online digital film festival

[Kim Welch]

what if we do it online and have everything done digital? a festival of digital shorts online and the finalist and the winners are shown in a theater. Any Ideas? Thought?

Truly
Kim

Update, November 2026
This idea from 2004 came true. Online and hybrid festivals are now common, platforms like FilmFreeway make submitting easy, and many festivals stream selections online alongside theater screenings.

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[DerekEastham]

that's a great idea...

there's one you might want to check out Kim... but I'll e-mail you the link...
Kevin Spacey owns the site... it's pretty cool.

 

[Digigenic]

You know me. Having a home for my work online is very rewarding, and getting exposure through a festival with the possibility for theatrical play is even better.

What kind of a screening process will the films be subjected to?
I'm sure you'll categorize entries by genre, but will you have categories structured according to educational level as well? Or will it just be a free for all student film festival with general film students competing with grad students who attend CILECT University film programs? Some student film festivals only accept work from CILECT University film programs, others accept from all over, but they don't really specify if they compete against one another or not. So, from a production value standpoint, the CILECT film students tend to have the upper hand in most of these situations.

At any rate, after the finalists have been selected, do you plan to reserve a theater that has been optimized for digital projection? Or will the entries have to be converted over to film for standard projection?

 

[Kim Welch]

Questions

Questions

I will need to find out how to do the showing at a theater. if anyone has a clue let me know. also, I have other questions.

1. what will we call it? "Digital Film Festival" ?

2. besides a trophy, what do winners get?

3. what do we charge for entry. is there a standard or common fee. we have to pay for it so I know we have to charge something.... like i am thinking 15 bucks per entry.

4. how long do we allow the shorts to be? we will be showing them online and have them all entries availabe online, right? and maybe we let people vote... and ask Roy and some of the people he knows do the final judging...


Truly
Kim

 

[Digigenic]

1. That depends, are you only going to accept works that were originally acquired in the digital format? I’m obviously a big proponent of digital, but I don’t think the traditional “filmmaker” should be excluded. It is however up to them to convert their project from film to a digital format for online exhibition.

2. Winners should receive something that allows them to accelerate their filmmaking experience. With the assistance from sponsors, the festival might provide a nice camera, tripod, possibly some editing software, BOOKS; those would all be great prizes.

3. Fees vary from festival to festival. If you were to research festival entry fees, even those for students, you’d find that fees can start out as low as 10 dollars per entry and jump upwards to 50 dollars per entry, depending on the length and deadline extension costs etc.

4. A number of factors would define the “short” film set for an online festival. The length, file size, and format requirements all must coincide with how much space you have allocated for exhibiting the projected number of accepted entries. Could be 30 movies, could be 3,000? All them need to have something in common to be considered for the screening process, similar to what you have for submissions to the showcase. To determine the finalists online, voting could lead to some form of online gerrymandering, unless strict precautions were taken to prevent these types of opportunistic overthrows.

 

[laurent.a]

I think the idea is excellent.

I was involved in a short films competition as jury and dop as the rewards where filmed and on air on sattelite TPS french tv. (when I was still in Paris)

It was the first edition of "lutins du court métrage". They are now by the fith edition I guess.

I think that if you firts do it online, you should let every registered person vote. Create prices for lighting, editing, directing... like oscars.

If you plan to do a theater show, get sponsors for it. (it costs a lot, even if people pay 10 or 15 $, cause you'll need advertisment, rent the place, make a party afterwards... If you have rewards, you need an MC, lighting... and the prices need budget too) and why not a cable or satelite tv show ?

Make the competition international would be more fun and justify the internet online competion.

If it is a DV competition, then I think no shooting on film should be allowed. If it were more like a "student film makers competition", don't call it Digital Film festival and allow films to be showed, without them having to be put on video, film project when they're shot on film, video project if shot on digital or whatever video format (there still must be good things shot on analogic I guess).

 

[Kim Welch]

yes it will be global

yes it will be global

we will make a world wide festival for all. I think you are right we will do it online and allow people to vote but the judges for the contest will be people like you and roy and others we can get to judge the finalists. like yahoo has the users ratinggs and then teh critics ratings for the movies...

now i have to get the money for this!!

Truly
Kim

 

[laurent.a]

Can't you just use the possibilities of the site's software for voting ?

Any way,I think it's a big job to find the money ! Good luck !

People from all over the world could propose sponsors from their countries as well may be ?