Spike Lee again is on the prowl for new filmmaking talent in his second year heading the jury of the Babelgum Online Film Festival.
No red carpets and no cinemas – Babelgum, an Internet company that streams videos online for free, has made the Internet its venue. Independent filmmakers upload their entries onto Babelgum’s platform, and audiences vote for their favorites.
Last year’s inaugural edition of the festival received 1,000 entries from 86 countries, according to Babelgum. More than 1.5 million viewers voted to select the final cut for the jury.
“The results from the first Babelgum Online Film Festival proved that audiences from all over the world are eager for new content, and that independent filmmakers are excited to have found a new place to showcase their work,” Lee said Tuesday, adding that the festival “has the potential to reach more audiences than any other festival in the world because of the Internet’s global reach.”
Babelgum is accepting uploads of independent short- and medium-length films through the end of the year. The winners will be announced early next year at a time and place still to be determined.
This year, the festival has reduced the number of categories from seven to four, including short films up to 20 minutes, documentary and animation.
Babelgum viewers will select the top 10 films in each category. From those, Lee will then choose a winner in each category for the Spike Lee Award, worth $28,400. A four-member jury also will choose a winner in each category, with prizes still to be determined. Another prize of $28,400 will be given to an emerging talent from any of the four categories.
Babelgum, which was started by the founder of Italy’s second-largest telecommunications company Fastweb, launched its site for the general public in 2007. Supported by advertising, Babelgum uses peer-to-peer technology and focuses on content from indep endent producers. Competitors include Joost and VeohTV.
Babelgum, which has been pushing to expand its North American presence, also announced a new venture with the Cinetic Media, an industry consulting company that concentrates on financing and sales, to show 12 festival-quality feature-length movies, one a month for a year.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More