So You Missed the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival Deadline

So you missed the deadline to submit to a film festival! Now what?
2012 YoungCuts Film Festival Edition

The following advice is specifically for the YoungCuts Film Festival, but much of the advice can be applied to other film festivals.

So you intended to submit to a film festival, but you weren't ready for their Early-bird deadline, you forgot to send your film for the regular deadline and now you have successfully procrastinated until you managed to miss their late. drop-dead, final deadline.

Giving up is certainly an option, but many Festivals like the YoungCuts Film Festival choose their deadlines so that they can be flexible enough to give filmmakers a break on missing the deadline. Before you ask for an extension or deadline waiver, take a look at when they announce their Festival selections.

In the case of the YoungCuts Film Festival, we intend to announce our Top 100 International Short Films the week of July 23rd.

The 23rd of July is twenty days away! There is obviously some wriggle room there! And saying that the notification date is "Approximately" July 23rd means that there is even more wriggle room. You can probably still get your film in. 

And to answer the next question, yes, you can get a deadline waiver for your film for the YoungCuts Film Festival.

Before you do though, a few pieces of advice.

The key to submitting your film to a Festival after the final deadline (assuming that you can get a waiver) is to imagine that you are running a race with a series of hurdles. These hurdle start out very low and easy to jump in the days after the final deadline has passed and grow increasingly taller - and harder to vault over - the closer to the Notification Date that you get.

The first hurdle is Getting the Festival a Screener Copy to Review.
Since speed is of the essence, we would suggest the following: Put your film on Vimeo with a password. Leave the download option turned on in the privacy settings and send us that link. DropBox and YouSendIt are also viable options.

Your second hurdle is Getting the Festival Physical Copies of Your Film.
Be sure that you understand exactly what the Festival wants. Be ready to ship them the material that they want, when they ask for it. Be extra careful to test what you are sending so that there are no errors or glitches. Try to ship it so that you can track your package and make sure that the Festival receives it. Be careful of special circumstances that could cause a delay. If you are shipping internationally, make sure to label your package: Cultural Material, No Commercial Value". This is so that your package is not stopped or slowed down by Customs.

In the specific case of the YoungCuts Film Festival, we require 2 DVD screeners, playable on any DVD player and a data DVD with highest-quality possible .MOV of your film to prepare material for projection and screening. We only need this for films that are picked, but once films are picked, we need that material as quickly as possible.

The third hurdle is Having Made a Great Film.
Keep in mind here that the Festival is in full swing watching and judging the Festival Submissions. In some categories, they may already be penciling in rough screenings of films. Before the final deadline, you just needed to get a Festival judge to fall in love with your film and champion it. Now you might need to convince a judge to fall out of love with another film so that you can take its spot. It is not going to happen if your film is as good as the films already submitted. It has to be better. And the closer to the Notification Date, the better that your film needs to be to be selected.

The fourth hurdle is the Length of Your Film. 
Again the Festival judges are already starting to pencil in rough screenings. If they are programming 100 minutes and they have 75 minutes penciled in, that leaves 25 minutes of film to program. If you have a 30 minute film, the judges either have to decide to make the screening longer or bump one of their rough picks to play your film. In either case, if they do pick your film it probably leaves them no room to program other films during that screening, which they may be reluctant to do. The closer to the Notification Date, the closer to being fixed the screenings will be and the harder that it will be to squeeze in a longer film. As a general rule, the closer to the Notification Date, the shorter that your film will need to be to be chosen.

The fifth and final hurdle is Responding Quickly to the Festival
As a Festival gets closer and closer to making its Selection, it sometimes needs information or material from a filmmaker. How quickly they can get that information or material can sometimes be a way that the Festival decides between two equally good films. If the jury is divided between two films and both films are missing information or material, the filmmaker who responds fastest and best to the Festival Director's requests is going to see their film get programmed.

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So, again, yes, you can have a deadline waiver, but be sure that you are ready to run the race and vault every hurdle along the way before you start running.  

Yes, it says June 15th, but there is still time!
But SUBMIT NOW for your best chance!

LAST CHANCE to Submit to the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival

LAST CHANCE to Submit to the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival
News and Notes from the YoungCuts Film Festival

Last Chance to Submit!

The final deadline for the YoungCuts Film Festival is July 2nd. (In practice, Monday is a holiday in Canada and we are flexible, so you have plenty of time to sneak in your film at the wire.) But don't wait! Submit today!

Here is how to submit:
http://www.youngcuts.com/static/how_to_submit_to_the_2012_youngcuts_film_festival

Remember that we have added a Master Class section this year for filmmakers 26-29, so we are accepting films from any young filmmaker 29 or under.

Watch the Best of YoungCuts TV Specials

Earlier this year, we were able to broadcast 10 short films from the YoungCuts Film Festival as 2 TV specials presented in High Definition on the HIFI channel.

Now, you can watch those two specials online for FREE!
http://www.youngcuts.com/best_of_youngcuts

Filmmaker Opportunity: ReelWorld Film Festival Indie Film Lounge

Each summer ReelWorld Film Festival and Foundation selects 20 diverse emerging producers, directors, screenwriters or actors to participate in our annual Indie Film Lounge happening September 12-13.  These E20 and are given the opportunity to meet, network and pitch at one-on-one meeting with established  producers, directors, writers, actors, funders, agents, broadcasters, distributors, and union reps.  If you are working on a project or want to move your career ahead in the right direction than apply now or e-mail industry@reelworld.ca

Application Deadline: July 20th, 2012

The YoungCuts Film Festival Facebook Page

Almost every day, we are featuring images from films submitted to this year's festival (or from previous festivals) along with discussions and advice inspired by those films.

Find Us and Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngcuts

And follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/YoungCuts

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YoungCuts Film Festival Deadline Extension

YoungCuts Film Festival Deadline Extension
News and Notes from the YoungCuts Film Festival

At the request of many schools, institutions, students and young
filmmakers, we are extending the YoungCuts Film Festival deadline until July 2nd.

This year, the YoungCuts Film Festival (est 2001) celebrates 11 years of presenting Great Short Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers. Every year, we watch more than 1,000 films from over 30 countries to pick our Top 100 International Short Films - which we present in Montreal at the end of September.

One of our key objectives is to help young filmmakers develop their filmmaking careers. In addition to showcasing their films at the YoungCuts Film Festival, we have helped place filmmakers with major studios and television broadcasters, landed them gigs filming major feature films, had their films broadcast on television (and on planes!), helped them get selected in partner film festivals, and engaged them to work in more than 500 film and television productions across North America.

If you need to jump start your filmmaking career, we are an excellent place for them to start. At the very least, since many festival professionals regard us as the source of the best short films by young filmmakers, submitting to the YoungCuts Film Festival often results in the films being selected by other international film festivals.

REMINDER: We added a "Masterclass" section this year for filmmakers 26-29, meaning that we program films by any young filmmaker 29 years old or under.

Contact us for more details at 514-285-4591 or festivaldirector@youngcuts.com

Here is information about how to submit individual films:
http://www.youngcuts.com/static/how_to_submit_to_the_2012_youngcuts_film_festival

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Sweet Tooth Wins the YoungCuts Film Festival Studio Technique Animation Prize



We are pleased to announce that Audrey Meubus, director of Sweet Tooth, has been chosen as the winner of the YoungCuts Film Festival Studio Technique Animation Prize. This means that Audrey won a free seat in the one day Studio Technique intensive animation course given by legendary Disney Animator Andreas Deja (designer of Scar amongst many other accomplishments).



Audrey (and her film) were chosen from amongst 50 short animated films submitted to the contest. We are also pleased to make Sweet Tooth the first film chosen to be amongst our Top 100 International Short Films at the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival.



The 50 short animated films (and more than 150 live action films) are available to watch on the YoungCuts web-site for subscribers (and film submitters)
http://www.youngcuts.com/static/festival_audience_subscription_payment

Use YCNL5 as a coupon to get $5 off the cost of a subscription.

You can also use that coupon to reduce the cost when you submit your short film (animated or live action) to the YoungCuts Film Festival. SUBMIT TODAY!

You can watch Sweet Tooth for free on the YoungCuts web-site here:
http://www.youngcuts.com/sweet_tooth

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Like the YoungCuts Film Festival on Facebook to get daily updates on some of the great short films that we are watching and suggesting that you watch.
https://www.facebook.com/youngcuts

And follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/YoungCuts

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Sweet Tooth Wins the YoungCuts Film Festival Studio Technique Animation Prize

Sweet Tooth Wins the YoungCuts Film Festival Studio Technique Animation Prize

We are pleased to announce that Audrey Meubus, director of Sweet Tooth, has been chosen as the winner of the YoungCuts Film Festival Studio Technique Animation Prize. This means that Audrey will have a free seat in the one day Studio Technique intensive animation course being given by legendary Disney Animator Andreas Deja (designer of Scar amongst many other accomplishments).

Audrey (and her film) was chosen from amongst 50 short animated films submitted to the contest. We are also pleased to make Sweet Tooth the first film chosen to be amongst our Top 100 International Short Films at the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival.

The 50 short animated films (and more than 150 live action films) are available to watch on the YoungCuts web-site for subscribers (and film submitters): 

http://www.youngcuts.com/static/festival_audience_subscription_payment

Use YCNL5 as a coupon to get $5 off the cost of a subscription. 

You can also use that coupon to reduce the cost when you submit your short film (animated or live action) to the YoungCuts Film Festival. We have extended our final deadline to July 2nd, but SUBMIT TODAY!

You can watch Sweet Tooth for free on the YoungCuts web-site here: 

http://www.youngcuts.com/sweet_tooth

There are still seats available in the Studio Technique class - for details go here:

http://www.studiotechniquemontreal.com/events/?p=173

YoungCuts Releases Free TextbookVideos Microeconomics Study Guide

YoungCuts Releases Free TextbookVideos Microeconomics Study Guide

Just in time for exams, YoungCuts Inc. releases a free Microeconomics study guide. The free guide, available on the TextbookVideos web-site, is based on a two year YoungCuts project that included the production of 150 short videos, featuring some of North America's best economics professors. Each video describes a key Economics concept. The videos use animation, graphics, b-roll, and special effects to help students quickly grasp the subject matter.

In preparing the project, YoungCuts interviewed more than 200 students, education experts, university administrators and professors who teach economics - including at least one from every U.S. state and Canadian province.

Company President and study guide author Jay Moulton explained the genesis of the study guide.

"After two years developing the Real World Economics video series, we found that written economics study guides existed, but most were hundreds of pages long.

There is a need for a notebook-type summary of key microeconomics concepts that students can use to study and prepare for classes, tests and exams.

We originally wrote this study guide to accompany the TextbookVideos microeconomics video series, but we decided to offer the text version of the study guide at no charge. If students like the study guide, they'll love the videos."

The video series is available by subscription for as little as $9.95 at TextbookVideos.com.

The study guide will also be available on the web-site with integrated videos.

McGill University Economics instructor Eesha Sen Choudhury, Ph.D., worked closely with the TextbookVideos team to develop the study guide, quizzes and videos.

The company's Real World Economics microeconomics series includes 60 core videos, each one averaging just over 4 minutes in length. TextbookVideos is releasing another 90 microeconomics videos at its web site in early May 2012.

The study guide's ISBN number is 978-1-927493-00-7. For further information, contact Jay Moulton at 514-846-3400, or jay@textbookvideos.com

Download a copy of the TextbookVideos Microeconomics Study Guide - Text Version

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YoungCuts Inc. produces short educational videos for governments, corporations, educational institutions and charities. The client list includes Pepsi, Air Canada, MTV, Astral Media, Cellfish, Concordia University, High Fidelity HDTV, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Every year, YoungCuts presents the world's largest international film festival for "Great Short Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers" www.YoungCuts.com

First Best of YoungCuts Broadcast on Television this Saturday!

First Best of YoungCuts Broadcast on Television this Saturday!
New 26 to 29 Year Old Category - Next Deadline April 30
Watch 150+ Short Films for $9.95! 
Late Fee Pricing Starts May 1

News and Notes from the YoungCuts Film Festival.

1. Best of YoungCuts on HIFI Television this Saturday!

On Saturday, April 28^th, HIFI will air at Noon and 12:30 EST two Best of YoungCuts half hour TV episodes. The episodes include short films by YoungCuts filmmakers A.J. Korkidakis, Ben McKinnon, Jason Ambrus, Caroline de Koninck, Fanny Pascual, Francis Martineau, Sophie Choquette and Chris Diaz.

HIFI is owned and operated by High Fidelity HDTV™, a North American leader in HD broadcasting. With its suite of High Definition channels, Oasis HD™, HIFI™, eqhd™, and radX™, High Fidelity HDTV broadcasts some of the best non-fiction programming from around the world. To see what channel your TV provider carries the HIFI channel on go here: http://www.hifi.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=8

The Best of YoungCuts TV episodes are another way that YoungCuts showcases great young filmmakers and another reason that you should submit your films. High Fidelity HDTV and Canadian Heritage helped fund these two episodes.

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2. YoungCuts Responds to Popular Demand with New 29 and Under Category!
New YoungCuts MasterClass Section

In case you missed the announcement, YoungCuts has added a new category for filmmakers 26 to 29 years old.

The 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival is now accepting submissions to the YoungCuts MasterClass category for filmmakers 26 to 29 years old. This is a great opportunity for filmmakers 26 to 29 years old to submit their best work to the Festival. Next deadline for this category is April 30.

Our goal in introducing this new section is to throw a spotlight on filmmakers 26 to 29 (previously too old for the Festival) including many YoungCuts Alumni and to fulfil our mandate to present Great Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers! To submit for consideration in this section, please go HERE!

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3. Watch 150+ Short Films for $9.95!

Film submitters, subscribers, supporters and sponsors of the YoungCuts Film Festival can now watch more than 150 short films on the YoungCuts web-site. And we will be adding another 50 short films to the site in the next 30 days.

After watching the films, viewers are invited to vote on the films as part of our "People's Choice" voting to help pick twenty of our Top 100 films that we will present during the YoungCuts Film Festival, September 27th to 30th.

Normally subscribing to view and vote for films is $14.95 for 60 days, but subscribe before the end of May and use this coupon: YCNL4 to save $5. (The coupon will also reduce the cost of submitting a film before May 31st. Paid film submissions include access to view and vote for films until the end of September.)

  
OR to subscribe by PayPal:

60 Days $14.95 USD 90 Days $19.95 USD Until Sept 30th $24.95 USD

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4. Late Fee Pricing Starts May 1^st!

Quick reminder that starting on May 1^st, the submission fee for all films submitted will be $60 regardless of length, so submit today!

One quick suggestion: If you know that you will be submitting to the festival, but your film is not quite ready, submit now to take advantage of the reduced rate and reserve your film’s spot in the judge’s room! Remember the later your film is submitted (and the longer it is) the less chance there is of it being picked!

Submit your short film today!

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YoungCuts Introduces New 29 and Under Category!

YoungCuts Introduces New 29 and Under Category! 
Watch 100 Short Films for $9.95! 
Support the YoungCuts Film Festival!

News and Notes from the YoungCuts Film Festival.

1. YoungCuts Responds to Popular Demand with New 29 and Under Category!
New YoungCuts MasterClass Section

In the past few years, so many filmmakers asked us to introduce a category for 26 to 29 year old filmmakers that we decided to do it this year!

The 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival is now accepting submissions to the YoungCuts MasterClass category for filmmakers 26 to 29 years old. This is a great opportunity for filmmakers 26 to 29 years old to submit their best work to the Festival. Next deadline for this category is April 30.

Our goal in introducing this new section is to throw a spotlight on filmmakers 26 to 29 (previously too old for the Festival) including many YoungCuts Alumni and to fulfil our mandate to present Great Short Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers! To submit for consideration in this section, please go HERE!

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2. Watch 100 Short Films for $9.95!

Subscribers, supporters and sponsors of the YoungCuts Film Festival can now watch more than 100 short films on the YoungCuts web-site. And we will be adding another 50 short films to the site in the next 30 days.

After watching the films, viewers are invited to vote on the films as part of our "People's Choice" voting to help pick twenty of the our Top 100 films that we will present during the YoungCuts Film Festival, September 28th and 29th.

Normally subscribing to view and vote for films is $14.95 for 60 days, but subscribe before the end of March and use this coupon: YCNL3 to save $5. (The coupon will also reduce the cost of submitting a film before March 31st. Paid film submissions include access to view and vote for films until the end of September.)

  

To subscribe by PayPal:

Subscription

60 Days $14.95 USD 90 Days $19.95 USD Until Sept 30th $24.95 USD

 

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3. YoungCuts Poster and Contest

I guess we should say Posters, one in English and the other bilingual.

To mark the release of our Festival Poster, we are going to have a contest. The rules are simple. All you have to do is print out one of our posters, hang it up somewhere cool where young filmmakers can see it and send us a picture of the poster. It should be obvious from the picture in what city or country the poster is being displayed.

Here are some examples from last year.

We will feature the best pictures on our web-site, blog, Twitter, Facebook and Google+. The person who submits what we believe to be the best picture wins a free subscription to our web-site and we will waive the submission fee for a newly submitted film of the winner's choosing. We will announce the winner May 1st.

You can download a PDF of the English Poster from HERE or the Bilingual Poster from HERE.

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4. Animation Prize Reminder

We have a great Animation Prize that includes a free spot in a one day Animation Master Class being given in Montreal on June 2nd by veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja.

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5. Submit Today!

So far this year, we have received submissions in more than twelve languages, from more than twenty countries. Take advantage of our regular submission fees by submitting your short film for consideration before March 31st. We do accept films after our regular deadline, but the later your film is submitted (and the longer it is) the less chance there is of it being picked. Remember that even if your film is not completed, you can still take advantage of our lower submission fees by submitting your film and reserving your film's spot in front of our judges!

And for the next two weeks, until March 31st, take advantage of this coupon code YCNL3 for a $5 rebate on your submission fee when you submit your great short film!

Submit your short film today!

YoungCuts Film Festival Poster and Contest

YoungCuts Film Festival Poster and Contest

Here is the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival Poster:

I guess we should say Posters, one in English and the other bilingual.

To mark the release of our Festival Poster, we are going to have a contest. The rules are simple. All you have to do is print out one of our posters, hang it up somewhere cool where young filmmakers can see it and send us a picture of the poster. It should be obvious from the picture in what city or country the poster is being displayed.

Here are some examples from last year.

We will feature the best pictures on our web-site, blog, Twitter, Facebook and Google+. The person who submits what we believe to be the best picture wins a free subscription to our web-site and we will waive the submission fee for a newly submitted film of the winner's choosing. We will announce the winner May 1st.

You can download a PDF of the English Poster from HERE or the Bilingual Poster from HERE.

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The YoungCuts Film Festival presents Great Short Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers 25 and under. If that sounds like your film, SUBMIT TODAY!

If you are an animator, you may be interested in our YoungCuts Animation Prize. This juried prize will award the winner a free spot in a one day Animation Masterclass being given in Montreal June 2nd by veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja.

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Become A Judge!

For the first time this year, we invite the public to become a YoungCuts judge by subscribing to our site, for about the price of a movie ticket, to watch and vote for films submitted to the Festival. Based on this People's Choice voting we will announce 20 films selected to be included in our Top 100 films - announced in mid-July and played during the YoungCuts Film Festival September 28th and 29th.

Our subscribers can already watch a selection of films from the 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival, plus watch and vote for our Early Bird films as well as films that almost made it into last year's Festival in our Second Chance or Repechage Film Gallery. We will be adding new film galleries every two weeks until the end of June, so there will be plenty of great films to watch and vote for!

YoungCuts Film Festival News: Become a Judge! Animation Prize! Submit Your Film!

YoungCuts Film Festival News
Become a Judge! Animation Prize! Submit Your Film!

News and Notes from the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival

If you like short films, support the YoungCuts Film Festival and watch some great ones! If you are a young animator, learn how you can meet and learn from a Disney animator! And if you are a young filmmaker, learn how to submit your short film to the Premiere Showcase for Great Short Films by the World's Best Young Filmmakers!

1. Become a Judge!

For the first time the YoungCuts Film Festival is allowing the public to watch films submitted to the festival and vote for their favourites. Based on this People's Choice voting, up to 20 films will be picked for our Top 100, with the remaining films picked by our traditional film juries.

For the price of a movie ticket, you can watch dozens of films and vote for your favourites!

Subscribers currently can watch films from the 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival. They can also watch and vote for films that were considered for last year's festival in our Repechage or Second Chance selection. And they can watch and vote for films that have already been submitted in our Early Bird selection. We will be adding new film galleries every two weeks from now until July, so subscribers will have plenty of films to watch!

Subscribe Today!

2. Animation Prize!
Meet and Learn from Andreas Deja!

Studio Technique Montreal and YoungCuts are pleased to offer the opportunity for a young animator to meet and learn from legendary Disney animator Andreas Deja!

About Andreas Deja

Andreas Deja has worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation for 30 years. He has created some of the most memorable characters animation has known, and has worked on several Academy Award winning films. He is also one of only a few animators the Disney Studio has authorized to draw Mickey Mouse.

Andreas is a recipient of the Winsor McCay Award for outstanding contribution to the art of animation, presented in 2006 at the 35th Annie Awards. He is responsible for many of animation’s famous characters, including Roger Rabbit, King Triton, Gaston, Scar, Jafar, Hercules, Lilo, and Mama Odie. He is also the creator of the world famous blog Deja View. Andreas is one of the industry’s leading animators, respected by his peers all over the world for his remarkable influence on the art form.

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We will be featuring animated films submitted to the YoungCuts Film Festival on our web-site as part of our People's Choice voting. Based on that voting, YoungCuts will select ten films for our Animation jury to consider for a special Animation prize. The winner will have a free seat in a Shop Talk Masterclass given by Andreas Deja - a one-day Animation Intensive Seminar, held in downtown Montreal (June 2, 2012). (The prize does not include travel and/or lodgings in Montreal, but this a rare opportunity to learn from a 30 year award-winning Disney veteran, and well worth the trip for any serious student of animation.)

The Shop Talk Masterclass is not software specific and is accompanied by visual presentations. The class is suitable for animation industry professionals, students or animation enthusiasts. For more information on the class and how to sign up to meet and learn from Andreas Deja, click HERE!

And if you are a young animator (or know someone who is) keep reading on how to submit your film!

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3. Submit Your Great Short Film Today!

So far this year, we have received submissions in more than ten languages, from more than twelve countries. Take advantage of our regular submission fees by submitting your short film for consideration before March 31st. We do accept films after our regular deadline, but the later your film is submitted (and the longer it is) the less chance there is of it being picked. Remember that even if your film is not completed, you can still take advantage of our lower submission fees by submitting your film and reserving your film's spot in front of our judges!

And for the next two weeks, until March 5th, take advantage of this coupon code YCNL2 for a $5 rebate on your submission fee when you submit your great short film!

Submit your short film today!

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Video of the Day: Beg

Video of the Day
Beg

Courtesy of the YoungCuts Film Festival
www.YoungCuts.com



What's It Called?  Beg

Who Made It? Written and Directed by Tommy Malone

Where Is It From? Montreal, Quebec, Canada

How Old Is the Director? 24 at the time of production.

Who Is the Director?  Tommy is a story teller, his comedy improv experience feeds his need for story telling in the medium of film.

What Is It?  Live Action Drama

How Long Is It? 0:29

What Is It About?  What does your clothing say about you?

When Did YoungCuts Play It?  2010

What Awards Did It Win?  Top 100 Short Films 2010 YoungCuts Film Festival.

Why Did We Play It?  Comedy is all about timing and Beg is exactly as long as it needs to be. One beat longer would have been milking it. One beat shorter would have caused confusion and ruined the punchline. (Also's Tommy's reaction is perfect.)

Filmmaker Statement  This was an exercise in making as short a film as possible with a fun payoff.

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You can watch more videos HERE!

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If you are a young filmmaker and would like to submit your short film to the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival, HERE'S HOW!

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Video of the day is brought to you in part by Canadian Heritage.

Video of the Day: Only Human

Video of the Day
Only Human

Courtesy of the YoungCuts Film Festival
www.YoungCuts.com



What's It Called?  Only Human

Who Made It?  Written and Directed by Caroline de Konick

Where Is It From?   Canada (Quebec)

How Old Is the Director?  25 (22 at the time of production)

Who Is the Director?  Caroline de Koninck is born on October 22nd 1986, and raised in the suburbs of Montreal as the youngest of a family who are diversified in culture and work. Her mother is a theologian working in local parishes; her father, a retired business consultant; her brother, a mechanical engineer; and her eldest brother, a musician and journalist.

De Koninck is a young director who specializes in animated film. She did her undergraduate work at Concordia University where she produced many films that have entered several festivals around the world. She has tried her hand at several techniques including 3D computer animation, stopmotion, clay painting, and pencil drawing. Her favorite types of films revolve around a strong story, so she strives to become an inspirational storyteller with the aid of simple yet meaningful imagery. She believes that the story is of utmost importance, more than the look of the film: so her imagery is not overly detailed and every part of the image has a conceptual purpose.

De Koninck also has a passion for post-production. She worked on a NFB production in association with Warner Brothers Home video as a compositor and editor.

She will pursue her love in filmmaking and wishes to have her work shown around the world.

What Is It?  Stop Motion Animation.

How Long Is It?  2:08

What Is It About?  Self-Portrait: Two personalities clash as a girl tries to get her
dog to obey her commands.

When Did YoungCuts Play It?  2009

Why Did YoungCuts Play It?  It's a lovely little parable about how humanity has become so mechanized and robotic that only our machines have retained their souls. The judges at YoungCuts also like to watch the progression of filmmakers from year to year and project to project. Only Human builds on what Caroline learned making Good Girl.

The judges also liked the way that the only solid things in the film were the dog and the machines, while the humans have been reduced to the visual equivalents of the adult audio squawking from the Charlie Brown cartoons.

What Awards Did It Win?  Top 100 Short Films 2009 YoungCuts Film Festival

Filmmaker Statement  Only Human was my first attempt at stop motion. Manipulating the character with my hands gave me a different feeling than doing so with a computer mouse, and I loved it. The idea behind this film had been in my head for ages and was fueled by the song “Utopia” by Goldfrapp.

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You can watch more videos HERE!

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If you are a young filmmaker and would like to submit your short film to the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival, HERE'S HOW!

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Video of the day is brought to you in part by Canadian Heritage.

Video of the Day: Little Black Boxes

Video of the Day
Little Black Boxes

Courtesy of the YoungCuts Film Festival
www.YoungCuts.com



What's It Called?  Little Black Boxes

Who Made It? Written and Directed by Sophie Choquette

Where Is It From? Montreal, Quebec, Canada

How Old Is the Director? 19 (18 at time of production)

What Is It?  Claymation Music Video

How Long Is It?  4:23

What Is It About?  This claymation video was done by a John Abbott student. It explores the relationships this generation has with technology, and how relationship with living beings is compromised by an addiction to technology. The piece follows a young man as his relationships with loved ones are replaced by devices and he betrays them. Technology ends up betraying him in the end.

When Did YoungCuts Play It?  2011

What Awards Did It Win?  Top 100 Short Films 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival.

Why Did We Play It?  We get a lot of films submitted to the Festival that break your heart, because the filmmaker went to a lot of trouble to create a film that only works because of music that they don't have the rights to use. This is heartbreaking for three reasons, first it severely limits what the filmmaker can do to showcase their talent, second, the music chosen almost always comes across as an inauthentic choice, not appropriate for what the filmmaker was trying to do. Finally, for every great young filmmaker looking for musical inspiration, there are great young musicians looking for opportunities to create music.

Sophie did it exactly right. She found a band at her school with a great song, raw with the passion of youth and she created a fantastic animated video to accompany that song. The raw energy of her animation (or if you prefer the raw inertia of her animation) matched the raw energy of the music because they were coming from the same place. The film is authentic in the way that a film by a young filmmaker that uses a 30 year old David Bowie song can never be.

Also, you have to admire a filmmaker who literally burns down her sets.

YoungCuts Statement  As a quick follow-up, we should maybe explain how we ended up finding Little Black Boxes. The Festival Director Michael Ryan was invited to lead a discussion about Best Practices for Festival Submissions during the Concordia Film Festival on the Thursday afternoon that the festival started. This lead to an invitation to take part in a panel early that Saturday morning during the festival about the future of short film. One of the other panellists was Daniel Schorr who teaches animation at CEGEP John Abbott. He invited Michael to attend their end-of-year screening that was taking place at Cinema du Parc that Sunday evening.

We mention this as a tip to student filmmakers and their teachers. If you are doing an end-of-year screening, invite film festivals like ours to come. If we can send someone to watch the films we will. And we will frequently tell young filmmakers on the spot what films we are interested in (and sometimes what films need more work.)

It does help to give us more than 24 hours notice though!

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You can watch more videos HERE!

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If you are a young filmmaker and would like to submit your short film to the 2012 YoungCuts Film Festival, HERE'S HOW!

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Video of the day is brought to you in part by Canadian Heritage.

YoungCuts Early-Bird Deadline for Submissions is January 31st!

YoungCuts Early-Bird Deadline for Submissions is January 31st!

It is that time of year again, when we make our call for submissions for Great Short Films by the World’s Best Young Filmmakers 25 and under.
http://www.youngcuts.com/static/how_to_submit_to_the_2012_youngcuts_film_festival

If you are 25 or under and are planning to submit a film this year, keep in mind that even if you haven’t completed your film yet, you can still benefit from our early-bird fees by submitting the name of your film and paying the submission fee before January 31st. The early-bird fee is $20 if your film is under 5 minutes including credits or $30 if it is 5-30 minutes long.

If you are over 25, we do program appropriate films by our alumni. We prefer that these be short (or excerpts from a larger work that tell a complete story) and we do not present awards to these films.

This year, we are providing a new way for filmmakers and film fans to participate in the festival and for films to be selected for the festival: our People’s Choice voting. Filmmakers who submit a film and pay the submission fee will have access to watch films from past festivals, as well as submissions for this year’s festival. For this year’s submissions, they will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. Each month, we will select at least one film based on public voting.

Film fans, YoungCuts alumni not submitting a film this year and the general public also have the opportunity to watch and vote on films by paying a subscription fee equivalent to the price of a movie ticket.
http://www.youngcuts.com/subscriptions

Courtesy of Canadian Heritage, we also have some free films from previous festivals for you to watch and vote for your favourites:
http://www.youngcuts.com/canadian_heritage_presents_great_short_films

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Please help our mission to promote the great work of young filmmakers!

Tell your filmmaking friends to submit their films! Tell your friends, family and film fans to check out the free YoungCuts films (and buy a subscription to see more!)

We look forward to seeing the progress of your work!