Babelgum, the new interactive web TV portal, has released all entries to the Babelgum Online Film Festival onto its platform for public voting. The festival introduces a huge variety of professionally produced short films. 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.

Spike Lee confirms that viewers should be impressed with what they find. "With the Babelgum Online Film Festival, filmmaking officially enters the Web 2.0 era. The standard of the entries we've received thus far has been outstanding. It just goes to show there is a wealth of talent out there that wouldn't usually get recognition or exposure if it wasn't for festivals such as this. It really does represent a new era in film-making and puts the filmmaker in more control of getting their productions seen."

Valerio Zingarelli, CEO of Babelgum, is pleased to see the festival is contributing to an industry shift which sees the small screen as important a vehicle as the big screen. "Films are now being made primarily for consumption online or on other smaller screen devices with 60% of entries received having been produced specifically for the small screen. This supports the realization that to be successful, filmmakers need to go where their potential audience is and Babelgum provides the perfect platform to do so." 

Categories

Entries have been received in the seven categories of the festival. The number of entries for each is as follows:

• The Babelgum Short Film Award 37%
• The Babelgum Looking For Genius Award 16%
• The Babelgum Animation Award 14%
• The Babelgum Music Video Award 10%
• The Babelgum Social / Environment Award 9%
• The Babelgum Spot / Advertising Award 8%
• The Babelgum Documentary Award 7%

Judging

Babelgum users now have the opportunity to view and vote on a truly diverse set of short films until the end of May. There is a good variety of fresh and original content and, as the average film length is just twelve minutes, it is easy for everyone to get involved and have their say on who will become the next big filmmaking talent.

The entries will then be judged by the festival 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:

• Joe Bateman, Festival Director of the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival (U.K.)
• Ally Derks, Director of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
• Bhuvan Lall, Founder of the Indian Independent Filmmakers Worldwide Association (India)
• Tiziana Loschi, Managing Director of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Citia (City of Moving Images) (France)
• Joe Neulight, Co-Founder and President of Withoutabox (U.S.)
• Sandra Ruch, Executive Director of the International Documentary Association (U.S.)
• Teri Schwartz, Dean of the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television (U.S.)
• Jess Search, Co-Founder of Shooting People (U.K.)
• Carl Spence, Artistic Director of the Seattle International Film Festival and Director of Programming of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (U.S.)
• Stefano Martina, Director of Arcipelago, International Festival of Short Films and New Images (Italy)

Highlights

Some highlights from the entries so far:

• An Irish short comedy: part animation, part live action
• An Australian short which imagines what might have happened to Bonnie and Clyde had they lived
• Made in 24 hours, a heartbreakingly honest account of two brothers' first weeks in England
• A comedy which transplants the Greek gods into the modern world, where they struggle to cope with the 21st century
• A cleverly edited and great quality stop-motion animation music video
• An animated short, made in the style of a 1940s public service announcement, which imagines how zombies would fit into modern society
• A film about the extreme reactions stress can produce in humans
• A comic film about a man who lives his life following advice from fortune cookies as literally as possible
• A provocative film focused around 9/11
• A short drama set in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Beirut in Lebanon
• A three-part short film in Mexico which is produced much in the style of Rear Window, chronicling an important day in the life of a UFO obsessive
• An educational short film documenting endeavours to financially and culturally empower the indigenous Maya people of Belize
• A Short film which sees its main character attending a fancy dress party where all the other attendees are wearing masks displaying faces of George Bush and his administration. The lead character is flirting with Bush before things go further and he whisks her away to another room. The character then realises she is locked in the room with Bush and his administration who watch as he rapes her.