SXSW and San Diego Comic-Con. He has also hosted a variety of events such as eSports Tourneys, film festivals, to moderating panels for some of the biggest names in entertainment including Josh Brolin, Rosario Dawson and Giancarlo Esposito.

Conventions/Events

Chatting with the VFX Artists turned Authors of the ‘Worldbuilding SDCC Panel’ – Interview

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During SDCC week we had a chat with a group of talented VFX artists who’ve worked on just about every major film over the last three decades. From Titanic to The Matrix, at least one of these men have spent countless hours crafting their digital canvas for our entertainment and now they’re here to discuss how they have all became authors of fantasy/science fiction novels.

With us are Alan Chan, Garrett Broussard, Jim Hillin, Scott Kilburn and Wilson Kincaid. Hear about their career in the industry, some of their most challenging times as VFX artists, and what motivated each and every one of them to become writers.


For more info on their work visit below:

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A look back at the best SDCC activation – Peacefest 2025!

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SDCC was back to its full strength in 2025 with multiple major studios returning to the fold and showing off new projects with interactive panels and elaborate activaitons. At the top of the list with DC Comics ‘Peacefest’ celebrating the second season of Peacemaker. The activation included dozens of props from the series, free giveaways, a photo booth, and visit from Eagly and it was headlined by glam rock bands, Steel Panther and Foxy Shazam. See a sizzle reel of the event below.

With so many new projects on the horizon in 2026 and beyond for DC Comics, what will they bring to SDCC in July? A post Supergirl activation is likely to go over well with fans or perhaps something related to the Clayface film that drops in September. With it being a year before the Superman sequel set to release in July of 2027, I could even see them putting their focus on the ‘Man of Tomorrow’. We shall see!


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THE AGE OF DISCLOSURE is the most credible and compelling doc EVER on the existence of UFO/UAP phenomena

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We had the opportunity to attend the world premiere plus interview the director/producer, pilots, PhDs, member of Congress that appear in THE AGE OF DISCLOSURE at this year’s SXSW in Austin, TX and it was revelatory, logical, interesting, and above all else believable.

Director/Producer Dan Farah (above) told us he approached the doc as a journalist and to investigate what was real and wasn’t real. His hope that the film would inform at a base level of what is happening and that humanity would take this topic more serious as a culture, government, and world. Watching the documentary you really feel that as revelatory after revelatory piece of information is clearly conveyed to the audience.

U.S NAVY Fighter Pilot (RET.) Commander David Fravor also spoke with us on the red carpet. He told us he thought Dan Farah did the best job up to this point in regards to revealing the truth to bring archival footage from the 70s, 90s, the 2000s to sitting congressman, sitting senators, and people in the know that are going to talk about this topic to remove the stigma and take this seriously.

Commander Fravor is the pilot who chased the now infamous TIC TAC UAP and talks about the experience in the documentary along with LT. COMMANDER ALEX DIETRICH U.S. NAVY Fighter Pilot (RET.) and LIEUTENANT RYAN GRAVES U.S. NAVY Fighter Pilot (RET.) who gives a secondhand description of a up close encounter of a UAP by a fellow pilot that is chilling.

LIEUTENANT RYAN GRAVES U.S. NAVY Fighter Pilot (RET.)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE | TENNESSEE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT & ACCOUNTABILITY TIM BURCHETT explained to us he was a very conservative republican and this is a very bi-partisan issue and has asked his friend A.O.C. (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) to get involved with this issue. There is a serious committee that has testified which have nothing to gain and Tim Burchett has lost contributors due to his stance. I also asked him about the drone UAP phenomena in the New Jersey area at the time and he thought it really had nothing to do with the UAP/UFOs in this documentary.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CIA, AATIP, UAP TASK FORCE | ADVISOR DR. GARRY NOLAN told us of an experience he had when he was a paperboy seeing a UFO/UAP fly over his head and exclaimed “as a boy in the 70s what do you do with that information?” Dr. Nolan also explained with current events and this documentary made it easier to talk about his experience and talk to others with similar experiences and interest. He also excitedly mentioned he has students that want to work in his lab on UAP at STANFORD UNIVERSITY.

NAVY INTELLIGENCE | DIA SENIOR EXECUTIVE (RET.) JAY STRATTON pictured above on the red carpet and in the documentary is maybe the most direct, forthright, non sensationalistic person that will tell you WE ARE NOT ALONE. He said we have been in an almost 80 year secret war to harness the technology and whoever wins will rule and this is TRUE DISCLOSURE. I asked him how many personal experiences he had with UAP/UFO and he said more than I want to talk about here. He said this is no sensationalism and as the guy who led the U.S. government’s UAP program, we are not alone. Jay does go into more depth in his involvement in the UAP program and makes a very shocking claim.

Watching this documentary in the Paramount theater with the creators and cast alongside some very famous directors and actors, it felt heavy and important. A watershed moment in one of the most talked about, controversial, and ponderous topics humanity has ever encountered. There are tons and tons of UFO docs on cable and streaming but none with the collection of reputable former military, current government officials, and scientists that supply a clear understanding of where we are at now, what has taken place, and a logical explanation on how the technology for the UAP/UFOs work which break the laws of all known physics and science. Other accounts of many different types of UAP/UFOs in excellent animation are also detailed as well as the pushback from various higher up officials due to reputation and religion. This documentary is great and once it was available on Prime Video, I had to buy it and watch it again.

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