The sixth annual Spindletop/Lamar University Film Festival is accepting film and video entries for its annual competition, with the top films or videos winning in cash and prizes, including entry into a hands on filmmaking workshop valued at $1,400.

"We've received entries from across the nation," said contest coordinator O'Brien Stanley of Groves. "In the past, winning films have been screened at the festival, which are seen by their peers and noted filmmakers. We plan on doing all that again in 2005."

The Best of Show college filmmaker will receive the Austin FilmWorks Summer Intensive Scholarship, a two-week filmmaker workshop valued at $1,400. The workshop will be offered in Houston this summer by award-winning filmmaker Steve Mims.

A former film-production professor at the University of Texas, Mims quit his university job in 1993 to start Austin Film Works. Noted director and screenwriter Robert Rodriguez studied under Mims.

The top college film or video entrant also will receive a ticket to the Austin Film Festival, $250 cash, and entry to the Spindletop festival. The top high school entry will receive the Houston Film Commission Prize for Outstanding High School Filmmaker award, a $500 scholarship for a first-year college student to attend Lamar University, a $200 cash prize and entry to the Spindletop festival.

The film competition offers divisions for beginning and experienced filmmakers. High school and college entries are $15 each and others are $20 each. All Entries must be postmarked by Feb. 12, 2005. Finalists will be notified March 1, 2005.

The festival, scheduled for April 15 to 17, is sponsored in part by the Southeast Texas Arts Council. It will include workshops, as well as film and video screenings.

"It's a great opportunity for student filmmakers and professionals alike to get their work noticed," said Stanley, assistant professor of film and broadcasting at Lamar.

For rules, categories and other details, visit www.spinfest.org or call Stanley at (409) 880-7222.