All South African filmmakers are invited to participate in the Durban Short Film Challenge, which takes place from 24 May to 15 June. The Challenge is organised by the Durban Youth in Film Society and will be showcased at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which runs from 22 July to 1 August.
Teams participating in the Challenge have three weeks to write, shoot and edit a five-minute film or video around a specific theme. The top 12 films submitted will be selected for screening during the DIFF, while the winning film will qualify the director or writer of the film for a place in the National Film and Video Foundation’s Sediba SPARK programme.
“During this official competition period, the idea is that all creativity will take place, including but not limited to, writing the script, rehearsing, costume and set design, filming, editing, rendering, sound designing.’ explains Tiny Mungwe, co-ordinator of the challenge. “Teams are able to establish their organising creative team, cast, equipment and scouting and securing locations before this period, but can only begin once we have announced the theme.’
The theme for the challenge will be announced on the ‘Film Tower’ group on the social networking site www.facebook.com. Alternatively, interested parties can send an email to durbanfilmsociety@gmail.com on 24 May and the theme will be emailed to them.
Films have to be exactly five minutes (excluding opening and end titles) and can be in any genre. The final films have to be delivered on or before 15 June 2010. There are facilities for participants to upload their films onto www.vimeo.com and email the link to durbanfilmsociety@gmail.com.
Full information about the short film challenge, as well as the rules and regulations can be found on www.diff.ukzn.ac.za.
The Durban Short Film Challenge is a project of the Durban Film Society in partnership the Durban International Film Festival, hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN). The Durban Short Film Challenge is thankful for the support of the Durban Film Office.
