For Immediate Release
Miami International Film Festival and Diesel present First Annual Online Shorts Competition
Miami, October 7, 2009 – Continuing its tradition of bringing the best of world cinema to South Florida, The Miami International Film Festival and Diesel are set to present the first annual Online Shorts Competition. Submissions will begin on October 26, 2009 and close on January 16, 2010. Both Jury and online Audience Awards will be presented.
All shorts will be uploaded at Film Annex (www.filmannex.com) and shall not exceed a 10-minute running time. Special upload code may be found at all Diesel full-price retail outlets nationwide. Preferred upload formats include Quicktime movie and MPEG-4, preferred codec: H.264 and maximum size is 940 MB.
Finalists will be flown to Miami during the Festival (March 5-14, 2010). A top Diesel executive will be in attendance to present the awards. Jury TBA.
The Miami International Film Festival uses the unique geographical and cultural position of Miami to be a premiere venue for the exhibition of international and U.S. films, with a special focus on Ibero-American cinema. The Festival has presented films from more than 60 countries, including 200 East Coast, U.S. and World Premieres, scores of Oscar winners and nominees, and many international prizewinners. More than 65,000 people attended the Festival in 2009, including more than 300 filmmakers, producers, talent, and industry representatives from around the world who introduced their work to the South Florida audience and other industry professionals. Last year’s festival held more than 250 screenings that included features, shorts, outreach events and press screenings. For more information about the Miami International Film Festival, visit www.miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456).
Miami Dade College has a long and rich history of involvement in the cultural arts, providing South Florida with a vast array of artistic and literary offerings including The Miami Book Fair International, the Cultura del Lobo performing arts series, The Cuban Cinema Series, nine visual arts galleries including The Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College and the School of Entertainment and Design Technology in addition to the Miami International Film Festival. MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the country and is nationally recognized for many of its academic and cultural programs. With an enrollment of more than 165,000 students, MDC is the nation’s top producer of associate of arts and associate of science degrees. The college’s eight campuses and outreach centers offer more than 200 distinct degree programs including baccalaureate degrees in education, nursing and public safety management.
Diesel is a worldwide, forward thinking, lifestyle brand. From its Headquarters in Molvena (Italy) it directly manages 18 subsidiaries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. It is now present in more than 80 countries with 5,000 points of sale, including more than 400 company owned stores. Diesel is part of the holding Only the Brave, which also incorporates 55DSL – a brand strongly linked to street wear and urban culture, Staff International – an Italian company that manufactures and distributes brands such as Diesel Denim Gallery, Maison Martin Margiela, DSquared2, Vivienne Westwood, Victor & Rolf and Marc Jacobs Menswear – and controlling majority of stakes in Maison Martin Margiela and Viktor and Rolf. To learn more about how Diesel supports the arts and creative talent, please visit the Diesel Cult at www.diesel.com.
Diesel Box Office first launched in 2006 in the UK with successful advance film screenings that unveiled major titles such as Volver, Babel, The Prestige, Perfume, Smokin’ Aces, and more. It debuted in the US in 2008 with such films as Planet B-Boy, The Wackness, The Tracey Fragments, and Hamlet 2. Diesel Box Office also supports aspiring film makers by allowing them opportunities to be featured in film festivals around the country.
Film Annex is an online film distribution platform and Web Television Network with 30 million users and 10,000 filmmakers. Film Annex finances the productions of independent filmmakers and the social responsibility projects of organizations through the use of its distribution technology by creating free web televisions for content providers and supplying them with an interactive player that is syndication-friendly. Film Annex supports its content providers with the revenues generated on their web televisions and syndicated players on third-party websites. This way, Film Annex enables content providers to be in charge of their distribution, reach millions of viewers, maximize their revenues, and finance their future projects. A meeting point for filmmakers, film festivals, film enthusiasts, companies, and organizations, Film Annex educates and entertains by making meaningful, diverse, and high-quality films available to a global audience. You can find more information on Film Annex simply by visiting www.filmannex.com.
Media contacts: Juan Mendieta, MDC director of communications, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu; Tatyana Chiocchetti, Marketing Manager (Miami International Film Festival), 305-237-7879, tatyana@miamifilmfestival.com; Erin Hawker, Head of Press and Publicity (Diesel), 212.755.9200, ext. 360, erin_hawker@diesel.com