Calling all filmmakers!! A Japanese festival is offering an award of one million dollars to a director who can pitch a great movie. The festival focuses on the art of short film and organizers believe this is becoming the next best thing in the movie industry. A 500-word pitch on what’s billed as a “thrilling, exciting, moving” storyline is due by Feb. 29. The pitch must be written in either Japanese or English and submitting online at http://www.shortshorts.org/shortfilm-pitch/index-en.html . Five finalists will be chosen and each will get 500,000 yen ($4,000) cash prize. One out of the five will then be picked and receive 100 million yen ($800,000) in funding to make his or her movie. The winner will get an additional 1 million yen ($8,000) award. Rieko Muramoto, executive director for digital business at the Japanese entertainment company Avex Digital, is funding the contest. She believes finding fresh content for online services will help pioneer a genre and nurture talent. “The short film holds a lot of potential for busy people who are watching video on smartphones, which means a complete story must be told much more quickly,” Muramoto said. Good luck! Photo credit: KathleenCross.com
