Israelis make it to Youtube contest's semifinals
Two Israeli short films among 50 that qualified for second round of Your Film Festival competition
Two Israeli short films have qualified for the semifinals of Youtube's international competition Your Film Festival, Ynet has learned.
Harel Yana and Moti Malka's "Photo for Baba" consists of a mixed Arab-Jewish cast and Anat Costi's "On My Doorstep" is an animation film that has been featured at the Cannes Film Festival. Among the finalists is also "Secular Quarter #3," a film about Jerusalem created by David Gidali and submitted from the US.
"Photo for Baba "
The Israeli contributions are two of 50 films that made it to the semifinals. Web surfers can vote for their favorite film on the project's Youtube page until July 16. The creators of the 10 highest ranking films will be flown to Italy where they will get a chance to screen their work at the 69th Venice Film Festival. The winner will receive a $500,000 prize.
"On My Doorstep"
The contest was officially launched last February with the aim of "connecting creative voices from around the globe with the audiences they deserve."
"Secular Quarter #3"
The project is a collaboration between Youtube, the Venice Film Festival, director Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions and Emirates Airlines.
Filmmakers from around the world were invited to submit story-driven videos of any format or genre which do not exceed 15 minutes. More than 15,000 films from 160 countries were entered into the competition, of which only 50 made it to the second round.
Ridley Scott announces Your Film Festival contest
A jury led by Ridley Scott and including actor Michael Fassbender will select the winner and award them with a $500,000 prize to fund an original production. "Short filmmaking is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago, so to be helping new filmmakers find an entry point like this into the industry is fantastic," Scott told the Huffington Post.
Last year, YouTube released the film "Life in a Day," which was co-produced by Scott. The feature-length documentary stitched together videos submitted by YouTube users.
