PITCH COMPETITION
The Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival (ZMFF) Pitch Competition is an annual competition takes place during the ZMFF April 22-26, 2026 in person at the Zeitgeist Arts Center in Duluth, MN, where emerging filmmakers from across the Midwest have ten minutes to pitch their next film concepts, or works-in-progress, for financial support to a panel of filmmakers and industry professionals.
Awards & Prizes:
- Short Film Pitch – First Prize $1000, Runner Up $500
- Feature Narrative Pitch – First Prize $3000, Runner Up $500
- Feature Documentary Pitch – First Prize $3000, Runner Up $500
- MN Filmmaker Pitch – First Prize $3000, Runner Up $500
- Indigenous Filmmaker Pitch – First Prize $3000, Runner Up $500
For more details or to submit to the Pitch Competition, visit our FilmFreeway page HERE. Have questions? Email beth@zeitgeistarts.com
PITCH JUDGES
Dessane Lopez Cassell
Dessane Lopez Cassell
Dessane Lopez Cassell is a New York-based editor, writer, and producer. Her work spans the intersections of film and visual art, with a particular interest in artist’s moving image, documentary, and experimental film. Cassell’s writing and criticism has been published in various outlets, journals, and books, including the Los Angeles Times, Film Comment, MUBI Notebook, The Criterion Collection’s Current, Metrograph Journal, and Hyperallergic, as well as catalogues issued by The Museum of Modern Art, El Museo del Barrio, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Cassell was a programmer for BlackStar Film Festival from 2018 to 2023, and previously served as Editor-in-Chief of BlackStar’s journal, Seen, where she platformed film, art, and visual culture writing by and about people of color. She is currently Executive Producer at Mostly Works, an artist-run production company, and serves as Vice President of the board at The Flaherty.
Migizi Pensoneau
Migizi Pensoneau
Migizi Pensoneau is a writer, producer, and founding member of the sketch comedy troupe, The 1491s. Pensoneau is most well-known for his work on FX’s award-winning “Reservation Dogs,” for which he served as a Co-Executive Producer and writer, which garnered a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination. Pensoneau has also written and produced on the shows “Barkskins,” “Government Cheese,” and “Time Bandits.” Most recently he served as writer and co-Executive Producer on the award-winning “Alien: Earth,” for FX, which has been renewed for a second season.
Cleo Chung
Cleo Chung
Cleo Chung is currently VP of development at Big Indie Pictures whose production slate boasts a host of credits (A Complete Unknown, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Daisy Jones and the Six) and she previously served as DOD at Viva Maude, covering shows like His and Hers on Netflix, as well as the upcoming Orion film Is God Is. Before VM, she worked at AMC Studios providing support on their Anne Rice universe shows Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, and on sci fi dystopian adventure SILO on Apple TV+. She got her start with the Sundance Episodic Program, where she helped manage labs that focused on discovering and nurturing emerging television writers. Cleo graduated from Stanford University and will always rep the Bay Area and her Taiwanese roots wherever she goes.