Portable Film Festival
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The Portable Film Festival founded in 2006 is an online film festival that prides itself on being the first of it’s kind, a portable film festival. It is held annually at the offical website. [1].
In 2007 the programme will be more than double the size of the foundation year.
THE BIG QUESTION: WHAT IS THE PORTABLE FILM FESTIVAL?
It’s an annual online festival presenting the best in international short film and internet video culture. From the second we open our virtual doors, festival goers can take our programme away with them – or maybe just some of the programme - and do whatever they want with it. All they need is a portable device, like a video iPod, Sony PSP, laptop computer or fancy mobile phone. And here’s the kicker: it costs absolutely nothing if you sign up.
WHAT MAKES IT A FESTIVAL?
Lots of things. Like traditional film fests it has an opening and closing date, a clear overall vision and a team of curators securing the best of what the world has to offer to fit the bill. But this is a festival in your hands, so you can ignore our programme and curate your own. Just want to watch music stuff? Fine. Prefer narrative to animation? No problem. Only want funny clips of people falling over? No promises, we’ll see what we can do. Oh, and there’s awards, workshops and events too, but we’ll get to them later.
DO WE NEED A PORTABLE FILM FESTIVAL?
You bet. The new internet era* has gatecrashed the film industry’s party and we’ve been in to make some sense of the madness. With 2007’s playing field totally level for professionals and amateurs, our programme features big-time directors and bedroom philosophers - whether you’re making a big budget doco, a mid-budget music clip or a no budget blog, we want the busy modern world to know what you’re up to.
- They call it ‘Web 2.0’. Time magazine describes it thus; “If the web’s first coming was all about grafting old businesses onto a new medium (pet food! On the internet!), Web 2.0 is all about empowering individual consumers. It’s not enough just to find that obscure old movie; now you can make your own film, distribute it worldwide and find out what people think almost instantly.”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
There’s no such thing as a free launch? Think again. If there’s one message we’d love to make doubly clear about the Portable Film Festival 2007, it’s that everyone with an internet connection can get a huge bundle of awesome content for absolutely nothing. All they need to do is sign up for it.
In practice, every festival goer has an editable user profile, as they would on a forum website, and can rate and review anything they watch (most of The Portable Film Festival 2007’s awards are decided by user ratings, which gives everyone the chance to help dictate the outcome). You just download whatever you want to watch in whatever format you have – iPod, PSP, G3 - take it away and view it, then report back with your thoughts. Easy.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
Across five categories The Portable Film Festival 2007 offers an international line-up of creative moving image and thought-provoking footage. And when it comes to giving out gongs, we all know an award isn’t an award without a catchy nickname. The Portable Film Festival 2007 calls its awards ‘The Hoppers’ (it doesn’t get any catchier than that). In addition, many of our Hoppers are accompanied by an additional category incentive, offered by one of the festival’s key partners. For full details, contact Rae Begley (contacts follow).
THE PORTABLE FILM FESTIVAL 2007: CATEGORIES
Beginning online but happening wherever you take it, The Portable Film Festival 2007 presents a two-headed monster programme of the best in short film and online video culture.
Category 1: Short Film
Movies for movers: The Portable Film Festival 2007 shows eye-popping examples of the finest short film. Welcoming directors of all nationalities, backgrounds and proficiency levels, work of any genre is acceptable in our flagship category. Films may have premiered on the internet or have been part of an established film festival. Whatever the case, they’re all side-by-side, fighting for the prize. Most films have never been previously available to download.
Category 2: Music Video
Innovative, fast-paced, vibrant and set to some truly great music - we love a good music video. Whether it surfaced online or was PR’d to within an inch of its life, our 2007 programme showcases the directors who’ve got the whole damn thing worked out.
Category 3: Look At Me
In postage stamp-sized corners of the internet people are making you laugh, cry, herald or question their on-screen antics and personas. From bedroom bloggers to beatboxers, stand-up comics to crank-callers, here’s our recognition of the most inventive people using video to further their cause.
Category 4: First Hand Capture
Where have you been and what have you seen? Some of the most memorable and significant media moments are captured on mobile phones and digital cameras. We feature the very best examples of on-the-spot, as-it-happens action.
Category 5: Portable Media Achievers
Which websites use portable media to its fullest? Which organisations give us a whole new route into existing arenas? Which creative teams fearlessly guide us into areas we never imagined possible even a year or two ago? We recognise the finest exponents and give you a glance at the content they’re providing.
OFFLINE ACTIVITY
Events
To accompany our online program, The Portable Film Festival stages events, including screenings and parties in each of Australia’s capital cities. There’s ‘The Portable Film Festival Symposium’ too, our annual series of industry forums. In 2006, over 2000 people attended our series of screenings and parties.
Portable Screen Academy
Workshops will be held in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Tasmania and are being considered overseas. Workshops are presented by the Portable Film Festival team and feature a panel of industry experts.
International Touring Program
In September, the Portable Film Festival 2007 branches out across the globe with screenings and events in major cities including Singapore, New Zealand, Berlin, London, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Toronto and Vancouver.
The Portable Trailer
We take the Portable Trailer to key Australian city locations - Federation Square, Melbourne, Circular Quay, Sydney etc - promoting the festival and offering content for on-the-spot download.
THE PORTABLE FILM FESTIVAL 2007 KEY DATES
March 19: Call For Entries Opens May 30: Call For Entries Closes July 1: Portable Film Festival 2007 Starts July 31: Portable Film Festival 2007 Ends
