blog.daazo.com

TCM Classic Shorts 2008 is open for entries!

Why Enter?

• First prize - £5,000; Second prize - £3,000; Third prize - £2,000
• Promotion of your work on movie channel TCM across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as part of a special on-air TCM Classic Shorts season in November
• Be part of one of the most prestigious and long standing short film competitions in Europe
• Judging panel made up by some of the most prominent names in the film and media industry
• International media coverage of the competition, now in its ninth year, held in conjunction with The Times BFI London Film Festival
• The 6 finalists will be screened as part of The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival at the awards ceremony and on film channel TCM
• Past winners have gone on to win BAFTAs, make feature films and TV programmes, and screen their work at other festivals such as Cannes with the encouragement and assistance of TCM

More info and details: http://www.tcmclassicshorts.com/

Organised from the 15th of April to the 31st of July, the NISI MASA contest takes place simultaneously in all its member countries in Europe .

For this 7th edition, the new theme is: Escape.

The contest is open to every youngster from 18 to 28, living in one of the organising countries. Each participant must write a short-film script of 20,000 characters maximum on the assigned theme, in one of the official languages of the contest.

In January~February 2009 the three new awarded scriptwriters plus 12 of the European finalists, will be invited by NISI MASA to take part in «European Short Pitch», a scriptwriting workshop organised at the Moulin d’Andé~Céci in France, followed by pitching sessions in front of European producers.
Then, the 3 European winners will be supported by NISI MASA in the production and distribution of their films.
From the script to the screen, NISI MASA is keen on contributing to the development and circulation of innovative short films from all over Europe.

All information about the contest can be found here:

http://www.nisimasa-scriptcontest.eu/

Application Deadline:
31. July 2008

It’s kind of duty for us watching the Oscar Ceremony, since we’ve had an Oscar-winner short on Daazo. It’s good to know, that among the flashy scenes at Kodak Theatre are not only high-budget features getting awarded; the next generation is already there with their short films.

This year in the category of Live Action Shorts the Oscar has gone to Philippe Pollet-Villard (France) for The Mozart of Pickpockets.

Everyone - who’s seen the film - is just loving it; Anne Thompson deputy editor of Variety wrote: “Charlie Chaplin would be proud of this charming little comedy, which observes two inept Parisian pickpockets who meet their match in a deaf-mute young street urchin. Though a fair amount of the laughter is dialogue-based, the funniest bits employ good, old-fashioned silent-movie tactics (as in the scene where one thief distracts the suspicious hotel clerk, while his partner attempts to smuggle the child through the lobby in an oversize shopping bag).”

“The Mozart of Pickpockets boasts its share of surprises, but it doesn’t depend on them, putting characters first. Unassuming in its pleasures, yet universal in its appeal, Mozart gets my vote” - she added.

Peter and the Wolf won the Oscar of Animated Shorts. British director Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman film’s is an animated version of Sergei Prokofiev’s musical tale for children, which was written and composed in 1936. Peter lives in a world where he has to confront evil and his struggle against the wolf leads to his transformation. A fragile little boy, Peter discovers his own strength and, with the help of a few friends, becomes a true hero.. Anne Thompson wrote: “If I had to predict a winner, this would be it… Templeton’s interpretation seems to favor the animals and even features a mushy new twist: after capturing the wolf, Peter lets the misunderstood beast go free, revealing the hunters as the true villains of the story.“

The good thing is that both winners (Mozart… and Peter and the Wolf) are very well made, brave atworks, but watchable, entertaining shorts at the same time; this is what we prefer on Daazo too.

And don’t forget: we already presented an Oscar-winning animated short: Ferenc Rofusz’ The Fly.

Our friends (Nisi Masa, Moviement) launched a very interesting project indeed. If you are fancy to make a documentary on and about the Russian railways, apply to CineTrain workshop, and cross this enormous country with your camera!

Organising an itinerant cinema event; NISI MASA old-timers have been nurturing this crazy idea ever since the origins of the network. It took the arrival of the Russian association Moviement, for the dream to become reality. Our enthusiastic Moscow-based colleagues intend to bring up-to-date a unique working method, invented by Russian documentary filmmakers in the 1930s. It was called the ‘Cine-Train’.

Film crews, under the guidance of Aleksandr Medvedkin, used to travel through the Soviet Union in specially equipped wagons. Although they were filming the industrial achievements of the regime, the underlying goal was to give the power of speech to people who didn’t normally have the opportunity to get their voices heard.

In 2008, the international workshop will hopefully ensure the legacy of this spirit, but will focus its interest on the notion of borders. “Did we just cross the European border?” 18 young filmmakers will constantly ask themselves along the 9 302 km of the mythic Trans-Siberian railroad track. Where does Europe ‘end’? What concrete expressions or feelings of this border can be found? From Moscow to Vladivostok, NISI MASA and Moviement want to offer the participants (rallied into 6 shooting crews) the possibility to answer these questions in a stimulating atmosphere, supported with professional tutors, far away from clichés and preconceived ideas.

A three-week adventure, this Euro-Asian workshop planned for September 2008 certainly is an ambitious project, supported by the European Cultural Foundation and the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the 6th Vladivostok International Film Festival.

CineTrain is going to be held from 1th September to 21th September.
Application deadline: 31th of March

Preparatory films should be uploaded onto Daazo!

For further infos visit:

http://www.moviement.livejournal.com/

http://www.nisimasa.com

The members of the International Short Film Jury Marc Barbé (France), Ada Solomon (Romania) and Laura Tonke (Germany) award the following prizes:

The Golden Bear to
O zi bună de plajă by Bogdan Mustaţă (Romania)

The film raises questions about its issues rather than bring resolution to them. It does so in a very precise and unpredictable way.
We feel that it is one of the most precious things when a film stays with you and keeps unravelling long after the final credits have ended.

The Silver Bear to
Udedh bun by Siddharth Sinha (India)

The Silver Bear goes to Udedh bun for its modern narration. A sharp focus that relies on a harmony between images and sound rather than words.
We are also sensitive to the new erotica brought to the traditional figure of the desired woman in the history of cinema.

Paris based short film festival is open for filmmakers, who have short films under the length of 3 minutes. This festival has a very nice atmosphere. If your film is selected it will be screened in more than 40 cities all around as the festival runs a franchise system. So here we go:

The festival of Very Short is about fifty films in an international selection, screened in only one meeting of a little bit more than two hours. It is also a competition, with four prices awarded by the Jury, and of course the price of the public awarded by you. It is also screenings organized simultaneously in forty cities in France and all around the world as well…

A new edition is actually in preparation and the festival of Très Short is more than ever present in about 40 cities to propose to you the best and undoubtedly the shortest of the international audio-visual film production.

Trés Court Film Festival
Deadline for registration: 12th February, 2008

Find more info here: Trés Court Film Festival

Register your film here: Register form

We are happy to present, that our friends and partners, the organizers of Budapest Short Film Festival (BuSho) sent us the entry form and the deadline of BuSho 2008!

Enter your film, and have a few great days in Budapest at one of the coolest short film festival in Europe!

Please find the details below!

The 4th BuSho International Short Film Festival accepts entries
in the categories of fiction, animation and experimental film.
Entry deadline: 3. May 2008.
Online entry form here.
Details on: BuSho’s homepage!

Our aim is to give you an alternative platform where your film will appear alongside its equals instead of viral videos or karaoke performances as it would on YouTube.

Daazo is specialized in short films. However, it’s not enough just uploading your films and waiting for the audience. Since in most of the cases you are the director, cameraman and editor of your films at the same time, you should realize that it’s necessary being your own producer and - most importantly - your own distributor. So don’t hesitate to use the advantages of the Web. Now it’s easier than ever to show your film to your friends, instead of organizing screenings or sending dvds.

We figured out something we believe in, called “Distribution Game”. On Daazo you can choose a date for your uploaded films and on this particular date your film will be on the main page for 24 hours for sure. No other site offers this. This way, you are your own distributor, releasing your film on the date you choose. We are pretty sure that you also have your accounts on the popular social-network sites (Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, not to mention the popular video blogs: Milk and Cookies, Videobomb, Spike, Infectious of Films etc.) - don’t forget to upload your artwork there, too. When your films are on Daazo, they are in a different context from appearing on a video site. It is a film site for film-makers. Daazo is visited by people who want to watch something more valuable than karaoke.

People are waiting for your film. Just let them know they can watch it on Daazo!

It’s a positive experience for us, that several filmmaking communities have been dredged up during the past few months. We had had the feeling before we launched Daazo, that most of the ‘wannabe’ directors are focused on creating black&white art films, but we totally got it wrong.

For many youngster making a film means having fun - as they have only one purpose with the results: entertaining the audience - their friends.
Recently we got a film (which is the ‘editor’s choice’ of this week) uploaded by rickdeckard: The Legend of the Mountain Troll. The team seems to be the same, which made Bad Luck, another comedy. These guys take the filmmaking easy, they have enough passion though to realease their plans. A common point between the films is the stories are related somehow to a party with lots of alcohol - many jokes are familiar from everyone’s life.

We enjoy these films very much, and watch them again and again! Hope you too!

It is maybe a coincidence, or there is something in the air, but there will be a feature released with actor superstar Will Smith. It is about a survivor who is the last man on Earth. Our premiere this week has the same topic. A Lucky Bastard who managed to survive a deadly virus. But is it that good for him? Do you think you can do whatever?

We choose this film into our collection because it has a great power of irony. They way it was made - it was shot on DV, with some effects - is actually very funny and easy way of storytelling. They managed to create a unique world, which will make an effect on you for sure.

Watch “Lucky Bastard” by Ákos Szénási