Film Combat Syndicate is partnering exclusively with Melbourne-based filmmaking production duo John Balazs and Marlane Ghmed for the first annual International Action Film Awards set to kick off next year.
On Thursday evening, Balazs took to social media to make the announcement with the graphic shown below and via Instagram along with detailed instructions about the festival, how to enter, rules and regulations and respective fees listed at this Film Freeway link. Submissions will begin June 15 with an event slated to inaugurate the festival for its first year on August 2020, whereupon a raft of film industry experts to be announced at a later date will serve as judges.
“We are very excited about this partnership as it provides an extra value to filmmakers who want to get their work out there to a wider audience.” says Balazs. “FCS has been a champion for giving filmmakers a platform to showcase their incredible work amongst new and rising talents. We understand making action films is hard, but even more difficult that getting the film made is getting an audience. The International Action Film awards aims at maximizing exposure to the films that are submitted as well as the talented cast and crew behind them. FCS is by far the most comprehensive online source to able to gain maximum exposure for us to do so.”
Balazs is an award-winning filmmaker with multiple accomplishments in the last several years operating under his Prima Lux Films banner. His acclaimed credits include Dancer, which stars James Conrado and Zoe Thornburgh, earned him 28 festival wins in 2017. His most recent shortfilm success, Night Shift, starring Adele Elasmar and Stephen Degenaro, picked up 11 awards including Best Action Film for this year’s 5th Top Shorts Film Festival. His latest psychological drama, Rage, starring Matt Theo (Night Shift) and Richard Norton (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, Mr. Nice Guy), will be his feature debut going into 2020.
Film Combat Syndicate began in late 2012 as a Facebook fanpage, founded by New York City resident Lee B. Golden III. After drawing interest from the stunt community for its coverage of stunt performers and independent filmmakers, the page took on new life beginning February 2013 as a blog-style news site with an interest in reporting on a variety of action films and their creators. Film Combat Syndicate is also home to The Hit List, a bi-weekly column covering a periodic collection of reels and videos promoting some of today’s best and burgeoning talents in stunts and action cinema.