With so many amazing stories to share, Ahmed Best gave the fans a plethora of tales from getting cast in The Phantom Menace to meeting George Lucas for the first time. You won’t believe how in depth he went into creating some of the Star Wars characters he’s portrayed or how he describes what it means to be “one with the force”. Enjoy our SpaceCon panel from San Antonio!

Ahmed Best is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is known for providing the voice and motion capture for the character Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars franchise. Best likewise collaborated with director George Lucas in three films and seven episodes of the cartoon show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

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.

From the Hall H stage during SDCC, watch The Rings of Power panel from San Diego Comic-Con! The panel includes producers and cast members: Patrick McKay, JD Payne, Morfydd Clark, Charlie Vickers, Ema Horvath, Sophia Nomvete, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Maxim Baldry, Lloyd Owen, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Megan Richards, Robert Aramayo, Trystan Gravelle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sam Hazeldine and Robert Strange.