In January, YouTube announced a new film competition in partnership with Ridley Scott and the Venice Film Festival.
The gist: titled Your Film Festival, which launched February 2nd, filmmakers from all over the world were asked to submit 15-minute "story-driven" films to a YouTube channel specifically assigned for this competition at youtube.com/yourfilmfestival.
Filmmakers had until March 31st to do so; and at that time 50 semifinalists were selected by a team put together by Ridley Scott. And then those 50 semifinalists were thrown to the YouTube wolves, as YouTube users were asked to vote on what films should make the list of 10 finalists.
The 10 finalists will then be screened at the Venice Film Festival in August, with a final single winner chosen by Ridley Scott's team.
The prize, aside from a trip to Italy, is a $500,000 grant to work with Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free.
Skip ahead to today, as the 10 finalists have been revealed, including two Diaspora shorts – one from Egyptian filmmaker Ramy EL-Gabry, titled This Time, and the other from Brazilian filmmakers Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes titled Cine Rincao.
The 11-minute This TIme examines a mother-son relationship, an ungrateful son and a kind stranger; and the 15-minute Cine Rincao is based on true events, and tells the story of Paul Edward of Osasco, a 15 year old from Brazil, who was shot in the chest and survived.
Both short films are embedded below, so watch them.
The full list of 10 finalists are:
"88:88," Joey Ciccoline & Sean Wilson (USA); "Bat Eyes," Damien Power (Australia); "Cine Rincao," Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil); "The Drought," Kevin Slack (USA); "El General," Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia); "The Guilt," David Victori Blaya (Spain);"North Atlantic," Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom); "Super.Full.," Niam Itani (Lebanon); "Scruples," Adrian Powers (Australia) and "This Time," Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt).
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Ridley Scott has partnered with YouTube on something. Remember the Life In A Day project in 2010/2011 – Itself also a global experiment?
