Digi60 Ottawa Filmmakers Festival
The Catch is Revealed for Spring 2013 !
The Catch for the Spring 2013 Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival is not a thing, a line nor an action. It is just a theme. The Catch is:
Culture in a digital world
You will notice that is the exact same theme of the Creative City Summit !
Also after the credits …
You or one of your crew or actors will appear on camera for up to 30 seconds to give your thoughts on the theme. You can summarize your film’s take on the theme, or just come up with your own opinion !
These may be shown at the Bytowne screening. And as for judging, you will receive full points for completing the on camera task, and no points if you don’t. You won’t be judged for what you say, but only whether you say it. This will make up about 10% of the points structure.
2013 Spring Edition – Top 5 Films Will Get the Digi60 Push
The Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival is excited to announce that the top five films as chosen by our judging panel will receive up to $200 in reimbursement for entry fees to other film festivals.
In addition, all award winning filmmakers will be invited to a three hour session on navigating film festivals entries, hosted by Producer Michael Dobbin, the head of Quiet Revolution Pictures.
Michael regularly attends the Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes and the Berlinale and has attended many others. His films have been screened at dozens of festivals, including Tribeca, Karlovy Vary, Edinburgh, Montreal, Hollywood, London IFF, Fantasporto, Rome, Kolkata, and Planet in Focus to name only a few. One of his company’s films, “The Maiden Danced”, alone has been presented to audiences at over 30 festivals in 20 countries and counting (currently heading to Rome), and was on the shortlist for the Hungarian Best Foreign Language Oscar nomination this past year.
While in the UK, Michael produced a Festivals, Sales and Marketing workshop by Mia Bays, who produced the Oscar winning short film “Six Shooter”. His own short films have played festivals around the world, won some awards, and received distribution deals.
Our filmmakers will be in good hands !
2013 Spring Edition – We Are Doing a 180 !
Digi60 is excited to announce its second annual Spring Filmmaker’s Festival … and this time Filmmakers have 30 days to make a film of up to 180 seconds. This year we are running the spring festival in collaboration with The Creative City Network of Canada, and the screening of the films will be part of the 2013 Creative City Summit which will be held in Ottawa from May 29th to 31st.
Our Spring Digi60 challenges filmmakers from across the country to write and shoot a short digital film of 3 minutes or less in 30 days based around a “catch”. Previous catches have included first and last lines, basing your film on a story written by a child, and having your film revolve around a passionate kiss. Filmmakers are required to work with various creative groups in their city, including writers circles, actors groups, and established production companies. Digi60 is not only about making films, but about making filmmakers.
This year’s “Catch” will be released on April 15th, both on-line and at a live event to be held at Ottawa City Hall. Completed films from all cities will be curated by a judging panel, and selected films will be shown at a public screening on May 30th as part of the 2013 Creative City Summit in Ottawa. All entered films will be made available through the Digi60 website – www.digi60.org
Entry information and submission guidelines will be made available through the Digi60 website soon … so get your team ready.
Digi60 — Festival de cinéma numérique d’Ottawa à l’intention des cinéastes
Édition de printemps 2013 — Nous tournons un court métrage de 180 secondes!
Digi60 a le plaisir d’annoncer la tenue de son deuxième festival annuel de printemps à l’intention des cinéastes. Cette année, les participants ont 30 jours pour produire un court métrage de 180 secondes. Cette année, nous organisons le festival de printemps en collaboration avec le Réseau des villes créatives du Canada et le visionnement des films aura lieu dans le cadre du Sommet des villes créatives 2013 qui se déroulera à Ottawa du 29 au 31 mai.
Dans le cadre de l’édition de printemps Digi60, les cinéastes canadiens sont invités à créer et tourner un court métrage numérique de 3 minutes au plus, en 30 jours, axé sur un « thème ». Au cours des années précédentes, la première et la dernière ligne du script étant fournies, le thème consistait à créer une histoire racontée par un enfant, ou le film devait avoir pour thème central un baiser passionné. Les cinéastes sont invités à travailler en collaboration avec divers groupes créatifs de leur ville, notamment les cercles d’écrivains, les groupes d’acteurs et les sociétés de production établies. Le festival Digi60 ne vise pas seulement à produire des films, mais aussi à faire naître des vocations de cinéaste.
Cette année, le thème sera dévoilé aux alentours du 15 avril, en ligne et au cours d’un événement en direct qui se tiendra à l’hôtel de ville d’Ottawa. Les films provenant de toutes les villes seront évalués par un jury et les films sélectionnés seront présentés au cours d’une projection publique le 30 mai dans le cadre du Sommet des villes créatives 2013 d’Ottawa. Tous les films soumis seront disponibles sur le site Web Digi60 – www.digi60.org
Les renseignements pour l’inscription et des directives relatives à la soumission des projets seront bientôt disponibles sur le site Web Digi60. Tenez votre équipe de tournage prête!
2012 Award Winners Announced !
Scripted Invited
Best Technical Quality (tied)
Algebra (click to view BTS Video)
The Green Cardigan (click to view BTS Video)
Best Directing
Subterfuge Suite
Best Acting
Willy
Best Story
Willy
Audience Favourite
Checkmate
Best Film Nominees (Receive up to $200 for Festival Entries)
Willy
Subterfuge Suite
Five Year Bid
Best Film Winner
Willy
Scripted Open
Technical Quality
Relapse
Best Directing
Relapse
Best Overall Screenplay
Sock Heart
Best Acting
Relapse
Best Story
Scissors
Best Film Nominees (Receive up to $200 for Festival Entries)
Relapse
The Clean Up
Scissors
Best Film
Relapse
Documentary:
Directing (tied):
NHL Lockout
Patriot
Storytelling:
Patriot
Creativity:
Plan P
Editing:
NHL Lockout
Best Overall Documentary:
On the Radar
Scripted Screenings 2012 – December 8th
There will be THREE screenings for the scripted stream this year … we received 25 entries ! Tickets for each individual screening (as well as a full night pass) are now available on our “Screenings” page. Here are the times and the films for each screening.
5:45 pm – Screening 1
First Ladies – Kirin Roulston
Checked Out – Islam Balbaa
We All Fall Down – Chris Chitaroni
Lucid – Moni Sparrow
Saturday – Kevin Preece
Il Typo – Graeme Hay
The Smoking Gun – Keith Wiggins
The Ringer – Melanie Mortensen
Laundry – Hilda Young
7:30pm – Screening 2
Scissors – Trevor Goulet
Alone At Last – Victoria Jung
B Longs – Caro Ibrahim
Sock Heart – Kerry Hutton
Relapse – Corry Burke / Mike Horrigan
The Clean Up – Kris Lariviere
Atone – Derek Price
Gothic Revival – Christopher Skinner
The Stranger – Vincent Valentino
9:15pm – Screening 3
Five Year Bid – Karl Claude
Willy – Keith Davidson
Checkmate – Jolanta Mojsej
Algebra – Jith Paul
Dead Worst Poets Society – Bonnie Robinson
The Green Cardigan – Matt West
Subterfuge Suite – Alex Williams
There will also be a “Reunion Party” at the end of the night starting around 11pm … we will post more details soon !
Documentary Screenings 2012 – December 7th
There will be TWO screenings for the documentary stream this year … we received 18 entries ! Tickets for each individual screening (as well as a full night pass) are now available on our “Screenings” page. Here are the times and the films for each screening.
6:30pm – DOC SCREENING 1
The Canadian Game – Warner McQueen
Finding Your Roots – Nick Tessier
Sticks and Stones – Kirin Roulston
Brooms Up – Matthew Head
Patriot – Giovanni Jeudy
Plan P – Nicholas Losacco
The Promoter – Ashley Lambert
The New Union – Kristian Perrault
Broken – Steve Brule
8:30pm – DOC SCREENING 2
On The Radar – Gianamedeo (John) Petti
NHL Lockout 2012 – Robin Smith
Astrophotography – Graeme Hay
Kat’s Paw – Karen (Kat) Baldassari
All For One – Kyle Fennema
Alone – Aiden Mackean
Galloping Goats – Amanda Bean
Stolen Dream – Caro Ibrahim
Corporate Rehab – Nathan Boucher
The Digi60 2012 Festival Begins ! But There’s a Catch …
The Catch for the Scripted Stream of the Digi60 2012 Filmmakers Festival is:
Your short film must centre around a reunion … AND it must either start or end with a rhyming couplet.
There will be one bonus point added to your judged total if you both start AND end it with a rhyming couplet. The judging form totals 60 points, so you decide if it is worth it. The film may be up to 8 minutes maximum. You may also have one minute for credits. This minute can be split between opening and closing credits. So the absolute maximum run time for your short is 9 minutes.
And the Catch for the Documentary Stream of the Digi60 Filmmaker’s Festival is:
The catch for the documentary stream is:
Your documentary must involve a union.
Get creative ! 60 days … Good luck !
Here are some photos from our Catch Event !
26 Filmmakers entered in the Scripted Category ! That’s 1,560 days of potential filmmaking between the Catch and the Deadline. Good luck to you all. Here is the list …
Balbaa, Islam (Student)
Burke, Corry
Chitaroni, Christopher
Clark, Tim (Student)
Claude, Karl
Davidson, Keith
Hay, Graeme
Hutton, Kerry
Ibrahim, Caroline (Student)
Jung, Victoria (Student)
Lariviere, Kristian
Marshall, Lesley (Student)
McGowan, Sparrow
McMillan, Tim
Mojsej, Jolanta
Mortenson, Melanie
Paul, Jith
Price, Derek
Robinson, Bonnie
Roulston, Kirin (Student)
Skinner, Christopher
Valentino, Vincent
West, Matt
Wiggins, Keith
Williams, Alex
Young, Hilda
And here are the Invited Filmmakers as selected by our Production Partners !
ACTRA
Parktown – Karl Claude
Mountain Road – Keith Davidson
Affinity – Jolanta Mojsej
Non ACTRA
Parktown – Jith Paul
Mountain Road – Bonnie Robinson
inMotion – Matt West
Affinity – Alex Williams
Digi60 2012 – ENTRIES OPEN NOW – CATCH EVENT ANNOUNCED !
The 2012 Digi60 Filmmaker’s Festival is now accepting entries ! We have an expanded Invited Filmmaker’s category, new production sponsors, changes to our awards …
Check out our ENTRY PAGE for more details !
And the Scripted Catch Event will be held Friday September 14, 6:00pm at the Invest Ottawa Offices … check out the Event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/410826775647387/
The Spring Festival Results Are In
Check out the JUDGE’S FAVOURITE FILMS HERE
And check out ALL the films here :
The First Annual Digi60 Second Spring Competition
UPDATE!
The top judged film in the invited category will receive a $100 prize. In the Open category we will be giving a $100 prize to each of the top two judged films. We will also be giving a prize of $100 to the best judged screenplay, and a $100 prize for the best produced location promo video.
And then in the weeks after the screening we are having an on-line publicly voted “play down” involving all the films which Jim Miles and Kevin Friel will be running with their new “Battle Reels” application … which they will explain fully at our screening on June 15th. The winner of that “Battle” will also receive $100.
So here are the Invited Filmmakers for our Spring Festival!
First of all, thanks to all 8 of the filmmakers who applied and put themselves out there. Both inMotion and Parktown were impressed with the quality of the entries. As one of them said, “There were people in the group that I didn’t know about , that I should know about.” So even if you aren’t on the selection list, getting your name and work in front of these people can only help you in the future !
So here are the selections:
Parktown:
Randy Kelly
Sarah Argue
inMotion:
Matt West
Tim McMillan
Congratulations, and we will see you all at the Catch Event – May 15th at 6:00pm at the Invest Ottawa offices at 80 Aberdeen Street !
The First Annual Digi60 Second Spring Competition
REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED
Thank you to all the filmmakers who have signed up!
From now until May 15th, local filmmakers will be able to register below to enter this exciting new filmmaking competition. Then, on the evening of May 15th, all entrants will gather at the offices of Invest Ottawa (80 Aberdeen Street) to discover what the “Catch” is, the one thing that will need to be included in each film.
Read the full press release here.
Photos from the 2011 Gala
Digi60 2011 DVDs available for sale
You can now purchase the Digi60 2011 shorts on DVD.
Get the SCRIPTED DVD
Another Incredible Year
The Friday Documentary Screening was impressive and thought provoking, being our first one. It was also the first time we incorporated students into the festival and we’ll definitely be doing it again next year.
Saturday’s Scripted Screening was inspiring and SOLD OUT! The organizers of the festival are so proud of all the filmmakers and their supporters. We’re also thankful to our sponsors for helping make the 2011 Digi60 Film Festival our most successful to date.
After the adrenaline wears off we’ll make some announcements for next year. Hope to see you all again in 2012.
Again, thank you to everyone.
Welcome to DIGI60
This year’s Catch !!
For the Documentary Stream – “The subject of your film must involve a passion”.
For the Scripted Stream – “Your film must include a passionate kiss that affects your character”.
DIGI60 is Ottawa’s original Digital Film Festival. Started in 2004, DIGI60 challenges Ottawa-area filmmakers to write and shoot a short digital film in 60 days. But there’s just one “catch”… and it changes every Festival. All filmmakers are all given the same set of parameters for their films and it’s up to them to use their imaginations and creativity to base their films around this “catch”. Previous catches have included the first and last lines of the film, specific subject matter, and specific locations. How the filmmaker incorporates the “catch” into their film is entirely up to them.
This year:
- the Catch was released on Saturday September 24th
- there will be Two Streams – a Documentary Stream and a Scripted Stream
- the Deadline to submit films will be November 21st for Documentary Films and November 23rd for Scripted Films
- the Gala Screenings will both be held at Centrepointe Studio Theatre
- the Documentary Screenings will be held on December 2nd
- the Scripted Screenings will be held on December 3rd
We will also be holding filmmaking Workshops hosted by Algonquin College’s Broadcasting Program throughout the weekend. The Ottawa Branch of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) will be offering workshops both before and after the 60 days to assist our filmmakers in this new category – stay tuned for details.
