International array of one-minute films

From 1 September until 30 September, festival-goers around the globe will screen, rate and vote on this year's selection of 25 one-minute films at www.filminute.com. Filminute festival is complemented by broadband and conventional broadcasts, mobile screenings, and cinema and digital installations in London, Bucharest, and Toronto.

In making this year's selection, Filminute programmers screened more than 1500 films and animations from 60 countries (an increase of 33% over last year, when films were submitted from 45 countries). Twenty-five films representing 16 countries have been selected for this year's Filminute festival. Titles will be announced when the festival edition of the website goes live on 1 September.

The third edition of Filminute will, once again, showcase films from Canada, China, Finland, India, Iran, Romania, Russia, Spain, the UK and the US. Films from Hungary, Iceland, Korea, Scotland, Serbia, and Slovakia are represented this year for the first time.

Public invited to vote

In addition to the “Best Filminute” jury prize and commendations, as determined by Filminute's jury, the public is invited to vote for its festival favorite and selects the “People's Choice” winner. The Filminute awards will be announced on 12 October.

Organisers noted a surge in submissions from Eastern Europe, India and the US and offer several possible explanations for the increase: the winners of the first two editions of Filminute were from Eastern Europe, and last year 10% of the festival's site traffic came from India. As well, Quao says, “The US seems to have jumped on the idea of Filminute after the format and the genre have proven wildly successful in the rest of the world. The consistently strong international jury also continues to raise eyebrows and attract filmmakers.”

Ketchum added that there was an increase in both the quantity and quality of films screened this year. “This year witnessed a marked increase in the number of films submitted by experienced filmmakers and production firms. This has resulted in a significant jump in the quality of cinematography, music scoring and sound design. Add to this the dramatic rise in the number of films featuring professional actors and you have the makings of a very exciting collection for Filminute audiences worldwide.”

2007 was a banner year for Filminute, with an audience from more than 90 countries enjoying over two million individual screenings of one-minute films. Filminute 2008 promises to be even more successful, and organisers are predicting that audiences in more than 100 countries will view up to a cumulative 10 million minutes of film from this year's selection. Coming even close would confirm Filminute's status as the world's largest film festival, in terms of audience size.

More information and full details are available at www.filminute.com.