What is RIPFEST?

Since 2002, RIPFEST has provided an outlet for some of New York and LA’s brightest filmmaking and theatrical talents, allowing both established and up-and-coming artists to collaborate on professional-quality short films over a 16-day process. RIPFEST is a unique collaborative filmmaking project that allows filmmakers the freedom to do what they do best – just make films.

While other quick filmmaking projects try to churn out lots of short films in just hours, RIPFEST brings together a carefully selected group of professional and emerging film and theater talent to collaborate on high-quality, original short films, and gives them the process and support that they need to make great work. Each team is supported through a carefully developed creative process and at the end, all the films are given a public premiere.

To date there have been 11 RIPFEST events in New York and LA. We've made over 100 original short films, short movie-musicals, and documentaries.

Big Apple Film Festival - Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival - NYC’s First Sundays Comedy Film Festival - The Mill Valley Film Festival - Urbanworld Film Festival - Chicago City Limits Film Festival - Santa Cruz Film Festival - Sonoma Valley Film Festival - James River Film Festival- New Filmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives - Showtime’s Black Filmmakers Showcase

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When is it?

RIPFEST #11 was held in New York City from April 10– 26th 2010. The three short narrative films and three short movie-musicals were screened to SOLD OUT audiences on Monday, May 26th at Anthology Film Archives. The next RIPFEST will be held in 2011. For information about participating in RIPFEST #12 Send your Resume, Reel (if appropriate) and Letter to participate@ripfest.com. Click here for more information.

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How it works

At the launch of a RIPFEST event several teams of filmmakers who have never met are given guidelines to create a 5-10 minute film. Each group is comprised of a Producer, a Writer, a Composer, a Director, a DP, an Editor, a Choreographer (for musicals), 2-4 Actors and 2 locations. The teams are given guidelines to create a 5-7 minute film. Then they have:

  ¬   2 days to write the first draft
  ¬   2 days for re-writes
  ¬   2 days for pre-production
  ¬   2 days to shoot the film
  ¬   1 week for post production, scoring, and graphics.

And then…

All the films are premiered, just 16 days after the process began.

There are no restrictions on content or style – pieces range from the most serious to absurdly comic and for musicals, in styles from R&B to operatic to traditional Broadway. Each team is, however, given the same guidelines for creative inspiration and a theme, and the teams are required to only shoot in the two locations provided and to tailor their movie to the actors on their teams.

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A very brief history

RIPFEST began in May 2002 and was originally an acronym for Raw Impressions Productions Film Festival. In the beginning it was the film division of Raw Impressions, a non-profit collaborative arts organization dedicated to "inspiring artists to be prolific with excellence, introducing artists to new collaborators and supporting them through to premiere in a speedy development process.”Guided by those principles, RIPFEST has grown and become an independent company. We have held 11 collaborations in 10 years and worked with over 1000 collaborators

RIPFEST is run by a collaborative group of film and television producers and past participants who are dedicated to producing great work and facilitating meaningful and fulfilling collaborations among filmmakers, artists, and actors.