UK Online Launches National Competition to Promote British Short Film Making Talent

UK Online Launches National Competition to Promote British Short Film Making Talent

LONDON, August 24/PRNewswire/ -- Consumer ISP UK Online has teamed up with short film label Future Shorts to create a national short films competition, 'UK Online F@ster Films', searching for the future stars of the British film making industry. The competition launches today (August 24th) and budding directors have until October 23rd to submit their entry, for the chance to win an international film distribution contract with Future Shorts, as well as a film making course at the New York Film School. The competition judges include Nik Powell, Director of the National Film & Television School and producer of films including 'Mona Lisa' and 'Absolute Beginners'.

Regional winners will be announced on the 9th November, and invited on a VIP trip to London for the final screening event, where their film will be shown alongside films from some of the world's best known directors. The winning film of the national competition will be announced at the screening - on 1st December at 93 Feet East in London's Brick Lane - alongside a selection of internationally-renown short films. Full details of the competition and screening can be found at: www.ukonline.net/faster

Fabien Riggall, Future Shorts' founder, commented, "The Internet, and particularly broadband, is making short films and video far more accessible for everyone, and I am confident that we will find a future star by the end of this competition. I can't wait to bring the winning films to our audiences."

Chris Stening; UK Online General Manager, added, "Whether you are creating films or just enjoy watching them, fast broadband means you can download - and upload to share your own creations - without spending days waiting around. UK Online F@ster Films is aiming to showcase the creativity that is out there, discovering some serious film making talent, and making everyone aware of the new opportunities that broadband makes possible for budding film makers."

About The Judges

The UK Online F@ster Films judges include some of the biggest names in the British film industry: Nik Powel, Pavel Pawlikowski, Philip Ilson, and Fabien Riggall. Nik founded Virgin Records with Richard Branson in the early seventies before going on to found Palace Productions which has produced award winning films including Absolute Beginners and Mona Lisa. Nik is currently Director of the National Film and Television School, Vice Chairman of the European Film Academy and a member of the US academy.

Pawel Pawlikowski is currently Creative Arts fellow at Oxford Brookes University. His debut film 'Last Resort' (2000) earned international critical acclaim and the 2001 BAFTA for "Most Promising Newcomer in British Film", followed by the Alexander Korda award for Best British Film at the BAFTA awards 2005 for his film "My Summer of Love."

Philip Ilson co-founded the Halloween Society short film club in 1994 which then joined forces with the Exploding Cinema and Omsk to run the Volcano Underground Film Festival. In 2003, Philip founded the Halloween Short Film Festival which has been in residency at the ICA in January for 2 years and which showcases new and classic short films alongside live music and multi-media events. Philip is also head of short film programming at the Curzon Soho Cinema.

Fabien Riggall created Future Shorts to challenge, inspire and entertain film fans with thought provoking short films. Future Shorts is Europe's leading and most innovative short film label with a global network of hundreds of venues that champion short films.

About the website

www.ukonline.net/faster is the place for all the latest news, competition updates, and practical tips on how to create and edit a short film. In keeping with the aims of the competition, the website will also have a selection of short films available for free download, to inspire entrants to get filming. To enter, users simply upload their films via the website.

About UK Online

UK Online, established in 1994 and part of the Easynet Group, is a leading Consumer ISP providing high speed, reliable broadband and dial-up Internet access across the UK. UK Online was recently awarded a Commendation for Innovation at the 2005 ISPA Awards for its commitment to Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), a process that enables the ISP to offer both the UK's fastest home broadband - at a blistering 8Mb - and most affordable home broadband, with 512K available for the same price as many dial-up connections (GBP9.99), via Easynet's LLUStream(TM) service.

Its UK-based customer service centre offers 24-hour support to novices and experienced users alike,and all UK Online Internet accounts have access to free spam filtering and parental controls. UK Online is also the Official ISP to Team GB, the UK's Olympic team.

www.ukonline.net

Source: UK Online

For more information please contact: Charlie Noblet/Jim Hawker, Threepipe, Tel: +44(0)207-470-8830

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