Friday, October 07, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
#SPAIN #NETHERLANDS AND #AUSTRALIA TAKE TOP AWARDS @FILMINUTE 2011
Narrative
loops and stunningly powerful performances inspire the winning films at
Filminute, the international one-minute film festival.
 |
| http://j.mp/qSRDio |
 |
| http://j.mp/r4XhQx |
 |
| http://j.mp/qtoXMG |
TORONTO/BUCHAREST/LONDON, 6
October 2011 – After a month of online screenings, Filminute 2011 announced the
award winners for this year’s film festival. LOOP, a smart and skillfully directed film by Spain’s
Aritz Moreno, has been awarded BEST FILMINUTE honours by the seven-member international jury. The
film’s unique ability to reproduce itself and play with time while remaining
highly entertaining wowed the jury and the audience. This film also marks Spain‘s
first big win at Filminute.
The online festival
audience, each responsible for one vote and representing 132 countries, selected
the film OBLIVION for the People's
Choice Award. OBLIVION, a film from the Netherlands, narrowly beat out films
from South Africa and Australia in a record year for online engagement and
voting at the festival.
The top-rated film was NO
MAN’S LAND, which features a
brilliant and jarring performance by Australian actor Mirko Grillini. The film
averaged a 5-star rating — a first for any film in the festival’s history.
The San Sebastián–based
director of LOOP, Aritz Moreno, presents
film fans with a protagonist that is both dead and alive at the same time.
Beautiful camera work and editing come together with a story that serves up a
poignant commentary on time and routine. The many subtleties in direction and the
stellar sound design also contribute to a film that one juror summed up as
“begging to be watched over and over and over.”
John Ketchum, Filminute’s
co-founder and head of jury, commented about LOOP, “In a year brimming with powerful, masterfully made
films, LOOP still managed to stand out as the favourite — a testament to its
originality, subtlety and the way it rewards the viewer.” The film also
features one of the most visceral moments of any film in the collection.
Interestingly, a glance through the festival’s very active and informative
Facebook page shows a great number of other filmmakers themselves awed by what
Moreno was able to accomplish in this film.
OBLIVION won the People’s Choice award by generating a base
of fans from both near and far beyond the Netherlands. Director Shariff Nasr
raises our attention to issues around patient care, aging, and Alzheimer’s in
his film. Dutch actor Raymond Thiry’s performance is as touching as it is
harrowing, as the film’s protagonist struggles to comprehend where he is and
what is happening to him.
“Marko Grillini (NO MAN’S
LAND) and Raymond Thiry (OBLIVION) highlight what we have always believed possible in
a one-minute film. They delivered memorable performances that stick with you
long beyond the 60-second constraint of the film,” says festival co-founder and head of jury John Ketchum. We know of several directors this year
who patiently sought out the best actors they could find and the results are
clearly stunning.”
The Filminute 2011 jury
awarded commendations to five films, ranked in the following order:
REVERIE (Belgium) Directed by Jaro Minne
Innocence
and love shine through in this film. The child actors draw the audience into
the dream of a united humanity and we are startled by the outcome.
OBLIVION (Netherlands) Directed by Shariff Nasr
A
powerful and masterfully directed film that touches on how we might feel to be
isolated, abandoned, and powerless. This film generated more reactions and
ratings than many other films combined.
HAMBURGZ (USA) Directed by Jordan Schmelzer
This
is a delightful heist film that references the photo-montage technique made
famous by Chris Marker’s 1962 film La Jetée. Such stylish and cool drama — over a hamburger.
NO
MAN’S LAND (Australia) Directed by Dominic
Jackson Chambers
We
are treated to a spare, mesmerizing, and shocking performance in this film. If
there were a Best Actor prize to be awarded at Filminute 2011, Australian actor
Mirko Grillini would surely be in the running.
DOT
IN THE LINE (Pakistan) Directed by Basir
Mahmood
Part
contemporary art, part philosophical exposition, the director takes the
audience for a dramatic and surprising run before landing us in the middle of a
very familiar story.
This year’s award winners
were selected from a lineup of 25 films from 18 countries, ranging from
Argentina to India to the USA. The shortlist of 25 was narrowed from a field of
more than 2000 film and animation screenings and submissions. The range of
countries participating and stories presented affirm Filminute’s dedication to
levelling the playing field in film. Indeed, no country has a monopoly on great
stories. Many of these films immediately inspire an immediate second and third
viewing.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
27 Sept 2011 coverage by WIRED.com
Filminute Festival Celebrates One-Minute Movies From All Over the World
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
REPRISE ★ The Weekend Guide to Filminute 2011 ★
★
Number of one-minute film premieres on the Filminute 2011 shortlist
- 16 -
★
Number of films currently rated ★★★★ stars or better at Filminute 2011
- 16 -
★
Number of "Buddy Girl" flicks on the Filminute 2011 shortlist
- 3 -
★
Top 5 countries by volume of submissions to Filminute 2011
- #India #USA #UK #Romania #Canada -
★
Number of films on this year's shortlist that deal with the concept of #death
- 10 -
★
Country making its mark at Filminute 2011
- Spain (2 films this year; only 1 from past 5 editions) -
★
The only continent not represented at Filminute 2011
- Antarctica -
★
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
@ArjunBasu comments on REVERIE
---
You are invited to experience the full film festival at Filminute.com. Rate the 25 one-minute films from 18 countries; vote for your favourite one.
Commentary/review by Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu, Montreal
Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I'm not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.
@ArjunBasu comments on LEVEL 13
---
You are invited to experience the full film festival at Filminute.com.
Rate the 25 one-minute films from 18 countries; vote for your favourite one.
Commentary/review by Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu, Montreal
Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I'm not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.
@ArjunBasu comments on THE DAYS BEFORE THAT
---
You are invited to experience the full film festival at Filminute.com.
Rate the 25 one-minute films from 18 countries; vote for your favourite one.
Commentary/review by Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu, Montreal
Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I'm not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.
@ArjunBasu comments on HAMBURGZ
---
You are invited to experience the full film festival at Filminute.com.
Rate the 25 one-minute films from 18 countries; vote for your favourite one.
Commentary/review by Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu, Montreal
Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I'm not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.
@ArjunBasu comments on LOOP
---
You are invited to experience the full film festival at Filminute.com.
Rate the 25 one-minute films from 18 countries; vote for your favourite one.
Commentary/review by Arjun Basu, @arjunbasu, Montreal
Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I'm not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Filminute 2011 fast starters
RANK BY VOLUME OF TRAFFIC PER COUNTRY
FOR THE FIRST 5 DAYS OF FILMINUTE 2011
- 1. USA 2. South Africa 3. Spain 4. Netherlands 5. Australia
- 6. Colombia 7. United Kingdom 8. Canada 9. Romania 10. Pakistan
For instance, here are the countries with populations spending the MOST time on the festival site. Uganda tops the list just shy of 18 minutes average time on the site, and tapering down to the Philippines at 10 minutes average.
- 1. Uganda 2. Greece 3. France 4. Guatemala 5. Bangladesh
- 6. Sri Lanka 7. Macedonia 8. Italy 9. India 10. Philippines
This certainly might change the outcome and make the race even more interesting. Between the quality of the competing films, and the national and international following generated by each film, the outcome of the People's Choice Award is almost impossible to predict.
If you care to make a prediction of the outcome, we would welcome your post on that subject on our page at Facebook.com/filminute
Thursday, September 01, 2011
WELCOME TO FILMINUTE 2011
THE FILMINUTE 2011 SHORTLIST
France
DIRECTOR: Basir Mahmood
Pakistan
DIRECTOR: Nick Black
DIRECTOR: Yasuyuki Kubota
Japan
DIRECTOR: Jordan Schmelzer
USA
DIRECTOR: Kristof Deak
Hungary
DIRECTOR: Federico Forcolini
United Kingdom
DIRECTOR: Aritz Moreno
DIRECTORS: Javier Meler / Djazia Centelles
Spain
DIRECTOR: Erik Scanlon
Friday, August 26, 2011
emails alerting shortlisted filmmakers
We started alerting filmmakers today, about 20 of the 25 films are confirmed. The 5 spots still to be decided will come out of 7 or 8 films jockeying for the final spots. On some we are waiting for a final edit, on others we just haven't heard back from the filmmakers... Imagine that!?!
After all that creativity and effort, they're ignoring us! We'll try not to be offended.
Festival begins September 1, and all will be revealed.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter for all the latest news and commentary on Filminute 2011.
After all that creativity and effort, they're ignoring us! We'll try not to be offended.
Festival begins September 1, and all will be revealed.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter for all the latest news and commentary on Filminute 2011.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Revving up the blog, once again
Admittedly, Twitter has turned us into lazy bloggers. But the time has come once again to rev up the blog and slowly start gearing up for the next few milestone dates (the 20 August submission deadline, and the 1 September start date of Filminute 2011).
We've been using Blogger from the start. Of late, we've started paying attention to some of the innovations in other blogging platforms (like Tumblr). Deep down we were hoping not to have to switch platforms. CLEARLY there are some advantages to being on a platform owned by Google... Search, Google Analytics, Adwords...it all adds up. Blogger also ranks as the most reliable platform (widely reported in December 2010, eg. TechCrunch)
We've had a peek at what's brewing, and we hope some of these design innovations come into play soon... Here's a preview they've hinted at.
We've been using Blogger from the start. Of late, we've started paying attention to some of the innovations in other blogging platforms (like Tumblr). Deep down we were hoping not to have to switch platforms. CLEARLY there are some advantages to being on a platform owned by Google... Search, Google Analytics, Adwords...it all adds up. Blogger also ranks as the most reliable platform (widely reported in December 2010, eg. TechCrunch)
We've had a peek at what's brewing, and we hope some of these design innovations come into play soon... Here's a preview they've hinted at.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Ok, Oscars are done, and to us that means...
The Academy Awards always sits as a marker on our Filminute calendar. To us it means that the official Filminute Call for Entry is almost upon us. Regardless of the "official" notice, we have remarked on the fact that we have received more early submissions than ever before. That HAS TO BE a good sign :-) Stay tuned for more frequent updates as we ramp up to full strength once again.
BTW, we do have a flurry of recent Twitter and Facebook posts that share Filminute's POV on the Oscars. Follow Filminute at Twitter.com/Filminute and Facebook.com/Filminute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)