TikTok Launches Film Independent Partnership With $10,000 Contest To Support Creators At The LA Film Festival

Fresh off its ingestion of lip syncing app Musical.ly, TikTok is looking to market itself to the filmmaking set.

The short-form video platform owned by Chinese media conglomerate Bytedance has established a partnership with nonprofit arts organization Film Independent to offer indie filmmakers participating in the LA Film Festival a chance to win $10,000 by making 15-second short films with the TikTok app. The winner will be chosen by the LA Film Festival’s programming team and announced at the festival Sept. 23.

TikTok intends for the contest to “encourage everyone to share their passion and creative expression and [elevate] the digital short-form video format,” the company said.

This contest is the launch for TikTok’s ongoing support of Film Independent, which produces the LA Film Festival. TikTok is an official sponsor of the LA Film Festival this year, and it plans to release further details about its future partnership endeavors with Film Independent, as well as more details about the LA Film Festival contest.

The LA Film Festival showcases a myriad of media from independent creators, including full-length films, documentaries, short films, web series, and music videos. It reportedly saw an attendance of 40,000 people in 2017, its first year under director Jennifer Cochis.

Just last month, Bytedance merged Musical.ly, along with its 100 million monthly active users, into the TikTok platform, which has 500 million-plus monthly active users. Bytedance had acquired Musical.ly last year for a reported $800 million.