Call for Entries – Best Shorts Competition
Deadline: March 25, 2011
Entry form and additional information at: www.BestShorts.net
The Best Shorts Competition is not a traditional film festival; rather it is an avant-garde worldwide competition that strives to give talented directors, producers, actors, members of the creative team and new media creators the positive exposure they deserve. It discovers and honors the achievements of filmmakers worldwide who produce high quality shorts and new media. It promotes the award winners through press releases, media/distribution outlets and via blogging.
Its filmmaker-to-filmmaker neighborhood screening initiative creates viewers and builds community among the participating filmmakers. Those filmmakers who win Best Shorts laurels will be invited to participate in compilation DVDs and organize local events to screen not only their own films but also the films of other Best Shorts winning filmmakers. For example, imagine the thrill of filmmakers from France, India, China, Brazil and the United States joining together in a compilation DVD and showing their shorts in their hometowns around the world. After obtaining written consent from the filmmakers, the Best Shorts Competition will create the compilations and provide the instructions for holding neighborhood screening events. Participating filmmakers will be asked to share in the costs of creating and duplicating the complication DVDs, but costs can be recaptured as the filmmakers will each receive a supply of the DVDs which can then be sold at the screening events and via their websites.
The Best Shorts Competition offers a number of prizes including the following.
$1000 Cash Award: Once each year one $1,000 cash prize is awarded to one Best Shorts winner selected from among all the Best Shorts winners in all from the past twelve months.
Annual Humanitarian Award: Each year, Best Shorts grants its Humanitarian Award to one filmmaker for dedicated service to social justice, humanitarian causes or environmental issues.
$1500 Studio Award: Random Original Productions, Official Production Company of Best Shorts, is generously providing a production house opportunity valued at up to $1,500 to one Best Shorts winning filmmaker each year. The purpose of the sponsorship is to support filmmakers and the larger film community. The lucky filmmaker will receive access to a studio for three, twelve-hour production days. The studio is located in Everett, Washington.
Best of Show/Award of Excellence/Award of Merit: After each seasonal deadline, quality and creativity are celebrated in three levels of awards: Best of Show, Award of Excellence and Award of Merit. Best of Show honors are granted only if worthy productions are discovered. Likewise, no more than 15% of entries are granted Awards of Excellence. Notable artistic and technical productions are recognized at the Award of Merit award level. Judging results letters will be sent by regular mail about four to six weeks after the final deadline to all participants, i.e., to those who were granted awards and those who were not granted awards. Free digital downloads of Best Shorts laurels will be made available to all winners. Winners may also order a Best Shorts statuette for an additional cost of $295 per statuette. Shipping is free within the United States but international orders will be charged a $50 shipping fee. The Best Shorts statuette is an elegant 24-K gold-plated achievement figure mounted on a piano finished rosewood base. The Best Shorts statuette is manufactured by the company that makes the world’s most prestigious and celebrated awards, the Oscar, Emmy, Clio, Accolade and MTV Video Music Awards. The statuette is costly but is truly a work of art.
The primary goal of traditional film festivals is to serve local communities, which often results in little attention to the filmmakers. The Best Shorts Competition puts filmmakers first and provides a more direct opportunity for recognition and publicity for high quality films and documentaries. It is an excellent venue for new and experimental media, television pilot programs, animation, educational programs, remixes & mashups, movie trailers, music videos, webisodes and tube length works.
Please visit the Best Shorts website, www.BestShorts.net for more information. Email us at info@bestshorts.net with questions.
Direct link to entry form: bestshorts.net/EntryForm.pdf.