The tale of a girl that talks about imagination, the places it can take you, and what you can do with it even if it could send you into a downward spiral to a dark place. Portable Film FestivalMixing various animation techniques from live action shooting through stop motion, ‘The Hollow’ is a work that was inspired by creativity, and the process of creation.
Director: Luis Torres Distributed by Tubemogul.

Hallo Weltennetznutzer,

gerade habe ich bei den Fünf Filmfreunden den wunderbaren Kurzfilm “Arbeit für Alle” gesehen. Erwartet uns das, wenn Herr Steinmeier die Arbeitslosigkeit abschafft?

Nehmt euch einfach 12 min Zeit und schaut ihn euch hier an: Arbeit für Alle gehostet beim Portabel Film Festival. Als kleiner Tipp für das große oha, schaut euch den Trailer nicht an, der echte Film ist sowieso besser.

Für eine hoffentlich bessere Zukunft

-TOM

Image from Portable Film Festival website

Tell me, isn’t this cool?!  Portable Screening Day, organized by the The Portable Film Festival:

The Portable Film Festival, now in its third year, is an international festival of film and user created content. It works in the same way as other film festivals – the only difference is that it is delivered completely online and distributed through portable video devices. Anyone with an Internet connection of modest ability can access all programs curated by the Portable Film Festival for free and unlimited download to a laptop, iPod, PSP, or 3G capable mobile phone. Just log on, register, and start downloading.

You don’t need big screens or big theatres to have an interactive, social movie screening experience, but the festival still draws people out from behind their personal computers into public spaces for a collective experience. Not to mention bypassing censorship laws. There are calls for people to host in Singapore, there was even one hosted in Mongolia. That’s pretty nifty.

Everyone’s a Critic!

Call for Entries – May 21st – 6th July

So, Portable Film Festival wants you to get a little critical. To celebrate the launch of the Melbourne International Film Festival 2009, Portable is launching the Everyone’s a Critic competition in association with MIFF!

It’s true, everyone’s a critic. From the moment I give my coffee three stars in the morning, to the time I dismiss my leftovers as forced and derivative, a healthy dose of criticism gets me though my day…

…and Melbourne International Film Festival knows that, at heart, there’s a little David and Margaret endearingly rambling at each other inside all of us! ‘Everyone’s a Critic’ is the tagline for the 2009 festival, and we want you to take on the role of selling MIFF this year…

Melbourne International Film Festival is an iconic Melbourne event; with 185,000 yearly moviegoers, it’s also Australia’s largest film festival, and one of the oldest film festivals in the world. Not a hard sell, right? Well, you’ve got 30 seconds to fill to get us a movie or promo spot that creatively promotes Melbourne International Film festival, including the tagline ‘Everyone’s a Critic’…

You can get as creative, and as crazy as you want, with; just keep it under 30 seconds, and be sure to include those three magic words, “Everyone’s a Critic.” There are major prizes up for grabs, including two full festival passports for the winner, valued at over $500. The audience favourite will also grab a double pass to MIFF’s Closing Night and Screening party, and every finalist will receive a double pass to a MIFF session of their choice! What’s more, the winning content will also be featured online and onsite at Melbourne International Film Festival 2009!

You’ve got until July 6th, 2009 to get us your film. We’ll announce the finalists and present them on Portable Film Festival from July 13th – 17th, where our judges will make their decision, and our audiences will make theirs…

All submissions must be received by 5pm, July 6th, 2009.

For more information; visit www.portablefilmfestival.com

“As part of Portable’s 2009 Symposium Series, Ross Zietz, Art Director for Threadless, will touch down in Australia to share his knowledge of the online design community, advice for upcoming and established online businesses, and the latest in social networking and online trends. Zietz’s infinite knowledge and utter passion is guaranteed to inspire, encourage and motivate anyone with an interest in design, social networking, creative communities and online business. Tours will take place in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane” See you there.

Where are the talks being held?

Melbourne
Tuesday, May 26
Village Roadshow Theatrette
State Library of Victoria (Enter on Latrobe Street)
6pm

Brisbane
Wednesday, May 27
State Library of Queensland
(By invitation only)
6pm

Sydney
Thursday, May 28
Museum of Sydney
Corner of Bridge and Phillip Street
6pm

How much are tickets?
$45 Adult
$30 Concession

For more info and how can you buy tickets? CLICK HERE

I love this little animation, “Space Alone” by Ilias Sounas. It’s just a little something nice:

Life must be hard when you live in the shadow of a Dark Lord.

This comedy short, directed by Aaron yonda and Matt Sloan, follows Chad Vadar, the younger, less charismatic brother of the infamous Darth.

Chad works as a day shift manager of a grocery store, and has some serious complexes…

Pissed is a split screen comedy that follow two guys through a night at the bar…its comedic karma at its best.

I’ve watched it a few times, and always catch something new:

A film by Jim Balt, Starring James Inabinet and Damian Wensing

People in Order is a series of short films that assembles the people of Britain in a given order. In this particular short, we meet 100 different people arranged by age…in just 3 minutes. It’s really lovely, and I’m hoping to find more of the series.

Directed by James Price and Lenka Clayton

I’m a big fan of documentaries, and Stencil is no exception. This four minute film, directed by Nemi Bishops and Richard Barber, follows three Melbourne stencil artists. It’s a few years old, but the stencils featured are pretty lovely. Oh, and I’m a fan of the babies.

Portable Film Festival has just made its official call for entries for the Portable Film Festival 2009.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you a few of my favorite films from the 2008 Portable Film Festival.

I love a good film festival, but Portable does it a little differently.  There’s no cinema, no queue, no tickets.  I’ll be the first to defend the romanticism of watching a great film in the darkness of an old, musty theatre, but I have to say that I really appreciate what Portable is doing.

Consumers want to be able to sonsume content when, where, and how they want it, and technology is certainly allowing them to do so.  It was only a matter of time before someone on the film festival circuit got the hint, allowing would-be festival goers to watch these films on their own terms…online and downloadable to iPods PSPs, or 3G mobile phones.

For the past three years, Portable Film Festival has done just that-combining great film with the ease of online viewing.  Portable is now gearing up for it’s fourth festival, accepting entries through April 30, 2009.

I encourage you to check out more from previous Portable festivals, and check back here for more updates.

Well, I wrote this before you posted tonight, Shanoah. Since I assume we’re continuing the theme of disturbing things (always a safe assumption on this blog), here’s a little barbed wire confection by Patrick Smith (site here), late of MTV’s Down Town and Daria.

Courtesy of the Portable Film Festival and UBER! MAN! 5000!

This week I’ve been featuring films from Portable Film Festival, and this film is no different.

Directed by Eron Sheehan, “William” tells the story of an indigenous sideshow magician who encounters an unwelcome passenger during a taxi ride home. A violent incident forces William to revisit a past he would rather forget, contemplating the nature of violence, racism and loss. “William” was written by John Brumpton and produced by Peter George.

Find more from Portable Film Festival.

I am delighted to bring you another film that I love today (another Portable Film Festival entrant as well).

Every once in awhile a film comes along that captures what it is to be human.  Sounds simple enough, but it is, in fact, quite a monumental task-rarely achieved by the short film maker.  “The Clearing,” I am happy to say, is a film that does just that.

Helen Watkins, writer and director of “The Clearing” provides a lovely foundation for the film with the most minimal of scripts.  The premise is simple enough:  Beth, played by Therese Bradley, travels to her hometown in Scotland after a difficult breakup.  After veering off the beaten track, she makes a chance encounter with Mark, played by Ian Cairns.  End Scene.

There is one moment in the film that is especially nice.  Beth pulls out her camera, and silently snaps a photo of Chris, as to simply say, “You are worth seeing.” Lovely.

“The Clearing” is not a love story; there is no happy ending.  It is not a “coming of age” film, nor is it comedy or tragedy.  It is simple. It is human.

So here it is, folks.  I hope you enjoy.

Find more from Portable Film Festival.

I’m a big fan of this short film from Portable Film Festival. Written and directed by Craig Rosenthal, “The Trainee” is an ironic short filled with dark humor. Sunny Pang and Serena Sim lead the cast. Check out more from Portable Film Festival here.

O vídeo acima participou do Portable Film Festival de 2007, e traz uma proposta muito interessante. Cada pessoa diz a sua idade (que vai aumentando de 0 a 100) e toca o tambor. Note que conforme vai chegando o final, o vídeo vai ficando mais lento.

Portable Film Festival for moving content? Good idea – Let’s start talking!

Last week Tubemogul released their top 40 clients and Rocketboom ranked in at number 13 ahead of Warner Bros, Fox PBS and Sony Pictures. Users upload videos to TubeMogul who then deploys them to as many of the top video sharing sites the producer chooses. TubeMogul’s integrated analytics then provide a single source of metrics on where, when, and how often the videos are viewed.

So there is even more reason to get excited that thanks to the Portable Film Festival, Andrew Baron of Rocketboom.com is heading to Australia in August

Andrew Baron, founder and producer of Rocketboom is recognised as the leading strategist of branded content and online video advertising in New York, and internationally. His online technology and culture videocast Rocketboom.com, has been accused by the New York Times of ‘writing the obituary of TV’ and is today considered one of the fastest growing video start-ups on the web, generating $4-5 million annually in ad revenue alone.

Andrew Baron will make appearances in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide throughout August as part of the Portable Film Festival. Listen to his thoughts on the future of the internet, branded content and online advertising.

Tickets are available from www.portablefilmfestival.com
$45 Full Price, $30 Concession