In December 2023, I participated in the nycmidnight 250-word Microfiction Challenge. I had 48 hours to write a microfiction story based on the genre & prompts I was assigned.
My story ranked 9th in my category, with the top 10 selections moving on to round 2 (writing a new story based on new prompts in Feb 2024). Over 4,000 writers participated across all of the categories in round 1.
My work-in-progress feature script, Wedding Day, has been chosen as a Quarterfinalist at the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. It’s also now ranked in the top 25% of all projects listed on Coverfly.
1 Freethink piece I directed (Your Brain on Money - Herding) won a Silver Telly and the series overall, Your Brain on Money, which I developed and directed two episodes of, won a Gold Telly.
Freethink’s Your Brain on Money series, which I developed and directed 2 episodes of, is a Webby Award Honoree in the category of Video - Branded Entertainment - Series.
Three pieces that I worked on at Freethink - 1 as director, 2 as producer - have won Telly Awards:
1 - Keeping Democracy Safe in the 2020 Election is the Silver Telly Winner in Branded Content: Public Interest/Awareness (Official Listing) / Director
2 - The Formerly Incarcerated Fighting for Criminal Justice Reform is the Gold Telly Winner in Branded Content: Cause Marketing (Official Listing) / Producer
3 - Is Police Reform Even Possible? is the Gold Telly Winner in Non-Broadcast: Social Issues (Official Listing) / Producer
Earlier this year I had the pleasure to serve as a judge for the D.C. Shorts Film Festival. I attended this festival in high school or college - I believe it was the first film festival I ever attended, when I already knew I wanted to be a filmmaker - so it’s cool to be associated with the festival now as a judge. And it was a really solid bunch of films - it was hard to score them.
This Fall, I’ll be serving as a judge for The Film Fund - filmmakers submit one sentence describing their short project and what they would do with the grant money if they receive it. I’m excited to see all the ideas that are submitted.
I've been awarded a $2,500 New Work Grant to create my short film, It's Sta-Phan-E-acK!, from the Queens Council on the Arts and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Greater New York Arts Development Fund.
I'll be shooting the film this year in Queens, New York, and then exhibiting it publicly somewhere in the borough, before submitting it to festivals and releasing it online.
I'm excited to make a narrative film in 2018! https://www.facebook.com/JasonJStefaniak/
I was accepted into the inaugural Artist Campaign School, an effort to provide artists with the tools they need to build campaigns and run for public office. I'll be traveling to Detroit, Michigan for a day and a half of training.
More information about the Artist Campaign School here. And my specific cohort.
Here's an announcement from Creative Capital about my cohort.
But Not For Me is now available on Amazon Prime - free for Prime members, or $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy. Check it out!
Middle Ground was chosen as a Daily Short Pick on the film website, Film Shortage.
Click the image below to check it out
My short film, Middle Ground, and the feature I produced, But Not For Me, will screen as part of the Cinema in the Sky series held at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan - the largest building in North America! The films will screen on Saturday and Sunday, February 11th and 12th, 2017.
Click the image below to check it out:
The trailer has been viewed over a thousand times on the Trailer Addict website since it was posted four days ago - woo hoo!!
But Not For Me - the first feature film I produced from start to finish - is now available for rental in the United States for only $4.99 exclusively on the brand new film platform, Flix Premiere.
Check it out right now:
The feature film I produced, But Not For Me, is getting a commercial release in the United States later this summer on the brand new digital platform, Flix Premiere.
Click the image below and then click "Remind Me" to sign up with your email to get a notification when But Not For Me becomes available for rent.
My latest short film, Middle Ground, is now available online. Check it out and share it if you dig it!
On March 30th, the team behind But Not For Me held a roundtable discussion at the NYU Production Lab about our experience making our first feature film. It was a detailed, intimate discussion with great questions from those in attendance. It feels good to share your knowledge and experience with your fellow filmmakers and aspirants. As Kevin Spacey has said, (I'm paraphrasing) when you achieve a certain amount of success, you have an obligation to send the elevator down to those coming up behind you. We're happy to help!
A Warm Spell, an Official Selection of the Queens World Film Festival and nominated for three awards - Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Narrative Short - won the big prize last night and was chosen as the best short film of the festival.
Big congrats to Toshimichi Saito, the writer/director, and the whole team!
(A Warm Spell, formerly Koharubiyori, is a short film I produced that we shot in Japan in February 2013).
