YouTube Australia Blog: Aussie Filmmakers Among the 50 Semi-Finalists for Your Film Festival

Aussie Filmmakers Among the 50 Semi-Finalists for Your Film Festival

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

As you may have seen, voting is open for Your Film Festival, the global competition that unites the Venice Film Festival, Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Emirates and YouTube’s community of film fans, in a quest to discover the next great storyteller.

The Scott Free team selected 50 semi-finalists from more than 15,000 short films submitted by creators worldwide. Now, it’s up to you, the fans, to vote for your favorites, and ultimately send 10 finalists to the Venice Film Festival.

Here in the Google Sydney office, we are excited that Australians and Australian residents are behind many of the entries. Take a look at a few below:
Scruples, Director: Adrian Powers - A young double agent struggles to keep his cover when he witnesses a horrifying crime. Are a few innocent lives worth sacrificing for the greater good?

Bat Eyes, Director: Damien Power - Sixteen year old Adam teases a classmate. When he tries to apologise, she has quite different plans for him.

Boot, Director: Damien Power - A night out with best friends ends in tragedy and a terrible secret. Can you save a friendship with a lie?

Good Pretender, Director: Maziar Lahooti - After trying to convince some local bullies that her father is a robot, 11-year-old Ally is dared to shoot him with a spear gun to prove it.

Kiss, Director: Alex Murawski - Tom has never been kissed. His best friend offers his girlfriend to practice with, awakening Tom’s desire and changing the trio’s friendship forever.

The Telegram Man, Director: James Frances Khehtie - During the long years of World War II, Australia's small farming communities paid a terrible price. In the rural towns of New South Wales, one family each week discovered that their son or husband or brother or father would not be coming home. In the throes of such grief, one seldom considers the man who delivers the news.

At the Venice Film Festival, the 10 finalist filmmakers will have their work screened as part of the opening days of the festival and judged by a grand prize jury of industry professionals, including Ridley Scott and actor Michael Fassbender. The finalists will then pitch their next film project to the Ridley Scott team, all for the chance to win a $500,000 production grant to work with Ridley Scott’s award-winning team to create a new original work for YouTube.

So what are you waiting for? Watch the entries, vote for your favourite films on the Your Film Festival channel, and be part of the largest online film festival ever. Voting ends 13th July, so cast your votes now!

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Marketing Manager, recently watched The Telegram Man.