Indie Filmmakers Presents #StayHome 60 Seconds Short Film Challenge

In a unique initiative to extend work-from-home even into the film industry, the Netherlands based ‘Indie Filmmakers‘ has unveiled a global short film competition with total prizes worth €4000+. This includes filmmaking equipments from some of the well-known brands like Røde, Atomos, Hollyland, Alladin Lights, Nanlite and Fxlion. All the brands have joined as a goodwill gesture. There, that’s some good news in the midst of all this gloom!

With COVID-19 forcing people worldwide to restrict themselves to their homes, the film industry has taken a severe hit, resulting in huge losses to the filmmakers. All operations, be it shooting, promoting or releasing, have come to an abrupt halt. However, online ventures like the one undertaken by Indie Filmmakers are offering a shimmer of hope, regardless of how hopeless the situation around seems. Indie Filmmakers is an online community of independent filmmakers endeavouring to broaden the reach of short films. It is a blog used to disseminate latest news, reviews, tutorials and videos related to the short film industry.

Rules for participation in the contest are simple:

• Entry must be under 60 seconds, should not involve more than three people (including the crew) and must be shot entirely indoors.
• There is no language bar, premiere restrictions (although you will have to make the film or creative video now) or entry fee.
• Besides this, the participants are required to follow the Instagram handles of the organiser and the sponsors.
• While uploading the films on their respective Instagram pages, the participants also must tag @indiefilmmakers and use the hashtag #indiefilmmakers.

The contest was announced on the 30th of March, well into the global lockdown. And, the deadline for submitting the entries is 11th of April, 2020. The two best entries will be declared winners, with results coming out on the 17th of April 2020. The prizes will, of course, be split between the two. And, as a special treat for our ISM readers, the winning films will be reviewed by Indie Shorts Mag. So, stay tuned!