Northside Festival

We’re pleased to announce that submissions are now officially open for the Northside Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Film Competition, part of Northside Film. You can check out the guidelines to submit your film here.

Last year, the Williamsburg micro-cinema UnionDocs packed the house with screenings of short films and features by some fantastic as-yet-unknown local and international artists. This year, it could be you!

The winning feature film will be awarded a $500 cash prize, while the winning short film will be awarded a $250 cash prize. The feature and short will be screened together at a premiere engagement at the Nitehawk cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, followed by a party celebrating our award-winning filmmakers and their crew. Both films will also receive a redeemable certificate to be used on any DCTV services (include a hyper link to DCTV here that can be used for anything from equipment rentals to their stellar post-production facilities and workshops.

If you would like to get your passion project up on the screen, follow the submission guidelines for your chance to show your film before our illustrious jury.

Submissions can be sent via mail or through Vimeo.

The deadline for the open call is April 15, so make those final edits asap!

If you recall, the fourth annual Northside Festival will be taking over Williamsburg and Greenpoint from June 14-17, 2012, but no takeover would be complete without the hundreds of up-and-coming genius bands like yourself to assist in the domination of North Brooklyn.

Northside is about celebrating the undiscovered, unknown and yet-to-be appreciated bands of the moment as much as it is about celebrating those who can sell out a 5,000-cap space at McCarren Park. Each year, we dedicate ourselves to listening to the music submitted to us via good ol' Sonicbids, giving selected bands a chance to be heard in one of the greatest musical communities on the planet (this is a fact, we've checked it).

To submit for a chance to play the fest, click here (or paste the following URL into your browser: http://www.sonicbids.com/NorthsideFestival. Please note the deadline to submit is Friday, April 13, 2012. Bands that are chosen to participate will be contacted in May. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail northside@thelmagazine.com.

Now go show us what we've been missing!

Here we go: June 14-17. Mark it down on your calendar, tattoo it on your arm, enter it in your iPhone, hang a note on your refrigerator, like it's a picture of us frolicking around Williamsburg with the guys in Shark? in one of those cute "save the dates" for a wedding with the words "Northside and Brooklyn bands, together forever" scrolled along the bottom.

We're beaming proudly at the thought: What began as an harebrained idea in 2009 has blossomed into a festival set to make its return to the streets of Williamsburg and Greenpoint for a fourth year of music, film, art, ideas and more... and we do mean "more," as there are already some really exciting things in the works that we can't quite tell you about yet. Hang tight, though. Why don't you take a look here at some of this summer's highlights to hold you over? It'll be June before you know it.

Well, hats off to this: It looks like The L and Northside Festival are expanding beyond our native Brooklyn shores. We're incredibly jazzed to announce that we'll be teaming up with indie festival legends, POP Montreal, to present a musical legend in her own right, tUnE-YaRDs, Sept. 23, at this year's POP festival. It's kind of the ideal international match for our own homegrown music fest—going into its 10th year, POP Montreal has served as the first platform for some of the most treasured bands of our time, including Arcade Fire, Interpol, Wolf Parade and more. We've also been kind of hopelessly in love with tUnE-yArDs for a while now, so maybe she'll, like, say "hi" or maybe even let us hold her ukulele, at which point we will decide never to wash our figurative hands again. Did we mention that we were excited? Did we?

We're still putting out tons of videos, photos, and more over at TheLMagazine.com, but we wanted to take a minute to thank you, the person bobbing their head to Guided By Voices and shedding a tear at Beirut while happily sipping a Heineken. You, all of you, rule, and this festival wouldn't be nearly as magical without you. Thanks everyone, see you next year.

Last night, Northside Film kicked off at indieScreen with "This Point In Time," a program of shorts curated by our friends at Rooftop Films. Our photographer Joe Hume was on hand to take portraits of the filmmakers.

Chadd Harbold

Tonight, at indieScreen, Northside Film continues at 6pm with a program of eclectic local shorts presented by Animation Block Party; many of the filmmakers will be in attendance to discuss their work with you.

And then, at 8pm, The L will present Nothing Yet, an indie-pop comedy directed by a couple of recent NYU grads. I've previously interviewed the filmmakers and am looking forward to continuing the conversation; there will be more of them, and cast members, at this Q&A, attractive and well-dressed young people all, so I'm expecting it will be an excellent opportunity to watch me try to act all "cool." And everyone will receive a copy of the film's soundtrack, featuring Julian Lynch, Real Estate and more (see the interview for the whole track list).

And the movie's only 78 minutes long, so you'll have plenty of time to head over to UnionDocs to catch the second of two screenings of the legendary DIY film Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, with the filmmakers—who spent their entire adolescence shooting a scene-for-scene home video remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark—also on hand to answer some questions.

There's more Q&As and giveaways the rest of the weekend:

So you have a sense of what you're in for, we've assembled a playlist of the previews of many of the features screening at indieScreen and UnionDocs during Northside Film's special presentations and DIY Film Festival: Myth of the American Sleepover, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, Echotone, Tabloid, Nothing Yet, PressPausePlay, and Dirty Pictures. Enjoy, and see you there:

Yes, the feeling you got when you woke up today is right...the Northside Festival is starting!

What's going on today?  Some highlights include...

- The Northside Festival kickoff show at Music Hall of Williamsburg featuring Theophilus London
- The Ideas panels kick off at Brooklyn Brewery
- The first day of the Northside Film Festival @ UnionDocs and IndieScreen
- ?uestlove DJs at Brooklyn Bowl
- NYC Popfest showcase @ Bruar Falls
- The Mr. Dream-curated show @ Glasslands
- The Hozac Records showcase @ Shea Stadium

and much, much more!

If you did your homework and bought a badge to the festival, you can pick it up starting at noon today at Northside Festival Headquarters at 240 N. 12th Street (between Union and Driggs). Badge pickup hours are: Thursday noon-10pm, Friday noon-10pm, Saturday noon-8pm and Sunday noon - 5pm.

You can find the full schedule online here, which includes our concerts at the Steve Madden Stage at McCarren Park on Friday and Saturday, headlined by Beirut and Guided By Voices. Beirut is already sold out, but you still have a chance to nab a ticket to see Guided By Voices, alongside Wavves, Surfer Blood and the Babies, so don't miss out!

Follow us on Twitter at #Northsidefest for up-to-the-minute specials and parties, or search for the #northside tag for deals and news happening during the festival. If you have any questions, email us at northside@thelmagazine.com.

Well, it happened, Northside badges are totally SOLD OUT, and on the eve of the festival mind you! Badge holders everywhere are giving high-fives and greedily using their specials and discounts.

But stop crying, all is not lost. Individual tickets are still available to the following shows: Guided By Voices with Wavves, Surfer Blood and The Babies at the Steve Madden Stage in McCarren Park, Woods with Ed Askew and Magik Markers at St. Cecilia’s Church, Mt. Eerie with Nicholas Krgovich (of No Kids) and Wyrd Visions at St. Cecilia's Church Asobi Seksu with Air Waves, Blair, Cookies (ex. Mobius Band), Doris Cellar (of Freelance Whales)Northside Ideas Panels Thursday night and Sunday night at Brooklyn Brewery, plus all the films at the Northside DIY Film Festival at UnionDocs and the Northside Film curated series at indieScreen. You can find a complete list of what's available here.

The Northside Festival starts tomorrow, Thursday, June 16, in the year 2011. Headquarters opens at noon so you can pick up your badge as early as then. Oops, sorry, didn't mean to rub it in for those of you who didn't get your badge in time!