- Making Hollywood quality films has become easier and more affordable than ever, thanks to new technologies.

This has inspired many to create their own movies and hone their skills.

The Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival or TBUFF, gives new filmmakers a venue to showcase their talents.

(upbeat music) - TBUFF, aka the Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival is a film festival in the Tampa Bay area.

We run for about three and a half days showcasing films from Florida as well as just the rest of the world.

- We started Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival because we had a film ourselves and we were not happy with the reception received by other film festivals.

And we wanted to make a more inclusive, a more encouraging, a more uplifting environment for young filmmakers.

- Anytime that you get to see your films on the big screen you're kind of seeing the way that your art is evolving.

And the thing that I love the most about TBUFF is each year that we attend and that we bring projects up, we're hearing audience reactions, we're seeing what works and also seeing how we've grown throughout the years.

And that's one thing that I really love.

Plus you get to hang out with your friends.

- The biggest thing to me, what TBUFF is, is the ability to network and find people I wanna work with, right?

Because I can see what they've done.

And that's like an open mic for filmmakers, right?

But a curated open mic because you're seeing stuff that they've curated and then you're seeing what people have done and that gives you a lot of information you can't get from just talking to somebody.

- And it's just been a festival that as an artist has held me accountable and now it's just like tradition for me.

(group applauds) I think film festivals are important because it allows the masses to be able to tap into local art.

There's so much argument about mainstream is regurgitating the same things over and over.

Film festivals are the opportunity for you to really see where true art is happening.

- Film festivals are showing you what's going on in the world, what is making it to film, what is pushing people so much, that it needs to go into a story.

There's so much effort that goes into that.

What is pushing that forward?

(easy going music) - One thing I think it really makes it different from a lot of other festivals is just how much effort we put into making it a film maker type of film festival.

- We wanted to give a voice on the big screen and an award show that really was impactful for all the artists in our area as opposed to the bigger festivals that really showcased movies that were made with large budgets.

Here we gave this amazing opportunity for local artists to tell their story.

- The reasons why they were actually nominated for those awards.

They get to watch those on a big screen in front of an audience of 200.

And I remember this past year for example, the comedy ones, there were people roaring in their seats as they were watching them.

And maybe some of those comedy films played up in front of only 30 40 people, but suddenly 200 people were just erupting at once.

And I did have a couple of filmmakers come up to me afterwards like, "That was so awesome.

And be able to see that with such a huge crowds."

- It goes back to it's the people that are doing it right.

We really care and we're not getting any money.

We're not getting any fame.

We're not, we just continue to do it.

We like the process.

We like working with each other.

Why do I keep coming back to TBUFF?

It's my friends.

- The friendships.

- The people.

- Why do people keep going back to church?

Why do they continue calling friends?

It's because the spirit's hungry.

- To make a film festival run, it takes a lot of time and energy.

- It's about packing the bus.

Everybody has different skills.

You can't do anything alone.

I mean, you can do some things alone but not a film festival.

You need to have different people that are good at different things.

And we, even though we could use a lot more volunteers, man, and shout out to anybody that wants to help next year.

But the crew that we have, you saw us on the couch.

We are as diverse as fu- - It takes care, passion, communication, love, hard work, just all of those different things.

And it's not just about the logistics of putting on a live event, it's about the care we take in reviewing the movies.

It's about the literal eight hours that Reggie and I spend laboring over the awards and the awards ceremony.

It's really just about the care and the effort and that's really what I think is the most important about any event and especially about our event.

- I'll give this straight to the camera.

I just kind of want to thank TBUFF for everything that you guys have done.

- It's always our pleasure to come and party with you guys at the end of the year.

Everybody sharing their work and getting an opportunity to see our films on the big screen which not too many people get to let us do.

- I will volunteer when I can and donate when I can.

- I really and truly thank you from the bottom of my heart and the many actors, producers, directors, crew members out there, because you give us a place to call home.

Thanks.

(upbeat music) - Hey!

It's year 10, baby.

Cinema 6, Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival.

That's right.

10 years in a row.

And we're bringing you independent artists from not only Florida, United States, from all over the world.

You get to come and watch these artists do their thing at the Cinema 6, New Port Richey.

The Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival, TBUFF.

What are you waiting for?

- [Announcer] For more information, visit tbuff.org.