Our objective for this competition and film festival is to promote and encourage screenwriters and independent filmmakers, and the best work in stage plays, radio plays, TV scripts, musical scores, lyrics, librettos, musical videos, & short stories. Moondance provides a forum in which those creative, talented & dedicated artists can have the opportunity for their work to be viewed and accepted by the powers that be, within the international film community.

Moondance promotes, encourages, educates and rewards non-violent conflict resolution in the arts & film. Our much-coveted Columbine Awards are given to the film-makers &/or writers who best depict alternatives to violence as a method of dealing with conflicts, whether personal, local, national or international, and/or show why violence as a solution to conflict is ultimately counter-productive and inhumane.

Our mission is to entertain, to inform, to inspire, to encourage and to educate. We believe that films and scripts can contribute to a healthier society and that films and scripts should encourage the active involvement of audiences to connect and act collectively to address social challenges. Winning and finalist films and scripts are innovative, distinctive, compelling and engaging, relevant to varied audiences and encourage participation. We are eager to continue to be one of the most important film festivals in the world by being innovative, risk-taking, and open to new thinking, new concepts, new talent, and new ways of telling stories.

Our work on reaching out toward women film-makers and women writers everywhere in the world is primary and ongoing. Women writers and film-makers from all six continents, and from a wide diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups are an integral part of our mission and goals. We seek to inspire and invigorate this creative potential of women to perceive, conceptualize, and produce their works for the benefit of the world society. We are dedicated to preserving their accumulated accomplishments and visions as expressed through the art of film and writings.

Moondance promises to raise awareness of the invaluable contributions of women to the entertainment community. Equity for women in the film industry does not mean stifling some voices so that others may be heard; it does not demand the compromising of personal standards to achieve success. Equity creates new standards which accommodate and nurture differences. Equity fosters the individual voice, investing women with confidence in their own authority. Equity unleashes the creative potential. We see the equal treatment of all women and the equal respect for all responses they explore as essential to their and our ultimate goals.

Women filmmakers and women writers are vocal and active participants in the social forces that shape our culture. They portray women as three-dimensional, complex human beings and thus defy the demeaning and pervasive stereotypes perpetuated by the mainstream media. We are dedicated to promoting visibility for women in Hollywood and their impact on the film industry, and we see this as a means to disrupt and correct the misogynous, fantastical, passive, destructive and denigrating visual representation of females that has, historically, been rendered by men in media and has for so long and so plentifully pervaded our visual culture.

Our film programs are always well rounded, entertaining, and enlightening, highlighting diverse cultures, opinions, and stories. We welcome individual expression and are committed to presenting diverse points of view. Moondance aims to entertain, increase awareness, provide multiple viewpoints, address complex social issues, provide forums for deliberation, and strengthen ties between a large variety of international audiences.

The long-term vision of the Moondance International Film Festival is to preserve and revitalize our intangible heritage, cultivate creative diversity, develop an intercultural dialogue, and stimulate this creative resource. Our mission is to present a vibrant and growing collection of films and writings, which is an ideal means for communication across perceived boundaries of race, culture, age and gender.

These works document the complexity and depth of men's & women's experiences that will become widely accessible within the world film industry and to the public, and will encourage and inspire others to write and to make films.


MOONDANCE VALUES & GOALS:

• Enrich and entertain a global audience

• Top quality in every film we screen & every screenplay we promote

• Exceeding international film & entertainment industry expectations

• Trust, respect and integrity in all of our relationships

• Continuous improvement, innovation and embracing change.

• Teamwork and open, honest communication

• Creating a productive, creative and rewarding environment

• Encouraging & rewarding non-violent conflict resolution in films and television

• Promoting equity for all writers and filmmakers, worldwide.