The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts launches fifth annual #SocialShorts competition
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts has launched its fifth national online short film competition for young filmmakers, #SocialShorts.
The announcement:
Australian Academy to Discover Australia’s Next Generation of Short Filmmaking Talent with #SocialShorts presented by MINI
The search for Australia’s next generation of filmmaking talent has begun as the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) today launched #SocialShorts presented by MINI, a national online short film competition showcasing Australia’s top short filmmakers.
Returning for 2019, #SocialShorts presented by MINI provides Australian short filmmakers with a platform to have their work seen, shared and supported by a wide and immediate online audience of film enthusiasts and the Australian film industry.
The competition will run for two weeks across Drama, Comedy and Open categories, with the winners of each category announced on Monday 29 July. Audiences can watch all participating films on the #SocialShorts presented by MINI website where they can vote for their favourite shorts and share on social media.
Now in its fifth year, #SocialShorts continues to grow alongside its emerging creatives, featuring an increasingly diverse slate of short films and unique voices who are taking their screen careers to the next level.
Many of the films are already national and international film festival favourites including Nick Ward’s Boys Don’t Cry which saw him become Tropfest’s youngest ever finalist at just 16 years old, Hyun Lee’s Asian Girls which gained international recognition last year at SXSW, and Tilda Cobham-Hervey’s A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl, which was awarded the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale in 2018.
Using short film as a springboard to further their screen careers, Julie Kalceff’s First Day will soon move into the next phase of development as a four-part television series for ABC + iview, while Andromeda director Emily Limyun Dean, who scored her first AACTA Award nomination for Best Animated Short in 2012, will soon make her feature directorial debut for Sony Pictures Animation.
AACTA also welcomes Corrie Chen (Mustangs FC, Homecoming Queens, Five Bedrooms), Lucy Gaffy (Dream Baby, Nursery Rhymes), Mirrah Foulkes (Judy and Punch, Animal Kingdom), and Luke Eve (I Met a Girl, High Life) as this year’s #SocialShorts presented by MINI ambassadors, who will provide meaningful support and mentorship to the winning filmmakers, reflecting on their own short filmmaking experiences and careers beyond.
Winners of each category receive tickets to the exclusive 2019 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel Industry Luncheon, a $500 Cash Prize, a mentoring session with a #SocialShorts ambassador, and their film will be shown on the big screen at an AACTA public & industry facing event in Sydney in late August.
“With audiences actively viewing and sharing more online and short form content than ever before, it’s a very exciting time to be an emerging filmmaker in Australia. The opportunities for collaboration and audience growth associated with #SocialShorts presented by MINI are invaluable to creatives as they launch into the next stage of their screen careers,” said AFI | AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella. “Excellence in short film has been celebrated and awarded by the Australian Academy since 1970 and we are incredibly proud to continue supporting Australia’s next generation of short filmmaking talent.”
“We are delighted to present this year’s #SocialShorts competition and to offer a platform to empower Australia’s emerging creatives,” said Alex McLean, National Marketing Manager of MINI Australia. “The sheer creativity and unique perspectives of the involved films not only display the world-class quality of Australia’s short filmmakers, but demonstrate a desire to push the boundaries of their own industry and create something we haven’t seen before – a quality at the heart of MINI’s philosophy.”
Audiences can vote for their favourite short films in each category at www.socialshorts.com.au and are then encouraged to share them across social media. The winning film for each category will be announced at the end of the competition.
The voting audience also has the chance to win a double pass to the 2019 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel | Ceremony & Official After Party held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney this December.
Source: NixCo press release