Hi, my name is Fred Benenson and I’m Creative Commons’ Cultural Program Associate working in New York City. I’ll be blogging about and working on all things CC in the Big Apple. Without further ado, I’m happy to announce that the eighth annual Media that Matters Film Festival is about to begin in downtown Manhattan. The festival showcases shorts created by young filmmakers and releases them after the festival under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Arts Engine, the non-profit that organizes and hosts the festival also sells region-free unencrypted CC licensed DVDs of all the films that can be shown in any non-commercial setting.

A description of the festival from The Media That Matters site:

From gay rights to global warming, the jury-selected collection represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers, many of whom are under 21. The films are equally diverse in style and content, with documentaries, music videos, animations, experimental work and everything else in between. What all the films have in common is that they spark debate and action in 12 minutes or less.

A short from the sixth Media That Matters film festival, “A Girl Like Me” made its way on to Oprah’s television show, and has since racked up almost a million views on YouTube. Check out previous MTM festivals online here and here.  The premier of all the shorts from the eighth annual Media That Matters film festival will be happening on Wednesday, May 28th at the IFC Center in Manhattan, so buy your tickets now.