SHORTSTV BEST OF INDIA SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2019 OPEN FOR ENTRIES

Stand a chance to win prizes totalling $2,500 and Oscar qualification status for your short movie

 by Samiksha

Mumbai,March 2019 :ShortsTV, the world’s leading short movie TV service, available in India on Tata Sky, is looking for great short movies made by Indian filmmakers to enter its 2019 Best of India Short Film Festival.

After a successful first edition last year, the competition is returning with the goal of further raising artistic awareness of Indian filmmakers to the Hollywood film community and opening doors for possible television deals and other opportunities, including qualification for Academy Award consideration.

ShortsTV will award prizes totaling $2,500 to the top five selected short films. The five top shorts will also receive a screening in Los Angeles, California for seven days and thereby gain Academy Award qualification status. Every film entered will be considered for a television broadcast deal on ShortsTV (although filmmakers do not have to accept this).

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of ShortsTV said, “At present, no Indian film festival is accredited by the Academy, making it difficult for Indian filmmakers to get their films considered for Oscar® nominations. To be considered for an Oscar®, a film either needs to win an award at an Academy accredited film festival or be screened at a cinema in Los Angeles for at least seven days, which can be prohibitively expensive for most short filmmakers. ShortsTV believes more Indian filmmakers deserve the opportunity to becomeOscar® nominated and the ShortsTV Best of India Short Film Festival is one initiative we are implementing to make that happen.”

Last year, the top prize went to Mumbai based filmmaker Chintan Sarda and his short film ‘Shunyata’, featuring Jackie Shroff in the leading role.

To be eligible for the competition, entries need to be “narrative” live action short films with a total running time of 40 minutes or less where either the writer, director or producer is from India and the film’s final form is in High Definition (HD) or DCP.

Key dates for the competition are as follows:

·  April 30, 2019: Entries close

·  May 31, 2019: Winners announced on ShortsTV television and social media platforms

·  June 7 – 13, 2019: Screening in Los Angeles, California

ABOUT SHORTSTV:

· ShortsTV is operated by Shorts International Ltd, the world’s leading short movie Entertainment Company.

·  With over 5,000 titles, Shorts International has the world’s largest library of shorts available on TV, online and in theatres, including award-winning and star-studded live action, animated and documentary shorts from around the world.

· ShortsTV is the world’s only 24/7 HD TV channel dedicated to short movies. It is available in approximately 70 million households across the US, India, Latin America, the Netherlands, Belgium and Serbia.

·  In India, ShortsTV is available as ‘Tata Sky ShortsTV’, on Tata Sky channel HD 112 and SD 113, and on the Tata Sky app.

· In 2018, ShortsTV launched the ShortsTV App which marries the linear ShortsTV feed with the functionality of the Internet, at the click of a button on a viewer’s remote control. Using advanced machine-learning algorithm technology, the ShortsTV App enables viewers to either watch TV or to create, control and personalize their own TV channel, engineered to their desired genres or moods.

· Since 2006, Shorts International has exclusively presented the ‘Oscar Nominated Short Films’ theatrical release in cinemas across the US, South America, Europe, Australia and South Africa, and in 2019 brought them to Indian cinemas for the first time.

· Shorts International is headquartered in London, England with offices in Los Angeles and Mumbai. The company is led by Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive, and is owned by Shorts Entertainment Holdings, with AMC Networks as a significant minority shareholder