Indie Media Arts South (IMAS) is a regional subgroup of the Independent Film & Media Arts Field-Building Initiative created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Sundance Institute. The field group is open to all and seeks a diverse regional membership invested in building community-driven systems of support for independent media makers.

IMAS Meetup at Southern Documentary Convening

May 2023 - We gathered in Durham, North Carolina for the 2023 Southern Documentary Convening, Southern Documentary Fund’s first convening since the pandemic. For many in this community of filmmakers, the event was a reunion after nearly four years apart. For others, it was the first opportunity to meet years’ long friends face-to-face. Our IMAS members showed out in force, and those bright connections amplified throughout the weekend’s thoughtful presentations and conversations around equitable and sustainable independent filmmaking in the South. Thank you to Southern Documentary Fund for hosting us and provoking our imaginations. Subscribe to the IMAS Newsletter to stay up to date on in-person meetups.

IMAS Conversation and Reception at New Orleans Film Festival

November 2022 - We met at the New Orleans Film Festival to reflect on the work of Indie Media Arts South and look ahead to the future. This event included the release of an Indie Media Arts Group briefing that highlights recent successes and upcoming opportunities for the field. Members of Indie Media Arts South spoke about what regional organizing has meant to them, as they harness the power of networks to create an infrastructure that supports their work.

The Indie Media Arts South Screening Series

The Indie Media Arts South (IMAS) Screening Series was conceived to help make the general public and fellow artists more aware of the creativity and versatility of Southern filmmakers, particularly those from historically underrepresented communities.

A Glimpse of Puerto Rico - December, 2022

Indie Media Arts South presents A Glimpse Of Puerto Rico—a window into the Puerto Rico of young people and women. Beyond the beaches, the sun, and the wonders of the tropical island, this film exhibition seeks to present stories that portray, from the intimacy and everyday life, some of the social challenges of contemporary Puerto Rico. This presentation is curated by Arleen Cruz-Alicea, a Puertorican film director, producer and cinema advocate who will lead a conversation with the filmmakers following the films. Co-presented by our allies AdocPR, the Hayti Heritage Film Festival, and The Luminal Theater, and sponsored by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. This Q&A accompanied an online screening available to the public December 27-29, 2022.

Return To Center at South Summit - May, 2022

With their first edition, co-presented at New Orleans Film Festival’s South Summit, IMAS showcases 5 original films under the theme “Return To Center”, as beauty queens, a lost boy, a cultural preservationist, a birth doula, and an atypical basketball superfan, focus your attention on two equally key meanings of life: care and self-determination. It’s with this theme that the filmmakers crafted their films and that they have been curated for you to absorb and experience. Funding provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation – empowering world-changing work. Speakers: Sai Selvarajan, Cydney Tucker, Isaac Udogwu Moderator: Curtis Caesar John Recorded live during South Summit on May 5, 2022. South Summit received critical support from JustFilms Ford Foundation, which is part of the Ford Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression program and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Oolite Arts, and South Arts.