Submit to Cartoon Brew’s 3rd Student Animation Festival

We’re excited to announce a call for entries for our third annual Student Film Festival, a yearly showcase of outstanding student films from around the globe. We’ve received hundreds of submissions in our first two years that have resulted in a fantastic selection of films, and we hope to continue that trend this year. Click to see the 2010 lineup and 2011 lineup.

Our mission for the festival is simple: to share student-produced animated shorts with the widest possible community of industry artists, fellow students and animation fans. And not just any student films, but films of the highest caliber…the most original, the most thought-provoking, the ones that make us laugh hardest and engage us emotionally. Of course, we present student films throughout the year on Cartoon Brew, but we want the festival to direct even greater attention to the exciting work being produced by today’s up-and-coming filmmakers.

Filmmakers who are selected to screen in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival will each receive $300. We’re also adding a new twist this year. After all the films have debuted, there will be an audience poll where Cartoon Brew viewers can vote on their favorite film. The winner of the audience choice award will earn an additional $500.

Here’s all the info you need:

RULES

1. It has to be animated. (Obviously.)
2. It has to be a student film. (Even more obvious.)
3. Must have been completed after May 1, 2011.
4. Must be an online premiere. (Films that are accessible online to the public will not be considered.)
5. Submissions due by Sunday, June 3, 2012Thursday, May 31, 2012

SUBMIT
To submit, send an email to studentfest (at) cartoonbrew (dot) com with the following info:

• Your name, school and country
• Film title and synopsis
• Private link and password (ex: Password-Protected Vimeo link, Private or Unlisted YouTube link, or a website download link).

WHAT HAPPENS IF I’M SELECTED
Up to 12 films will be selected for the festival. We will announce the festival selections in early June. Screenings will begin on Cartoon Brew in late June. Every film that is selected to screen as part of the Cartoon Brew Student Film Festival will be paid a screening fee of $300(US). We don’t assume any exclusivity or ownership of your film. In other words, you are still free to submit to festivals, sell it to distributors, and post it anywhere else on-line shortly after its online debut in our festival.

ONE FINAL NOTE
Many students are informed in school that posting their film on-line ruins their festival chances. We’ve explored the issue before by speaking with festival directors and recommend reading this. None of the major animation festivals enforce such a rule today. However, some non-animation festivals, like Sundance, ask that a film be taken off-line during the course of their festival. As far as we know, the only awards organization that strictly demands films remain off-line is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, so if you’re trying to qualify for a Student Academy Award, you don’t want to post your film on-line. To understand the issues better, read this case study written by Avner Geller, who co-directed Defective Detective, a film that appeared in last year’s Student Animation Festival as well as won a Student Academy Award.

(Submit photo via Shutterstock)