| [October 10, 2008] |
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Metacafe and Microcinema International Unveil MetaFest 2008 Finalists
PALO ALTO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Metacafe(R) and Microcinema International today unveiled finalists for MetaFest 2008, a juried online and offline film festival presenting the best in international creative and contemporary short-form video entertainment. Short-film enthusiasts are invited to vote for their favorite between now and October 31, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. PDT at www.metacafe.com/metafest/finalists/. The filmmaker whose work is chosen as the Online Audience Favorite will be awarded $1,000 cash and DVD selections from the Microcinema catalog worth $250.
MetaFest finalists -- 26 films by 23 filmmakers from 10 countries -- were selected from more than 750 entries by jurors Hillman Curtis, an award-winning filmmaker, designer and author whose books include "Creating Short Films for the Web," and Glenn R. Phillips, who is senior project specialist and consulting curator of contemporary programs for the Getty Research Institute and recently curated the "California Video" exhibition.
"We were thrilled with the quantity and quality of MetaFest submissions," said Mark Poggi, senior manager of content marketing for Metacafe. "There are so many filmmakers creating innovative and entertaining short-form works that engage the imagination, tell great stories and are well-suited to the interactive environment. The finalists selected by the jury are exceptional examples of this, and I look forward to seeing which our audience likes most."
MetaFest combines the best of the interactive online video-viewing experience with the best of the live-audience offline film festival experience. Select films will have a theatrical premiere at San Francisco's Roxie Theater on November 13, 2008 and will be screened at dozens of "microcinema" events across the U.S. and around the world through the first half of 2009.
"We've been working with filmmakers for nearly 15 years, and the digital entertainment evolution has opened up some exciting new opportunities," said Patrick Kwiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Microcinema International. "MetaFest is all about marrying the best of the online and offline worlds and celebrating the works of talented creators making outstanding short films. The program we'll screen at the Roxie is sure to entertain, amaze and inspire."
At the theatrical premiere, one jury-selected Grand Prize winner will be awarded $5,000 cash, a "Short-Short" Award winner will receive $2,000 cash, and the Offline Audience Favorite will win $1,000 cash and DVD selections from the Microcinema catalog worth $250. All award winners will be prominently featured on the Metacafe home page for 10 days and receive additional exposure through marketing and publicity efforts. Additionally, the creator of each film selected for the MetaFest offline program will receive a cash honorarium of $50.
About Metacafe(R)
With more than 37 million unique viewers each month(1), Metacafe(R) is the world's largest video site focused exclusively on short-form entertainment. The company is teaming with content creators ranging from emerging talents to Hollywood heavyweights to help develop short-form video as an entertainment genre. Metacafe delivers an exceptional entertainment experience by engaging and empowering our audience every step of the way. Our VideoRank(TM) technology helps expose the most entertaining content. Our Producer Rewards(R) program rewards video creators for their best work as determined by viewer response. And our Wikicafe(TM) empowers viewers to add and improve the tags, title and descriptions for videos -- resulting in better search results and recommendations. The privately held company is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., and has offices in Tel Aviv, New York City and Los Angeles. For more information -- and hundreds of thousands of entertaining videos -- visit www.metacafe.com.
About Microcinema International
Founded in 1996, Microcinema International is a leading international rights manager, exhibitor, and specialty markets distributor of the "moving image arts." Microcinema International specializes in the acquisition, exhibition, and distribution of independently produced works of an artistic and socially-relevant nature. Our mission is to seek out, curate, exhibit, promote, and distribute compelling works to a broad audience via existing and emerging mediums. This mission is realized through exhibition-based events, web-based platforms, educational outreach, modern marketing techniques, and digital and physical distribution. More information is available at www.microcinema.com.
(1) comScore Media Metrix, August 2008
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