Public voting for the first Babelgum Online Film Festival (BOFF) is building on Babelgum, the new interactive web TV portal. Over a thousand entries from 86 countries are available to anyone with broadband, reaching a potential global audience of 360 million. 

The Babelgum Online Film Festival is the first of its kind, and provides a unique distribution opportunity for the newest filmmaking talent. A number of entries have been created specifically for the festival, proving that it is also generating new and original content.

Top Films this week seem to have quite a philosophical trend. Questions about death, grief and how to lead one's life seem to be predominant. These themes echo the massive shift in consciousness around the world, and the internet reflects well this explosion of new ideas and points of view.

Animation:

The Sun in the Nightime (UK) - no dialogue, commentary or text but a very evocative tale of a mother and daughter living in the woods. The little girl plays with an imaginary dog while the mother irons her son's shirt, while the son's ghost wanders in the woods with a dog.

Documentary:

Quest for Fire (UK) - a journey to find the hottest curry in the world. A fascinating trip around curry houses ending with a taste of the outrageously hot Naga pepper from North East India.

Looking for Genius

Waiting.... (Palestine) - For some Palestinian kids the challenges of school are outweighed by the challenge of how to get there.  Their daily routine involves leaping from rooftop to rooftop and racing down streets whilst Israeli soldiers patrol.  A rare and sometimes humorous glimpse into one aspect of this community's life.

Music:

Thou Shalt Always Kill (UK)- how to live a morally acceptable life, according to a South Londoner. Do's and dont's are graffiti'd onto a brick wall and dictated at machine gun speed. A clever rant and a modern day list of commandments.

Short Film:

Under There (USA) - a touching and funny short that shows a child's perspective on death. A little girl is playing by a gravestone. A stranger tried to explain what happens when people die. The little girl remains to be convinced.

Social/environment:

Counterculture 101 (USA) - activists are given a platform to air their hopes for a better world. They include an animal rights campaigner (with some disturbing animal testing footage) and a woman who declares herself to be from Planet Earth "at this point in her life". Alternative culture. Hippy values abound.

Spot/Advertising:

I'm What I'm (Ireland)- Flawless models shot against chocolate, set to a punchy soundtrack. Each facet of every woman can be expressed through chocolate and ice cream!

The Categories:

• The Babelgum Short Film Award
• The Babelgum Looking For Genius Award
• The Babelgum Animation Award
• The Babelgum Music Video Award
• The Babelgum Social / Environment Award
• The Babelgum Spot / Advertising Award
• The Babelgum Documentary Award

 The Judging Process:

Babelgum users are now voting in their thousands and having their say on who will become the next big filmmaking talent. A shortlist of films will be reached through a combination of factors: users' votes, the amount of times a film is viewed, the amount of posts and comments and the number of times a film is linked

The shortlist will then be judged by the BOFF Jury, led by renowned director Spike Lee. The other jurors consist of film experts from across the globe, including the directors of established film festivals, film schools and film industry associations:

About Babelgum

Babelgum is a new interactive web TV portal. Babelgum uses peer-to-peer technology to provide the immersive viewing experience and picture quality of traditional TV combined with the interactivity and personalization enabled by the Internet.

Babelgum allows users to enjoy free, on-demand and personalized channels, using both niche and mainstream content to satisfy individuals' needs for tailored entertainment. Instead of user-generated clips, it features only professionally produced content spanning film, news, sports, documentaries, music videos, concerts, lifestyle and trends, animation and scripted programs.

Babelgum provides independent content owners with a protected platform on which to gain global exposure of their work and a unique model to monetise their content online.
Babelgum's content partners include 3DD, the Associated Press, Shine Limited, BBC Motion Gallery, Reuters, Entertainment Rights, Gong Anime, IMG, Ministry of Sound TV, Zed and Off the Fence, among others. Founded in 2005, Babelgum is a privately held company, with headquarters in Ireland and offices in the U.K., France, Italy and soon the U.S.