Babelgum Online Film Festival calling for entries: $140 000 to win in 7 categories

Babelgum, the free to view global Internet television network, is hosting the Babelgum Online Film Festival, a major online event celebrating and rewarding the very best in international independent short filmmaking.

THE JURY
Spike Lee chairs a jury of industry experts drawn from around the world.
Other jurors include
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.) and
Carl Spence, Artistic Director of the Seattle International Film Festival and Director of Programming of the Palm Springs International Film Festival(U.S.).

CALL FOR ENTRY
Open to all professionally produced short and medium-form content including that screened at international film festivals between January 2007 and February 2008, submissions from rights owners only, will be accepted from 15 September 2007 to 15 February, 2008.

At Spike Lee’s specific request, film school students will be invited to participate in the competition under equal conditions. A prize of €20,000 will be awarded to winners in each of the six categories. In addition to that, filmmakers and content owners will also benefit from a share of any advertising revenue.
There will be no entrance fee to submit films, which must be 45 minutes or less in length and be in English or include English subtitles if in another language. Films can be uploaded at www.babelgum.com from September 15th.
Babelgum will hold online rights to all accepted films for a year (March 2008 - March 2009) on a NON-exclusive basis, with the sole exception of content appearing on similar 'peer to peer' streaming web TV services. Beginning 15 February 2008, submitted films will be showcased on the Babelgum Online Film Festival Channel on Babelgum, where the public will be able to rate each film. The ten highest rated films of each category will then be screened by the members of the Jury for review and rating. Based on the Jury’s ratings, the top three films in each category will then be presented to Mr. Lee for personal review and final award selection.
Winners in each category will be announced in May 2008, at a ceremony currently scheduled to coincide the Cannes Film festival. Full terms and conditions are published on the Babelgum web site .

The Babelgum Online Film Festival marks the second project the company has partnered on with Spike Lee.

Currently, his film “Jesus Children of America” is available on Babelgum. The short film, which was produced to benefit UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the Italian Development Cooperation, chronicles the life of a Brooklyn teenager with drug-addicted
parents who discovers she is HIV-positive.

7 CATEGORIES
The Babelgum Online Film Festival features the following seven competitive categories:

The Babelgum Looking for Genius Award - to new or emerging talent who display clear and outstanding achievement through direction, animation, writing and/or camera work
The Babelgum Short Film Award - to the best short film (preferably under 20 minutes) that presents a clear, concise and original vision using the short film genre
The Babelgum Documentary Award - to the documentary that best presents its subject in a truthful and fair manner while being original and thought provoking
The Babelgum Animation Award - to the film that best displays story and the craft of animation
The Babelgum Social/ Environment Award - to the film that effectively addresses an issue impacting the world today
The Babelgum Spot/ Advertising Award - to the most creative advertising spot highlighting a certain product
The Babelgum Music Video Award - to the most innovative music promo

Winners in each of the 7 categories will be awarded $20 000, plus advertising revenue share and gain exposure to a global audience

ENTRY FORM
Apply online

Babelgum is a partner of filmfestivals.com and fest21.com