08/21/2026
🎥ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT: The Local Festival With Global Reach 🌎The opportunity to have your film considered for the 2026 Florida Filmmaker Showcase will be gone.
➡️SUBMIT YOUR SHORT FILM TODAY!
https://filmfreeway.com/ArtsAcceleratorFilmFestival
Meet Your Judges!🎬🏆
⭐️James Pratt is an award-winning actor, director. He is the recipient of various international film awards including, Best Actor at the Los Angeles Film Awards, Best Director 2022 Cannes Film Awards and Best Actor at the 2022 Beyond Hollywood International Film Festival.
With a strong acting background, James started his career studying at the prestigious acting school, NIDA in Sydney Australia, before landing a guest role on the hit TV show Home & Away and Freemantle media's Wonderland. Since then, James has gone on to work in Hollywood alongside the likes of Edward Norton, Q'orianka Kilcher, Sam Worthington and Cindy Cowan.
Outside of acting directing has always been a passion for James, in 2012 he made a $200 short film in outback Australia called New York Model Agent which went on to draw a deal from NBC Universal and lead to getting more directing work. In 2022 he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Awards for his comedy feature film Malibu Crush, a comedy about two best friends who come from Los Angeles to Bondi Beach Australia to stop a wedding. Other directing work includes the documentary Summer Promise and several high-profile fashion commercials.
In 2018, he signed a deal with reality show heavyweight Charlie Ebersol / Ebersol Lanigan and Theco.com for his show selling celebrity houses within Los Angeles.
James was a keynote speaker at NBC Universal's italk New York event in February of 2020, speaking alongside Bravo TV's Ali Levine, Roc Nation's Philly Freeway and Jalen James Acosta.
🎭 Natalie Ballesteros is a Cuban American casting director and Producer Natalie Ballesteros is a partner and founding member of Adams, Ballesteros, Luna Casting (ABL). This partnership was launched with the intent of highlighting a variety of artists in the entertainment industry, focusing on authentic and inclusive representation in
both film and television. The trio has worked on various projects for Netflix,
Prime Video, Disney Branded Television, HBOMax, and also cast the inaugural
presentation of the Warner Bros. Discovery Access Talent Spotlight. ABL has cast the features The Long Game, the Jenni Rivera biopic Jenni, and the
horror/thriller Rosario.
They most recently worked on the U.S. casting for the Netflix series One Hundred Years of Solitude: Part II, the feature film 52nd State, and the independent feature Pedro Pan, and are currently casting the satirical comedy/horror Salsa Sangre.
As the former Director of Talent and Casting for CBS Network TV, Natalie covered series NCIS, NCIS LA, NCIS New Orleans, Blue Bloods, Bull, The Equalizer, Bob Hearts Abishola, United States of Al, B Positive, and Mom, among several other pilots and projects.
Prior to CBS, Natalie worked on several notable projects, including the Academy Award-winning Coco for Walt Disney Films/Pixar, Narcos: Mexico for Netflix, East Los High – The Movie and the series for Hulu, and Los Espookys and Icebox, both for HBO. Additionally, she cast the Amazon series Soldados o Zombies for Amazon International.
Natalie holds a BFA in Performance from the University of Miami and worked as a
professional singer/actress in New York before moving to Los Angeles to pursue
a career in the film industry. Her performing background is instrumental in her approach as a casting director.
🎬 Bryan G Thompson is an award-winning actor, director, and producer, known for the feature films “Dirt”, “Valentine’s Date” and “Blowback” starring “Clifton Powell”.
He has appeared in over 20 films and has directed multiple genres, including Action, Sci-fi, Comedy, Drama, and Fantasy. His films can be viewed on major nationwide platforms such as Apple TV+, Peacock, Pluto TV, Fox Soul, and Tubi.
Bryan is also a US Army Veteran who served in Iraq. He founded his production house Imani Films in 2008 and is also the Founder and Director for the Miami Web Fest, and Virginia Black Film Festival.
🎥 Leonardo "Lenny" Gonzalez is an Award Winning Filmmaker, Founder of RHINO STUDIOS and now L MEDIA STUDIOS. He is a thinker and a listener with a reputation for creative excellence.
His body of work has received prestigious awards and accolades, including Oscars, Grammy Awards, Addy Awards, MTV VMA, Billboard Music Awards, Premio Lo Nuestro, Cannes Lions, Sundance, and SXSW. His extensive experience covers a wide range of areas, including commercials, features, music videos, corporate videos, and narratives.
Lenny has 35 years of experience as a professional Cinematographer, Sound Mixer A1, Editor, Colorist, and Post Production Supervisor.
⭐️WHY THIS SHOWCASE IS DIFFERENT
1. Your Film Is Seen by Industry Professionals Who Understand the Market
Our judges bring experience from across film, television, production, distribution, and the entertainment industry.
If your film is selected, it has the opportunity to be seen by people with real industry experience and insight into what connects with audiences and the marketplace.
But you have to submit before the deadline.
⭐️2. Give Your Short Film a Chance to Keep Working for You
How many short films have you made that ended their journey after a few festival screenings?
The Florida Filmmaker Showcase is designed to explore a different possibility.
Selected short films are packaged into a feature-length anthology created for distribution and presented to global streaming opportunities, including platforms such as Tubi, FilmRise, Amazon Prime and others, where available and accepted.
If selected for the anthology, filmmakers receive the opportunity for:
Inclusion in the feature-length Florida Filmmaker Showcase anthology
Professional promotion of the anthology and participating filmmakers
Potential global streaming distribution
Potential revenue sharing under a non-exclusive distribution agreement
Continued ownership of their individual films
Yes—you still own the rights to your film.
⭐️3. We Want Audiences to Meet the Filmmaker Behind the Film
Your film can make an impression.
But so can you.
Every filmmaker selected for the anthology receives a professionally produced, on-camera interview integrated into the feature.
That means audiences don't simply watch your work.
They get to meet the person who created it.
