NISI MASA organizes European Short Pitch
The MEDIA-sponsored European network for young filmmakers NISI MASA will host another European Short Pitch in 2013. Young filmmakers between 18 and 35 years of age from member states of the MEDIA programme and countries where NISI MASA has a branch can compete with their short film projects. Out of the entries received, 25 projects will be selected, whose makers will be able to take from 8 to 13 January 2013 in a screenwriting workshop in Zagreb, and from 28 February to 3 March 2013 in a co-production forum in Luxembourg.
Five experienced tutors from different countries will accompany the project. Taking part in the co-production forum will be 35 film-industry professionals – most of them producers. The registration fee is 500 euros and helps cover the costs for travel and on-site expenses.
More information: http://www.nisimasa.com/?q=node/458
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 to include transmedia selections || 15/10/2012
The next Tribeca Film Festival will see the launch of “TransMedia”, a new programme for digital media. With this new feature, the festival wants to present the latest trends in digital media and provide a platform for authors who take an interactive, Web-based or multimedia approach to storytelling.
The programme will be organized as a competition open to all. Heading up the initiative is Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives at the Tribeca Film Institute. Entry deadline is 19 October (early deadline).
More information: http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/
Ars Electronica archive now online || 15/10/2012
Ars Electronica in Linz (A) holds one of the world’s most extensive archives of digital media art from the last 30 years. It includes documentation of the Ars Electronica Festival since 1979 and the archive of the Prix Ars Electronica with the artists’ submissions, as well as documentation of other projects and exhibitions. With this year’s festival, the Ars Electronica archive has gone online.
In addition to the photo and print archive, a collection called the Prix Ars Electronica Showcase has been put online that can be used to search for basic data on the Prix entries since 1987. The award-winning films can be viewed on the site. In addition, extensive information and audiovisual media are available for the winning projects.
The relaunch of the Ars Electronica Archive website was co-financed by the project “Digitising Contemporary Art” (DCA). The DCA project is funded by the CIP-ICT Policy Support Programme of the European Union.
La Biennale di Venezia offers funding for AV projects – short film as a reference || 15/10/2012
The Biennale College of the International Film Festival in Venice is calling on international filmmakers and producers to apply for budget funding of up to €150,000 for the production of an audio-visual project. The conditions include the stipulation that directors and producers must submit concepts as a team. All genres – including transmedia projects – are eligible.
The call is aimed particularly at up-and-coming filmmakers. In the case of directors, this work should be their first or second feature. The announcement states that applicants may include film school graduates, short film makers looking for a break into features, game designers or artists whose work straddles the realms of cinema and gallery. Producers are eligible if they have produced at least three short films. The entry deadline is 22 October 2012. Fifteen projects will be selected and supported by the festival. The works should then be completed within five months’ time for presentation at the next Venice Biennale.
Info: http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/apply/
This year’s Nordisk Panorama Festival to feature Short Film Talent Campus || 15/10/2012
The annual convention of the Scandinavian film industry, Nordisk Panorama, will host its first Short Film Talent Campus for young filmmakers this year. The event is meant to function as a networking and training platform for directors, producers and screenwriters who have been involved in making at least one short film outside of the film school arena. During the festival, which will take place in Oulu, Finland, from 21 to 26 September, mentors will offer daily programmes with case studies, lectures and coaching sessions. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to meet important decision-makers from the Scandinavian countries. The organizers will cover all costs for the selected participants. The new initiative is financed by the Nordisk Kulturfond and regional funding institutions.
More info: http://www.nordiskpanorama.com/
Arte France Cinéma – Short Film || 15/10/2012
In a meeting at the invitation of La Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD) during the Cannes Film Festival, Michel Reilhac, Director of Arte France Cinéma, explained the current production and acquisition strategy of the Franco-German cultural channel. He noted that Arte France has almost 10 million euros at its disposal for the purchase of 100 to 150 films per year. Approximately the same amount is available on the German side. Around 9 million euros is invested each year in co-productions.
In the short film field, more films are purchased than produced. Arte France co-produces only Francophone projects that also receive funding from the CNC. The station pays 800 euros per minute for purchased films, says Michel Reilhac. Every week, at least two short films are shown on the “Court-circuit” (Short Circuit) magazine, which can also be viewed on the Internet on the Arte + 7 channel. Reilhac believes that a television station should not be defined merely by the screen on which its programming is seen, but that it must be above all a provider of content. With its website Arte France is thus on the way to becoming a hybrid programme supplier.
Court-Circuit: http://www.arte.tv/fr/184414.html
Source: SACD (http://www.sacd.fr/)
Circuit Artist Film and Video Aotearoa (NZ) || 15/06/2012
Circuit is a new platform for artists’ films and videos from New Zealand. It centres around a website featuring streaming videos by a current total of some 70 New Zealand filmmakers and artists. In an editorial section, Circuit offers interviews with artists, exhibition reviews and online discussions.
Although Circuit is not a classic distributor, it does pass on any rental or purchase enquiries to the artist in question. In future Circuit hopes to begin curating packages of work from its collection for distribution in gallery-based screenings and exhibitions.
The platform was founded by Mark Williams, formerly exhibitions manager at the New Zealand Film Archive, who was able in the course of a three-month residency at Lux in London to gather experience in the distribution of artists’ films.
EU Commission approves France’s plans to digitise its film heritage || 15/06/2012
In March, the French government’s plans to subsidize the digitization of its film heritage were approved by the European Commission (Brussels) as being consistent with EU rules on state aid.
Support is to be provided for the restoration and conservation of French works that are of particular significance to the country’s cultural heritage. Eligible for aid are short and feature-length films made up to 1999, as well as historical silent films. A period of six years and funding of 400 million euros has been set aside for the undertaking. Aid is to be granted above all for works “with uncertain commercial prospects”.
In a press release from 28 March 2012, L’Agence du court métrage welcomed the decision. As an association that has been working for 30 years to help gain a wider audience for short film, the agency declared itself willing to participate in the digitization project in order to ensure that the works in its catalogue – more than 10,000 titles and 18,000 film prints – can also be screened in theatres equipped according to the latest technical standards.
Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/
Hors Pistes Tokyo || 15/06/2012
The second Hors Pistes Tokyo is taking place in June. Hors Pistes is a media art festival organized by the Centre Pompidou in Paris. As its name hints (French for “off road”), the event presents experimental trends in contemporary art. Local versions have been started up in New York, Istanbul, Mexico City, London, Venice, and now also in Tokyo.
Hors Pistes Tokyo is an international collaboration between French and Japanese artists and professionals. Over nine days, a selection of contemporary art, film, music, dance, photography, video and digital arts will be presented and discussed in various locations in Tokyo.
The film programme, which will be shown at UPLink, includes works by Flatform (I) and Valérie Mréjen (F), as well as by Japanese filmmakers such as Atsushi Wada, Kotaro Tanako and Kentaro Taki. The focus is on films that straddle the boundaries between drama, animation and video art.
In charge of programming are Isabelle Olivier (Centre Pompidou) and Masayuki Kawai (Videoart Center Tokyo).
Short film initiative in Swaziland || 15/06/2012
In May the Swaziland Independent Film and Television Association (SIFTPA) announced a short film initiative for building a sustainable film industry in the South African country. Swazi Short Film Challenge is the association’s first initiative of this kind.
In the course of the current year, five short films with a length of 26 minutes are to be made. SIFTPA does not have its own funds available and is therefore hoping for local support and the self-financing of the projects by the participating production companies. Five up-and-coming filmmakers from various regions of the country were selected for the project and are currently developing screenplays.
South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation steps up funding tempo || 15/06/2012
Effective immediately, South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) will accept grant applications for film funding every quarter. In addition to requesting support for activities in the areas of training, marketing, script development and production, emerging filmmakers can also apply for funding to make short films.
A prerequisite for short film funding is collaboration with an experienced producer. Innovative projects on relevant themes will are given preference.
Vertigo Magazine resumes publishing under new management || 15/06/2012
After a two-year break, the British film magazine Vertigo is back. In April, issue number 30 of Vertigo came out, a special issue on Jean-Luc Godard.
After experiencing financial difficulties, Vertigo was taken over by the Close-up Film Centre, a library of film and video art, and now has a new editorial team. Co-founder of Vertigo and its editor-in-chief, cultural-policy whirlwind Holly Ayllet, is now teaching film at London Metropolitan University.
Vertigo’s online presence is part of Close-up’s new website. Thankfully, the articles in the old Vertigo magazine have been integrated there so that they are still available for reading – a treasure trove for cinéastes!
http://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/vertigo_magazine/issue-30-spring-2012-godard-is/
Syria: Filmmakers use short films to join in the protests || 20/02/2012
The filmmakers’ collective Abou Naddara (“Man with Glasses”) has dedicated itself to shooting professional short documentaries to support the Syrian revolution. The aim is to release a new film every week – so far, more than fifty have been made. As there is currently no objective news reporting in Syria, the films are designed to chronicle the protest and to convey a different perspective on the events the country is witnessing, in particular as an alternative to the all-pervasive mobile-phone videos. The films are shot in Syria and released on various Internet platforms.
Abou Naddara
Vimeo
Dailymotion
Spanish ACE short film agency closes || 20/02/2012
In December 2011 the Agencia del Cortometraje Español (ACE) discontinued its activities, giving as reason the state of health of its director, Miguel íngel Escudero. ACE was founded in Madrid in 2003 to support Spanish short film. Over the past eight years, the agency regularly published a bulletin with information about the short-film scene while also playing the role of public advocate for short-film makers. ACE was not government-funded, financing its activities instead through contributions by its members. Of late, these included more than 200 directors and producers.
In a statement on the closing, the hope was expressed that this move would not cast a pall on the achievements and progress made in the last few years, but that it might instead prompt the founding of a new, even stronger agency. The former director of the ACE has in the meantime come out with his own newsletter and blog on the topic of the short form.
Blog Escudero Comunica
Source: Cinevideo Online / ACE
New film agreement in Iceland boosts film funding || 20/02/2012
At the beginning of 2012 a new film agreement went into effect between Iceland’s ministries of culture and finance and the country’s film associations. The agreement calls for gradually increasing film funding by 62% by the year 2015. With respect to production funding, short film is now to be considered a segment in its own right – alongside feature-length films, documentaries and made-for-television films. In this year’s first funding round, a short-film project by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson was selected.
Film promotion in Iceland suffered a heavy blow when the country’s economy faltered in the wake of the global financial crisis. With the new agreement, some of the cuts made at that time are now being reversed. A review clause moreover provides for a further increase in the funding budget should Iceland’s economy recover faster than expected.
Source: Fréttablad/Icelandic Film Centre
Swedish Film Institute and SVT continue project to support short documentaries || 20/02/2012
The Swedish Film Institute and the public broadcaster SVT are now for the third time producing a joint theme-based series of short documentaries, to be broadcast starting autumn 2012. A total of eight films will be made, each 13 minutes in length.
This year’s series is devoted to “Nittiotalisterna” (the generation born in the 1990s).
“The theme in combination with the short format can provide inspiration and communicate with both those who the films are about as well as with an older generation who wants to understand them,” says documentary consultant Cecilia Lidin from the Swedish Film Institute.
Source:
Swedish Film Institute
SVT (Sveriges Television)
New voting regulations for the 2013 Oscars || 20/02/2012
For the 85th Academy Awards in 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has changed its regulations in order to enable a greater number of its members to participate in the voting process. In the Animated Short Film and Live-Action Short Film categories, voting members must view all contenders, but they no longer have to do so in a movie theatre – they can use a so-called “screener” instead.
Source