The growing Southern Ohio Filmmakers Association has harnessed the power of the Internet, with an interactive Web site, blog, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn pages. The ease this allows in networking with filmmakers and their supporters across Greater Cincinnati is mobilizing this segment of the creative class.
“When it started nine years ago it numbered fewer than 100. Now, more than 1,300 are on our network, which means they receive notices posted by other members of jobs, events, projects, auditions and requests for help,” said SOFA Board Member Margaret McGurk. “In 2000, when SOFA was formed, the highest number of notices posted in a month was 19, and a lot of those were about the organization. Now it's 35-40 every month.”
The non-profit organization, which meets monthly in Oakley supports filmmakers and filmmaking in across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Among efforts it helps to promote are the College Movie Festival and the 48 Hour Film Project.
The organization’s growth, and technological savvy has led to SOFA’s first large-scale fundraiser at the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center in Covington. The fundraiser on July 14 and 15th , part of Cincinnati World Cinema’s “DocFest,” will raise money for both organizations. The fundraiser will feature the screening of “Taken for A Ride,” a history of the streetcar movement by Wright State University professor and Oscar-nominated documentary maker Jim Klein. That will be followed by Andrea Torrice’s documentary on suburban sprawl “A Crack in the Pavement.” Both filmmakers will be on hand July 14.
On July 15, Torrice, Urban Planner Liz Blume and Madeira City Manager Tom Moeller will lead a post-show discussion.
The fundraiser will allow the organization to expand and offer training and events for area filmmakers including sponsoring sessions on developing technical skills such as lighting, sound, editing and acting, as well as developing entrepreneurship and business skills.
Tickets at the door are $15 tonight and $10 at the door Wednesday. For more information go to Cincinnati World Cinema or call (859) 781-8151.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Margaret McGurk, SOFA board member
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