I think the hippies have moved on... The Next Mayor blog film festival

Frequent Next Mayor blog commenter, Friedman, runs America's Hometown, cool little blog that discusses politics, economics and community issues in Philly and Pennsylvania. It's through his blog that I found a site called Turnhere that hosts short films about neighborhoods from a bunch of different cities including our fair city. Click here to go directly to the films about some of Philly's neighborhoods and POI (points of interest) including Old City, Mt. Airy and my home base, South Street... where I have yet to see an honest to goodness hippy.

This gives me an idea. Are you an aspiring filmmaker with an interest in Philadelphia issues and politics? If you can make a short film (5 minutes or less) that portrays any of the major themes of The Next Mayor project, feel free to submit it to me and maybe we can host it on our server so that anyone following the race can see it an weigh in. In case you're wondering what those "themes" are, here are some examples:

What kind of leadership does Philadelphia need to solve the major problems facing it today?

How can we as a city and a region move beyond the divisions of race, class and politics that have impeded progress for the last several decades?

What are the major issues in your neighborhood?

How do you and your friends and neighbors view the city's political leaders? What would you and your friends and neighbors do if you were in their shoes?

Be funny. Be serious. Be artistic. Be interpretative. Do whatever you want and most of all have fun with it. I can't promise any prizes aside from as many free issues of last Sunday's Daily News as I can muster. This is your chance to show the potential candidates what you care about. Trust me, if it's on this site, they'll see it.

You can submit your work on DVD, VHS, miniDV or DVC-Pro to this address:

WHYY, Inc.
150 N. 6th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
attn: Dan Pohlig

By submitting your work, you're allowing us to use it however we want without any expectation of compensation (aside from the benefit of getting your name out there). And I can't stress this enough... THIS IS NOT A CONTEST and submission does not guarantee that your work will be put on the site.