American Fabric: The Project

American Fabric is an online film festival aimed at compiling a meaningful collection of user-created one-minute "slice-of-life" cinéma vérité or documentary style films that capture snapshots of the American experience.

The films, submitted by amateurs and professionals, will live online and ultimately the best ones will be selected for the Director's Cut.

For this project to meet its potential, we invite everyone to participate and provide input from all fifty states across America. In this day and age, nearly anyone with a video camera or even a mobile phone is capable of capturing the moments we seek to collect.

We welcome all film submissions that substantively and artistically capture the American experience.

If you have a vision, shoot it, share it and upload it.

However, if you wish to have your film considered for the final product (e.g., a TV or feature-length production), there are some minimal production and technical standards that your film will need to meet. (Detailed specifications in Help)

We hope to facilitate the collaborative capture of America and its cultural, ethnic, and geographic diversity. We expect that your films will help explore this, provoke discussions, and ultimately shape the final outcome of this project.

A Czech friend in Prague asked "Which film can I show to my students to help them better understand America and American culture?" Sure, some films came to mind, but none seemed to fully satisfy the requirement in 60 to 90 minutes.

The large-format film Baraka offered an inspirational template - a collection of clips from around the world.

But we figured a film about American life ought to come from more than a single point of view - we decided to create a film of and for the people, by the people.

The Executive Producers

The founders of American Fabric grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania.  Their experience has taken them across much of America, from Washington, DC to San Francisco.  Between them, they have also worked and traveled in over 70 countries.

Daniel Noll

In addition to founding American Fabric, Daniel is also co-producer of the website Uncornered Market.  While living abroad in the Czech Republic and traveling across Europe and Asia, Daniel recognized an opportunity to tell a different story about America than the one that is shared through news outlets or on popular television shows. 

Although he currently enjoys freelance writing and photography and traveling the world with his wife, he has traveled to 40 states across America and he suspects that the American story has yet to be fully told in a collaborative way.

Tony Pappa

Besides being an executive producer and co-founder of American Fabric, Tony is also owner-founder of Conceptually Speaking Designs, a creative agency based in Vilnius, Lithuania.