Pay It Forward Short Film
Cara Canellas
Best known for his Segway Personal Transporter, inventor Dean Kamen is taking on the world's great challenges one invention at a time. Slingshot is the story of Kamen, his water purification, and his innovative approach to the planet's safe water crisis.
FOCUS FORWARD films debuted online and at major film festivals around the world.
Here are all 30 films in the series, the most recent of which world premiered at the
2013 Sundance Film Festival
A who's who of international documentary filmmakers drawn from every corner of the globe, FOCUS FORWARD directors are the most distinguished nonfiction storytellers working in contemporary independent cinema today. Many have won Academy Awards for their shorts and features; others have earned their laurels at world-renowned festivals and at the box office.
FOCUS FORWARD films have screened at film festivals and events all over the world
(yes, even Antarctica).
Whether in Sundance, Tribeca, Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Melbourne, Dubai or Guangzhou, audiences have been inspired and moved by these stories of innovation.
We're proud that filmmakers from over 69 countries submitted films to the Competition. Winning is great, but what really counts is knowing there are so many top-notch storytellers all over the world. (See all submissions here.)
Thank you, filmmakers!
A partnership between GE and Cinelan, FOCUS FORWARD commissioned 30 three-minute films from an impressive roster of award-winning international filmmakers. The creative brief was simple: tell a story about an innovator or a world-changing idea, and do it in about 180 seconds.
The films premiered in 2012 and 2013 at film festivals across six continents as they also went live online. The films have now been viewed and shared in 150 countries on seven continents (a special screening was arranged for science conference in Antarctica).
The same creative brief was offered to filmmakers everywhere during the FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition. Astounding entries came in from 69 countries. A jury of renowned film industry professionals selected five winners at Sundance 2013, who shared $200,000 in cash prizes, the largest ever awarded to short non-fiction films.
Failure is an inevitable part of life, but it's often accompanied by shame -- most people do everything in their power to avoid it. But to paraphrase educational philosopher John Dewey, a true thinker learns as much from failures as from successes. What if educators worked to take some of the sting (and the stigma) out of failing, and encouraged reflection and revision to build upon the lessons learned? Perhaps there's a goldmine of opportunities if we can re-frame failure as a valuable learning experience, an essential step along the path to discovery and innovation. Check out this list of videos to help start the conversation about embracing failure.
This ad was launched during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games, and you can see why it was a crowd-pleaser -- it's a moving reminder of how many times you have to fall before you can run and the importance of getting a little help from someone who believes in you.
This short film is actually a Honda ad, but it makes its point beautifully, describing how innovation only comes from willingness to try new things and take risks -- illustrated by interviews with engineers, designers, and race car drivers.
If you can get past the overly-dramatic voiceover and shamelessly motivational music, this little video is a nice visual list of people who failed early in their lives but went on to become incredibly successful. Maybe play it without sound?
I had to share this brilliant video one more time. High school student Jack Andraka was rejected by 199 professors before one agrees to let him explore his idea for a solution to fight pancreatic cancer in the lab. Learn more about Jack Andraka here.
Take a rare sneak peek inside Google X's notoriously secretive Design Kitchen, where creative thinkers are encouraged to take "moonshots" and fail quickly with rapid prototyping to solve global problems.
Want to teach the littlest ones about embracing failure? Show this rather ridiculous musical number from the 1968 musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where a troop of aged inventors enthusiastically sing "from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success." 'Nuff said.
The ability to grow and keep trying when you don't succeed -- resilience and grit -- are key to cultivating a growth mindset, in academics and in life. I like how the business world has coined the term "failing forward" to mean using mistakes as stepping stones along the road towards achieving your goals. For young people in school, how can we provide them with the tools to see failure not as shameful, but as a necessary step towards success? Check out some of the resources and articles below for more discussion. How do you help your kids to fail forward?
Moving forward, I hope to post things that I find interesting or useful to the DIY film composer, or just the interested reader. If you find this site useful, feel free to build upon it and share it with others. I appreciate those who have supported me thus far, and hope to add more content soon. Thanks for reading!
Hello my name is Kylie Litaker. I am a sophomore at Eckerd College double-majoring in Environmental Studies and Interdisciplinary Arts with a minor in Chinese. I enjoy many mediums of art such as film, ceramics, painting, drawing, and jewelry making. My focus of study of Environmental Studies is food sustainability. I really hope to make a career implementing my love for the environment and art such as making environmental films and art pieces. My film, "The Journey of Compost" is a short 4 minute film all about consumer food waste starting from the plate and ending with up-cycled fertile soil to the be used in our on campus garden at Eckerd College. I hope you find my film highly informational as I spent a lot of time and effort in the process of making and editing this video.
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We are pleased to be opening the 2024 edition of Third Horizon Film Festival with the world premiere of the short films of Third Horizon Forward. Launched in 2023, Third Horizon Forward is an initiative created for filmmakers working out of Miami who trace their lineage to the Caribbean, to interrogate and explore the culture, character, spirit, people, and legacy of the region through film. Through this program, we are interested in supporting short films with an authentic, enduring and vital connection to the region Third Horizon calls home.
Te Amo Tanto, Pero Eres Tan Difcil, reimagines the relationship between mother and daughter as they traverse the tropics and topics in a series of travels through tender and emotionally charged terrains, finding parallels amongst differences and bonds through reflection.
Art: By Any Means Necessary follows the defiance of two art institutions in the Caribbean: one closed but squatted by artists, the other fighting to stay open. Against the backdrop of political strife, Haitian and Guadeloupean artists grapple with the concept of freedom in their battle to preserve their spaces.
Written and directed by Nile Saulter and based on a concept by Shamar Watt, Summon follows Suno, a young dancer torn between his Jamaican roots and life in Miami, USA. The story intricately weaves together past and present, as Suno grapples with questions of identity and belonging.
Ana y la Distancia tells the story of a Cuban mother, exiled in Miami, as she anxiously waits for her son who, after the anti-government protests that occurred in Cuba in July 2021, decided to cross borders to reunite with her in the United States.
Students are also invited to participate in discussions and masterclasses given by industry professionals. Each year, the section jury, together with the students, chooses the winning film which is awarded the Nest best short film award, sponsored by Orona Fundazioa.
Since Israel is the #1 recipient of U.S. aid in the world, including the arms used to engage in violent suppression of the indigenous people there, every American taxpayer subsidizes this. Plus, the actions of the IDF and continuing injustice have fueled anti-American sentiment across the Muslim world. American viewers need to understand the implications of their government's actions.
Universal human rights is the basic message OF this film for both Israelis and Palestinians. Every one of the 24 interviewees echo this. Each gives their own personal story growing up Jewish, what that identify meant to them individually, how they had been socialized regarding Israel and how they awakened to a larger consciousness.
The idea for a doc is an outline, which creates questions to ask your subjects. However the real film is always the aggregate of what these individuals tell you. You can't go with a script, but instead after filming, you build a narrative from THEIR voices, not your own. JSF initially was a 4 hour rough cut, because there was so much of significant substance in those interviews. Of course that was cut and cut and cut down to 112 minutes.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We've won 3 awards, been screamed at during Q&As because many Jews cannot accept the reality of what Israel is doing, and been rejected by many festivals because the topic is untouchable and too controversial. Safe subjects are ones which are politically correct, but in JSF, Jews pull the scab off hypocrisy. The responses are visceral. Some say the film should be shortened. Others in human rights have loved it and said it is comprehensive and relentless.
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