Monday, June 25, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

London, U.K, June 26, 2007 — Filminute, the international one-minute film festival, has announced the core of its 2007 jury.

Head of jury and Filminute co-founder John Ketchum has gathered an eclectic, contemporary, and international mix of luminaries from the filmmaking, literature, arts and communications industries. This coming September, the Filminute jury will lend their experience and insights to determine the award and commendations for BEST FILMINUTE 2007.

Jury members include:

Michael Ondaatje – Award winning novelist and poet whose Booker Prize winning work The English Patient was adapted into an Academy Award and Bafta-winning film by Anthony Minghella. Ondaatje is also the author of The Conversations: Walter Murch & The Art Of Editing Film, an invaluable non-fiction work that explores the uniquely powerful role of the editor within the creative process of filmmaking.

Kevin Roberts – CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world's leading creative organizations, employing over 7000 people in 83 countries. Also the author of Sisomo:The Future on Screen, a book that looks at the central role of sight, sound and motion and the impact these element have in accelerating emotional connections in the digital age.

Samira Makhmalbaf – Award-winning Iranian filmmaker whose 1998 film Sib (aka The Apple) was accepted to the official selection at Cannes Film Festival making her the youngest director (18) to achieve that feat. Ms Makhmalbaf has gone on to win numerous international awards including Cannes jury prizes in 2000 and 2003.

Kenichi Kondo, The Mori Art Museum Tokyo – as a curator with a specialty in video art, Kenichi Kondo has been responsible for strengthening the Mori’s focus on contemporary art and culture through his various initiatives including the massive 2006 Bill Viola retrospective and his 2007 John Wood and Paul Harrison Show.

Klaus Eder – General Secretary of FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique), the international body of professional film critics and film journalists based in Munich. FIPRESCI awards carry great distinction and are given out at the world's leading film festivals to films that advance the art of cinema.

“In 2006, Filminute engaged and entertained audiences with the one-minute format – especially when a film delivered a great story that resonated beyond the one-minute limit,” said John Ketchum, Filminute co-founder and head of jury. “I’m thrilled with the group we’ve assembled for 2007 and can’t wait to see how they judge what is bound to be an even stronger shortlist of international films and filmmakers.”

Cineuropa, June 25, 2007

NEWS • Festivals – UK • Filminute: A 60-second challenge

After the success of the 2006 inaugural edition, the Filminute festival – an online competition of one-minute (very) short films – will be back in September 2007. Film subscriptions are open until August 20, and the aim is to attract filmmakers from different parts of the world with different backgrounds, capable of condensing their creativity in no more than 60 seconds and showing stories that, in the words of Fiminute's CEO John Ketchum, "resonate beyond the one-minute limit".

Read the rest of this article at Cineuropa.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Films from outside "the system"

At this stage in the Call for Entry period, we are receiving submissions from a wider range of countries than ever before. New countries on the list of submissions this year are India, Macedonia, Iran, and Turkey, among others. We often speak of Filminute as one phenomenon in modern media that levels the playing field.

Klaus Eder, General Secretary of FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique), the international body of professional film critics and film journalists, made the following comment about films coming from "outside the system." He made the comment in the context of Munich's international film festival where he is one of the lead international programmers.
  • In the last 3 or 4 years we've seen a big change in all the films we receive as a result of digital filmmaking - in documentaries, features etc. These films that are being made "outside of the system" are coming from a YouTube mentality that is far away from what we have been used to. FIPRESCI has to look at what's going on here and that's why its important we be involved in an initiative like Filminute. — Klaus Eder
Filminute 2007 is honoured to have Klaus Eder on our jury this September. We look forward to his further commentary and comparative insights.

Submissions are due August 20th, 2007. Wherever you are from, we want to see your one-minute film.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Nothing lost in the translation

An overview of Filminute appears on our site and has been translated into the following languages: French, German, Swedish, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Hebrew, and Chinese.

http://www.filminute.com/2007/translations.html