YouTube and Emirates, in partnership with La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Film Festival) and Scott Free Productions, announced today the ten films receiving the highest number of votes from the YouTube community, and becoming the Your Film Festival finalists. These films were watched, shared and voted on by more than three million YouTube users after Scott Free narrowed down the initial 15,000 submissions to 50 semi-finalists.nnThe filmmakers behind these films will travel to the prestigious Venice Film Festival at the end of August. All ten films will be screened in a special selection as part of the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, September 2, 2012, and the grand prize winner will be chosen from a distinguished jury that includes directors Sir Ridley Scott and acclaimed actor Michael Fassbender. The winner will receive $500,000 to create original online content with Scott Free Productions and Fassbender acting as executive producers.nn”These ten finalists have achieved something quite remarkable and are all clearly talents to watch,” says Ridley Scott. “People may be surprised to know that making a short film is very difficult, but these filmmakers have all succeeded in realizing their visions and I congratulate them on this achievement.”nnYour Film Festival is an online search to find the world’s best storytellers. Content creators around the world were asked to submit a 15-minute, story-driven video of any format, style and genre. Submissions came from all over the world and the finalists reflect the global reach of the festival. The ten finalists are:nnTitle | Filmmaker(s) (click on title to view work)nn”88:88” | Joey Ciccoline & Sean Wilson (USA)n”Bat Eyes” | Damien Power (Australia)n”Cine Rincao” | Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil)n”The Drought” | Kevin Slack (USA)n”El General” | Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia)n”The Guilt” | David Victori Blaya (Spain)n”North Atlantic” | Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom)n”Super.Full.” | Niam Itani (Lebanon)n”Scruples” | Adrian Powers (Australia)n”This Time” | Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt)nnAs part of the journey to Venice, Emirates has invited the filmmakers to visit Dubai for a series of events celebrating their achievements before flying to Italy where their films will be screened. The grand prize winner will be announced on Sunday, September 2, 2012.nnYour Film Festival is one of several efforts by YouTube to push the boundaries of music, art and film. It follows the incredibly successful partnership that YouTube experienced with Scott Free to help create the critically acclaimed documentary “Life In A Day.” Other projects like the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, YouTube Play and YouTube Space Lab are examples of the convergence of online video with traditional arts.nnAbout YouTubenYouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share original videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, Calif., and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.nn
nnAbout Scott FreenScott Free was formed in 1995 and is the film and television production vehicle of acclaimed film directors: brothers Ridley and Tony Scott. Scott Free Films most recently released Ridley Scott’s visionary epic Prometheus to worldwide acclaim, starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron as well as the international hits The Grey, Tony Scott’s Unstoppable, and the YouTube backed sensation Life in a Day. Next for Scott Free is Stoker, the English language debut of Park Chan Wook (Old Boy) at Fox Searchlight, starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, The East by director Zal Batmanglij starring Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgard, and Ellen Page also for Searchlight, Out of the Furnace at Relativity, written and directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) starring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, and Forest Whitaker, and The Counselor at Fox, which Ridley Scott will direct from Cormac McCarthy’s script, starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, and Javier Bardem.nnScott Free Television produces the Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominated, Peabody-acclaimed drama, The Good Wife for CBS which is about to enter its fourth season this fall. Up next this year is an eight hour adaptation of World Without End, Ken Follett’s international best-seller featuring Cynthia Nixon, Ben Chaplin and Miranda Richardson set to air on Reelz, Coma, a four-hour adaptation of the Robin Cook novel, starring Lauren Ambrose, Geena Davis, James Woods, Richard Dreyfuss and Ellen Burstyn, set to air September 4 on A&E, and Christopher Smith’s Labyrinth starring John Hurt, Tom Felton and Sebastian Stan. Scott Free also produced the Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated mini-series The Pillars of the Earth for Starz, and the hit CBS show Numb3rs, which ran for six seasons. In addition to scripted fare, Scott Free has firmly established its nonfiction presence by producing the epic Emmy®-winning documentary Gettysburg for History Channel, and the upcoming documentary Killing Lincoln for National Geographic.nnScott Free has offices in Los Angeles and London in conjunction with RSA Films, one of the world’s largest and most successful commercial production houses.nnAbout Venice Film FestivalnThe 69th Venice International Film Festival is directed by Alberto Barbera and organised by la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta. It will be held on the Venice Lido from 29th August to 8th September 2012. The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The International Competition awards the Golden Lion and other official prizes. The Festival is officially recognized by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations).nnAbout EmiratesnEmirates, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, has received more than 500 international awards and accolades for excellence. Emirates flies to 124 destinations in 74 countries across six continents and is the world’s largest airline in available seat kilometres. Operating 174 wide-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft, including an industry leading 21 A380s, Emirates has orders for an additional 229 aircraft, worth more than USD$84 billion. For more information please visit www.emirates.com.Anna Richardson YouTube Contact Anna via email Nicolette Aizenberg 42 West Contact Nicole via email
Who Needs Los Angeles? We Do.
One doesn't have to be a statistician to know that there are fewer commercials being shot in the U.S. today for the American market than ever before, and a dramatic decrease in L.A. in particular. In the last five years, as reported by FilmLA (the office tasked with issuing permits), L.A. commercial production has dipped 31 percent. But here’s the thing: This doesn’t mean that L.A. has lost its importance as the production center of the world. Production in L.A. is vital. It is the go-to. It’s where you can count on access to exemplary crews, a support infrastructure second to none, varied location and backlot options, a large population of on-screen talent and (fairly) predictable weather. The fact is, with overall decline and now the devastation of the fires, we’re on the brink of losing this mainstay resource. Without employment opportunities and now many without homes, talented and trained crew are bound to leave either the industry or the LA area for other opportunities, unless there are enough job opportunities to sustain a solid living. Now is the time when we ALL must support and bolster this community. Production is needed in L.A., now! Of course, advertising is a business, and marketers’ money should be spent as efficiently as possible, BUT we have to think beyond each production and know that if we lose the incredible resource of L.A. production as we know it, then marketers, agencies and the industry loses in the long run. Over the past several days, some agencies have issued directives to production companies that are unilaterally pushing upcoming production options out of L.A. The fact is L.A. is a large area, and many sections of the city and county are not directly impacted... Read More