Since its founding in 1995, the Slamdance Film Festival has established itself as one of the premier alternative film festivals in the world. Peter Baxter, a Slamdance co-founder, continues to support the festival’s rapidly expanding presence in the moviemaking community, while making sure that it stays true to its “by filmmakers for filmmakers” motto. Here, Baxter talks with MovieMaker about the keys to Slamdance’s success, how it has adapted to today’s festival climate, and how the festival will continue to push the boundaries of what it means to support the independent moviemaker

In a world where new film festivals sprout up faster than bad Michael Bay films, the Oxford International Festival of Films is distinguishing itself with one simple but distinct approach: Films with a message. As the city of dreaming spires gears up for this year's event, MM spoke with OIFF's festival director Patricia Terrell about why one need look no further than Oxford, England to find the very best in cinema.

Ever thought you had better taste than a film festival jury? Well, now's your chance to prove it! Celebrating its sixth year, the Manhattan Short Film Festivaldecided to go online-and give the first 100,000 visitors to their Website the chance to "be the judge" of their film festival, broadcast live from NYC's Union Square Park on Sunday, September 28th. But whether you attend the live, free event or log on and watch, one thing's for sure: choosing the best of this talented dozen will be a difficult task. The winning prize? Resources and cash to make a feature film!

Entering into its third year, the 48 Hour Film Project has invaded more than a dozen cities worldwide-beginning in our nation's capital and traveling as far overseas as Auckland, New Zealand and London, England. Now, with the National Film Challenge, you can be a moviemaker anywhere and participate. Ruppert discusses the Project's genesis and why such a short timespan is freeing and frustrating all at once.

The Kansas International Film Festival may be located only halfway to Hollywood, but their dedication to innovative and socially conscious films extends to the moviemaking capital and beyond. Founded in 2001, the fourth annual Kansas International Film Festival will take place this September--but MM sat down with festival founder Ben Meade to discuss how moviemakers can get involved today.

When Scott Gentry decided to launch his own automotive video production company, DV Magazine became his guide to buying tools. He enjoyed the magazine so much, in fact, that he eventually sent the editors a resume, which led to working his way from the sales department to publisher. Now, as Group Director, he oversees not only the magazine and Website, DV.com, but the DV Expo tradeshow.

For more than a decade, Douglas Williams has been working to bring together American and Japanese cultures. As president and co-founder of the American Short Shorts Film Festival, he's found a way to ingrain the American short film format into Japanese culture.

Perhaps even before George Lucas informed the movie industry that there is life after film, Issac Alexander and Marisa Cohen were in the planning stages of HDFESTãthe world's first festival dedicated solely to the exhibition of high definition products.

FirstGlance Film Festival founder Bill Ostroff is quite adept at juggling many responsibilities. When not working as a full-time moviemaker, writer or production coordinator, he finds the time to run the world's first and only bi-coastal film festival, FirstGlance.

Dear to New Yorkers for its long-standing tradition of provoking audiences with spellbinding films from top-notch, international auteurs, over its 38-year history the New York Film Festival has been responsible for introducing the likes of Godard, Bertolucci, Fassbinder, and Scorsese to American audiences.

From struggling little festival that happened to take place in Park City at the same time as Sundance to one of the independent film scene's most highly anticipated events, Slamdance Film Festival director Peter Baxter shares the secret to their success: a clear-cut vision.

Playing to your strengths can pay off in the festival game.

While underground film festivals may lack the prestige of their more established counterparts, these fledgling events can be invaluable to the not-ready-for-Sundance moviemaker.

Colorado's Telluride Film Festival is one of the coolest summer festivals around.