Scala Beyond logo

Our friends at Scala Beyond are now open for submissions. For guidelines and further information on the sort of screenings they’re looking for, please download the Exhibitor’s Guide (PDF) and view their short film: Scala Beyond Manifesto (also available as PDF).

Then, to take part in the biggest film fringe festival ever seen, just fill in the Submissions Form!

The full website will be launched in July with the programme of events but until then, see details of last year’s Scala Forever season and the recent Ken Russell Forever season. Check their Facebook and Twitter for updates or subscribe to the mailing list by leaving your email in the box on the Scala Beyond website.

We are very proud to support the UnderWire Festival. UnderWire was launched in November 2010 with the belief that women working in the UK film industry needed more encouragement and a bigger platform for their work, including women film journalists. The fact remains that women still make up a small proportion of film creatives, and UnderWire looks to recognise the best short work made by women across a range of crafts.

The winner of the competition – as judged by a jury of film journalists – will be given the opportunity to write for Electric Sheep, Little White Lies, The Quietus and Aesthetica. The winner will also be invited to cover the festival for the UnderWire blog as their in-house reporter.

Deadline is 16 October. Full details on how to enter can be found on the UnderWire website.

Art by Chance

ART BY CHANCE is the brand new Ultra Short Film Festival that will be aired in May 2011 all around the world for the third time. Unexpectedly find films in non-theatrical venues in 20+ countries and 200+ cities around the world on 20.000+ digital screens located in public transport hubs as well as shopping centres, airports, public sqaures and university campuses.

ART BY CHANCE also takes place in other film festivals and summer festivals as a program rest of the year.

ART BY CHANCE is opens to films of all kinds; fiction, animation, documentary and video art with the exception of training and advertising films. Enthusiastic and creative international filmmakers will prepare 30 second-long films on ‘Change’. Participants can submit online at www.artbychance.org. Deadline 8 April 2011.

ART BY CHANCE jury members are Walt Disney Producer Don Hahn; Executive Director of ARTE France Cinéma Michel Reilac; Founder and Director of British Independent Film Awards Johanna Von Fischer

ART BY CHANCE allows filmmakers to share their work with a large audience, the largest audience ever reached by a short film festival. Viewers around the world will have the opportunity to watch the best festival movies free of charge over the course of their day. Reaching such a vast audience is only possible by taking films out of cinemas and screening them in public places where urban dwellers can easily see them.

ART BY CHANCE 2011-Call for submission! from ART BY CHANCE on Vimeo.

straight 8 2011 call for entries

straight 8 invite anyone, anywhere to shoot a short film on a single cartridge of kodak super 8mm film

if the film’s great you’ll see it for the first time at a packed straight 8 screening

in 2011 straight 8 will be screening at cannes film festival, cannes advertising festival, sheffield doc/fest, rushes soho shorts festival with more screenings worldwide yet to be confirmed

people are already creating their unedited masterpieces all over the world – check out the straight 8 2011 entry map to see who’s entered so far

entry is only available at www.straight8.net and the deadline for delivering film – exposed but un-developed – back to us in london is march 31st

soundtracks must be original and are uploaded separately

Watch the trailer:

straight 8 2011 trailer from straight eight on Vimeo.

Audition

If you like watching extreme Asian cinema, PhD student Emma Pett would be grateful if you could take the time to fill in a questionnaire that is part of her research project on audience responses to extreme films.

This research is the focus of a PhD which she is conducting at Aberystwyth University, supervised by Professor Martin Barker and Dr Kate Egan, both of whom have researched and written extensively on issues of censorship, the video nasties, and horror films. The research has been funded as part of a collaborative arrangement between the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The idea of these collaborations is to enable high level research to be conducted, which is guaranteed to be of a sufficient quality to be of relevance to a public body like the BBFC. This means that Emma Pett will have the opportunity to present her research findings to a meeting of the examiners at the BBFC, once they are complete. But it also means that the research is being designed and conducted entirely independently, following best research practices.

Current BBFC guidelines recognise that audiences of horror films like to be frightened and shocked, and for this reason they try to avoid cutting or rejecting extreme horror films which are classified ’18′. However, the BBFC argues that this has to be balanced with legal restrictions and in particular with requirements relating to the presentation of sexual violence. The research Emma Pett has done so far suggests that it is sometimes difficult for them to make a decision about whether or not to cut a scene from an extreme horror film. And this is because they are not sure how the likely audience might respond to it. This is one of the reasons that they have entered into this collaboration – they recognise that they need more detailed knowledge of the audiences for films of this kind as a basis for their decision-making. By taking part in this research project you will not only be making a huge contribution to this particular research project. You will also be enabling Emma Pett to present the BBFC with valuable evidence about the viewing experiences of the actual audiences of Asian Extreme cinema.

For more info and to fill in the questionnaire, go to the Asian Extreme Cinema Research website.

Straight 8 2010 is calling for entries now, it’s the same rule as before: you get one roll of super 8, no editing, and if it’s selected you get to see your film for the first time at cannes or at one of their other screenings throughout 2010 – Benicassim, Rushes Soho Shorts, Raindance. Deadline is April 6.

The straight 8 2010 launch party screening is at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton at 9pm, Thursday 18 February. Tickets £1 from straight8.net.

If you need inspiration, watch Springlove, one of our favourite straight 8 films of 2008:

ART BY CHANCE present urban dwellers with stimulating content thus colouring the time slices that are usually considered dead.

UNIQUE SHORT FILM FORM AS WELL AS THE SCREENING

ART BY CHANCE opens to movies of all kinds; fiction, animation, documentary and video art with the exception of training and advertising films. Enthusiastic and creative international film makers will be preparing 30 seconds long, films*, on “Time”.  Participants also submit online from  www.artbychance.org

DEADLINE: Friday 26 March

IN THE SUMMER OF 2009 MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WERE CAUGHT BY A SHORT FILM
Last year festival aired May-June-July 2009 in 13 countries and in over 70 cities around the world for the first time and was viewed by more than 1 billion people worldwide.

ALL THE WORLD’S WAITING TO SEE YOUR SHORT FILM!

ART BY CHANCE is currently partnering with many digital advertising network operators throughout the world. With these partnerships ART BY CHANCE realize a revolutionary event allowing art to meet millions of people around the world. The best festival entries will be selected by an international jury and will be screened. ART BY CHANCE films took place on 7907 screens in 20 different networks.

LARGEST AUDIENCE EVER REACHED BY A PUBLIC ART EVENT

ART BY CHANCE is going to allow film makers to share their work with a large audience. Viewers around the world will have the opportunity to watch the best festival movies free of charge and within the course of their daily routine. This is the largest audience ever reached by a short film festival. Reaching so many people can only be possible by taking the screenings outside the theatres where the urban people can see it without an effort.

www.artbychance.org