Filmmakers Fight for Big Screen Prize

A PRESTIGIOUS filmmaking competition has attracted some of the region’s best and most innovative filmmakers.

Digital Shorts 2008 is a short filmmaking scheme run by regional screen agency Northwest Vision and Media, in conjunction with the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund. After attracting a record number of entries this year, a short-list of 14 production teams has now been announced by Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the region’s TV, film, radio and digital content industries.

Each of the 14 finalists are hoping their project will be one of a final four chosen to win up to £12,000 in funding, enabling them to make their short film.

“In this year’s competition we we’re looking for filmmakers who displayed a new approach to genre and storytelling,” explains Helen Bingham, Head of Production Development at Vision and Media.

“Whether filmmakers are working in drama, documentary or animation, we wanted the teams to be inventive, to show off their creative filmmaking talents to the full,” she adds.

That’s exactly what the short-list of 14 finalists were able to do when they were invited to a panel interview at the end of last year.

“We had over 100 entries to this year’s Digital Shorts, with each applicant submitting one-page film ideas. From that sample we invited 25 filmmaking teams to interview. It was incredibly tough deciding which of those interviewed should be short-listed to have their projects included on the Digital Shorts Development Slate,” explains Helen.

“We we’re looking for stories that were unique and challenging and have the potential to do well at festivals and attract audiences from all over the world,” she adds.

Over the next ten weeks, the 14 short-listed projects will be developed by Vision and Media, in partnership with The Script Factory, a leading, national script consultancy.

“At the end of this development period, once all 14 projects have arrived at a production-ready draft, we will select the best four projects to receive the production awards of £12,000 per team, with the final films due to be delivered by July 2008,” adds Helen.

Find out who the 14 finalists are here