Rochester, N.Y., February 26, 2020—The Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum has announced a call for entries to its 2nd Annual Stephen King’s Dollar Babies short film program. Submissions of original short films are being accepted now through April 30. The selection committee will choose up to 14 short films to screen at the Dryden in October as part of the Dollar Babies programs. Filmmakers will be notified by May 31 if their entry was chosen.
Dollar Babies were born in 1983 when American author Stephen King began licensing some of his short stories to young filmmakers for a dollar. King has written more than fifty novels and two hundred short stories over the course of his career, and for more than 35 years, he has allowed student filmmakers to adapt some of these titles into their own projects. These “Dollar Babies” give young filmmakers an opportunity to work on adapting a work for film and raising the profile of their finished film. Since 1983, more than 150 Dollar Babies have been shown in festivals around the world.
In October 2019, the inaugural Dollar Babies program at the Dryden Theatre kicked off with 13 shorts presented on two nights, featuring films made over the last fifteen years based on Stephen King short stories. Four of the filmmakers traveled to Rochester and participated in a Q&A with Curator of Film Exhibitions Jared Case following the screening of their films.
“Being invited to the George Eastman Museum to take part in their Dollar Babies screening event was the highlight of our festival run for A Very Tight Place,” said director Stephen Tramontana. “The screening itself was fantastic, the sound and projection were both top notch, and it was inspiring to meet with the dedicated staff and see the important work they're doing for film studies and preservation. For filmmakers, I can't imagine a better venue to screen your latest work.”
The 2nd Annual Dollar Babies programs will be shown on October 28 and October 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre.
How to submit
Submissions must be made by e-mail. Filmmakers must forward a screening link or viewable file of their film to Jared Case, Curator of Film Exhibitions, George Eastman Museum at jcase@eastman.org on or before April 30. Use DOLLAR BABIES PROGRAM SUBMISSION in the subject line. Include your contact information, film title, and credits in the body of your e-mail submission. All submissions must be based on a Stephen King short story. To find out more about what stories are currently available for adaptation, visit stephenking.com/dollarbabies.php.
Each submission will be reviewed by Jared Case; Karen vanMeenen, Director of Community Reading Programs at Writers & Books; and Dr. Lester Friedman, Emeritus Professor, Media & Society at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A maximum of 14 films will be selected for screening on October 28 or 29, and filmmakers will be notified via e-mail by May 31.
About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 450,000 photographs, 28,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, makes critical contributions to film preservation and to photographic preservation and collections management. For more information, visit eastman.org.
