Online TV network Babelgum has launched its first film festival with film-maker Spike Lee as an honorary judge.
The competition has six categories:
• The Babelgum Looking for Genius Award – Awarded to new or emerging talent who display clear and outstanding achievement through direction, animation, writing and/or camera work.
• The Babelgum Short Film Award — Awarded to the best short film (under 20 minutes) that presents a clear, concise and original vision using the short film genre.
• The Babelgum Documentary Award – Awarded to the documentary that best presents its subject in a truthful and fair manner while being original and thought provoking.
• The Babelgum Animation Award – Awarded to the film that best displays story and the craft of animation.
• The Babelgum Social/Environment Award – Awarded to the best film that effectively addresses an issue impacting the world today.
• The Babelgum Spot/Advertising Award – Awarded to the most creative advertising spot highlighting a certain product.
The contest is open to English-language films screened at international festivals between January 2007 and February 2008. Submitted films will be shown on the Babelgum online channel where they can be rated by the public. The ten highest-rated films in each category will then go to a panel of judges and the top three films in each area will be passed to Spike Lee for the final decision. Winners will be announced in April 2008.
It is Lee’s second collaboration with Babelgum. Currently, his film ‘Jesus Children of America’ is available on the web-based channel. The short film, which was produced to benefit UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the Italian Development Cooperation, chronicles the life of a Brooklyn teenager with drug-addicted parents who discovers she is HIV-positive.
