Finalists Announced in “The ShortList” Film Festival
FINALISTS INCLUDE WINNERS OF SUNDANCE, SXSW, VENICE AND LA FILM FESTIVALS
PANAVISION OFFERS $60,000 PRIZE
Los Angeles, August 20, 2012 – TheWrap.com is pleased to announce the finalists for the first annual “ShortList” Online Film festival, August 20-September 4, 2012.
The 12 distinguished finalists include shorts prize winners from the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Venice Film Festival and the LA Film Festival, and come from the United States, Kenya, Italy, Brazil and elsewhere.
The shorts will screen exclusively for an online voting audience on http://shortlistfilmfestival.com starting today through Sept. 4.
“The ShortList” showcases 12 award-winning short films hand-picked from world’s top film festivals of the past year. The shorts are hosted on TheWrap.com’s website and through its mobile platform and will also be available on MTV’s film sites Film.com and Nextmovie.com.
In addition, Panavision will provide a prize of $60,000 in camera equipment to be used toward a future filmmaking project for the winner of the Industry prize. Other prizes include the opportunity for the winners’ short to be aired on an MTV network. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Sept. 4 on the Sony Pictures Entertainment lot in Los Angeles.
Sponsors of the festival include MTV, Cinedigm and Panavision. TheWrap also thanks Sony Pictures Entertainment for its generous support of The ShortList.
Here are the finalists in three categories:
ANIMATION:
DON’T HUG ME I’M SCARED (Dirs: Rebecca Sloan and Joseph Pelling), UK, 3 min.
A short film about how to think creatively.
Midnight Prize, SXSW Film Festival
METRO (Dir: Jake Wyatt), US, 5 min.
After a fox steals her train ticket, a young girl must pursue him.
Best Short, Nantucket Film Festival
NOTES ON BIOLOGY (Dir: Danny Madden), US, 5 min.
An organism adapts to its environment.
Best Animated Short, SXSW Film Festival
THE MAKER (Dir: Christopher Kezelos), Australia, 5 min.
A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life.
Best Animated Short, Newport Beach Film Festival & Best Animated Short, Sydney Film Festival
FICTION:
200 MINUTES (MINUTO 200) (Dir: Frank Benitez), Columbia, 18 min.
An elderly woman resigns herself waiting for death, convinced that it will come knocking at her door as soon as she has sold the last minute of a cellphone airtime.
Best Ibero American Short, Guadalajara International Film Festival
FISHING WITHOUT NETS (Dir: Cutter Hodierne), Kenya/US, 17 min.
A story of pirates in Somalia told from the perspective of the Somalis.
Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival
THE CHAIR (Dir: Grainger David), US, 12 min.
One boy’s reaction to a strange and deadly outbreak in his small town.
Best Narrative Short, LA Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize, SXSW Film Festival
THE FACTORY (Dir: Aly Muritiba), Brazil, 15 min.
An inmate convinces his mother to take a risk smuggling a cell phone for him into the penitentiary.
Best Live Action Short, CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival
THE PLAIN (A CHJANA) Dir: Jonas Carpignano, Italy/US, 19 min.
True events inspired this compelling tale of an African migrant worker and his best friend in the wake of the most significant race riot in Italian history. A stirring story of rebellion, solidarity and friendship.
Best Short Film, Venice International Film Festival
DOCUMENTARY:
AARON BURR, PART 2 (Dir: Dana O’Keefe), US, 8 min.
A contemporary re-imagining of the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr explores the idea of history as a contested narrative.
Grand Jury Prize, Dallas International Film Festival
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JOHN BALDESSARI (Dirs: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman), US, 5 min.
No more boring films! Everything you need to know about the godfather of Conceptual Art. Narrated by Tom Waits.
Best Documentary Short, Deadcenter Festival
THE LOVE COMPETITION (Dir: Brent Hoff), US, 15 min.
The Stanford MRI Lab hosts the world’s first ever “Love Competition” in which 7 contestants have 5 minutes to neurochemically love someone “as hard as they can.”
Special Jury Prize, Dallas International Film Festival
The festival is programmed by Nancy Collet, previously head of programming for AFI and a Film Festival consultant. Subscribers to TheWrap’s First Take newsletter ( http://thewrap.us1.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=4300eb945fab9dc8942c198f…) will receive one entry per day embedded in their morning email, where they can vote. Viewers can also screen the films at any time during the festival: http://shortlistfilmfestival.com and vote from August 20 thru September 4.
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About The ShortList:
The ShortList (http://shortlistfilmfestival.com) represents the best of the best of filmmaking in the format that young filmmakers and enthusiasts use most often: shorts. The ShortList showcases 13 award-winning short films hand-picked from world’s top film festivals of the past year. An Audience Award is chosen by viewers’ online votes and a Jury Prize is chosen by the Industry jury, a five-person panel of veteran independent film professionals. Winning films will be announced at a special live event on September 4 in Los Angeles and will air on an MTV Networks’ film channel.
About The Wrap News Inc.
The Wrap News Inc., founded by award-winning journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009, has established itself as the leading news organization covering the business of entertainment and media. As a multi-platform media company, The Wrap News Inc. is comprised ofTheWrap.com, the award-winning, industry-leading outlet for high-profile newsbreaks, investigative stories and authoritative analysis; ItsontheGrid.com, the most current, relevant film development database; and TheGrill, an executive leadership conference centered on the convergence of entertainment, media and technology.. The Wrap News, Inc. is backed by Maveron, a venture capital firm based in Seattle, Washington and co-founded by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Dan Levitan.
TheWrap was named the best online news site for 2009 at the National Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club, along with several other awards for investigative reporting, criticism and feature writing. TheWrap was named one of the “100 Most Important Online Publishers” in 2010 by OMMA, the magazine of online media, marketing and advertising.
About MTV:
MTV is the world’s premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy®, Grammy® and Peabody® award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV’s sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. For more information, go to http://www.mtvpress.com
About Cinedigm
Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) is a leader in providing the services, experience, technology and content critical to transforming movie theaters into digital and networked entertainment centers. The Company partners with Hollywood movie studios, independent movie distributors, and exhibitors to bring movies in digital cinema format to audiences across the country. Cinedigm’s digital cinema deployment organization, state of the art distributor and exhibition software, and marketing and distribution platform for alternative content and independent films are a cornerstone of the industry’s digital cinema transformation. With the April acquisition of New Video, the world’s largest aggregator of independent digital content and leading distributor of quality entertainment, CIDM has created a new full service end-to-end digital studio, enabling the Company to acquire and distribute independent films and specialty content both theatrically and via digital, mobile and home media platforms. www.cinedigm.com. CIDM-G
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