Media Bureau has been producing its own brand of original content since 1997, enabling a unique and active ecosystem for the creation and delivery of original Film, Media, and Politics.

Media Bureau Film Initiative:
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival – Founders & Festival Directors.
May 2025 marked the 18th anniversary of the festival, with the launch of our online and mobile platforms. Please visit the next stage in the film festival experience. Enter the darkroom. 

Submissions: Now Accepting Submissions: Festival #19, May 5-9, 2026.
…Festival and Independent Film chatter on X @PhilaIndie

Festival Partners:
…Chuck Treece – musician, writer, professional skateboarder. PEW Fellow and Grammy-nominated artist. Chuck provides musical inspiration and knowledge every step of the way.
…Philadelphia Acting Studio: Ongoing collaboration including media strategy, business consulting, and content collaboration. The studio is an incubator of ideas.
…Underground Film Forum (#uff). This forum has been screening since 2000, providing a multi-layered model to screen, discuss, and post/share information on films. 

Festival community:
…Afrotaino Productions…PurpleLight Films…Goldfinch Guitars...All American Artists…Worship Recordings…UltimateRobotFilms…PRS Guitars… Big Picture Alliance…DarkRoom films…

Media Bureau News Bureau. Producing independent news in the digital domain since 1998.
Original digital media news development and roles:
…@PoliticiansTV on X #p2 #tcot #politics #paelect ~ discussing and commenting on current events and topics, including Digital Strategy, Presidential Politics, Middle East dialogue, local entrepreneurial happenings, and in-the-moment interactions.
…MBPS – 1999-2020. Provided ongoing GUI and Information Architecture consulting to Government and Business clients in the Arts & entertainment community.  
…Arts & Culture Journal: BroadStreetReview. Publisher 07/01/2015 – 06/01/2016. 
…Original news genre: Take Action News (Now The Zero Hour). 
…Original political discussion: PA Political News on X. #PAelect

Prototypes:
HDSDmedia Prototype: This was a Retail Royalty-Free Stock Footage website. Initial design idea: January 2007. Status: Business rules application design and interface design development completed.

Regular culture-based tech tweets and discussions.
Visit @Betalab on X for #PHLtech #AI #BigData #crowdfunding #DMS discussions.

Archived:
Media Bureau YouTube Channels
PA2010.com/PA2012.com – Provided ongoing Digital Media Strategy, micro-reporting, and news and media production. (Business acquired Nov. 2010).
Take Action News – Provided ongoing business collaboration, Digital Media Strategy, Micro Reporting, Website & Application (Dashboard) Development, including idea innovation flow, business analysis, UI/ UX design.
Take Action News was broadcast live on 1480 AM in Washington, DC, and 5 other States at TAN Radio. #TAN
…Take Action News on Facebook
…@TakeActionNews on X #TAN

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Artist Development
1999 – 2012. Co-produced multiple Theatre, Dance, and art productions (12-14 events) as part of the annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Including ex: Formed Declarations

1998-2012. Write, produce, and direct music videos, studio events (theater, discussions, etc), and Independent Film productions: Watch Productions & Demo doc films.

Recent films include:
2010-13. Halls Of Harold Carvey. 81 min Drama/Thriller. Producer and Director of Photography. The Halls of Harold Carvey was a top finalist in the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Released in October 2013.

2013: Journey Into The Holocaust. 94 min Documentary. Associate Producer and Editorial Consultant. Worked on this project to bring key figures of the production team on board and as part of the editorial team. Released in October 2013.

2006-07: Searching For Sister Gertrude Morgan. Documentary Short 15:00. Traveling with Electronic Music artist King Britt, who had just remixed lost music from American folk artist Sister Gertrude Morgan, we filmed a documentary on the handover of the music to Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall. This Real-time Documentary explores that 4-day encounter. The film continues to screen worldwide in art museums, art spaces, and workshops, preceding the live performance by King Britt’s band. Screenings include Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner (2006), Whitney Museum (NY, USA), and many others.

2005-07: Order of the Quest. Feature 45:00. Historical Science Fiction. Media Bureau produced, wrote, directed, and edited this feature film based on the founding history of Philadelphia, combining elements of History and Science Fiction. The film coined the new film genre, “Historical Science Fiction”.

Writer: JD Clark
Director: Benjamin F. Barnett
Director of Photography: Benjamin F. Barnett
Producer: Media Bureau, Inc.

Community-based content development:
MBNstudios: As founders of one of the first online networks in the world, we produced thousands of events, theater, plays, discussions, film, etc, in a 12,000 sq ft multi-studio facility that we constructed. We provided shared facilities and resources for the “creative economy,” including artists in residence, strategic partners, and original production, programming, and marketing strategy for music, film, and politics.

Philadelphia Film Festival 2009 – Provided an integrated Digital Media Strategy for the 2009 18 1/2 festival and its online “re-launch.” Using Twitter, Facebook, and the B-Side movie review interface, Media Bureau was successful in establishing rebranding goals, including activating a new digital fan base via social media for the new festival.

Summer 2009: Collaborated with the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN), Philadelphia Film Office, and the US Department of Labor. We provided Media Studios, equipment in a (multi-studio) learning environment to teach 14 young students the craft of news-based documentary filmmaking.

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