Your Film Festival: $500,000 for Grand Prize Winner

New filmmaking talents are expected to submit their short films (up to 15 minutes in length) between February 2 and March 31 for YouTube’s Your Film Festival.

The contest launches at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah which opens January 19.

“YouTube is committed to bringing entertaining, original content to a global audience and Your Film Festival is another example of our investment in great creators worldwide. Through this programme, YouTube will give filmmakers the opportunity to reach a vast audience, screen their work during the Venice Film Festival and potentially be rewarded in a career-changing way,” said Robert Kyncl, global head of content at YouTube.

Everyone who is at least 18 years old can enter the contest and make the film about any subject in whichever genre, but the work submitted for the contest can’t have been distributed prior to January 1, 2010. International films will have subtitles added. Admission is free.

Your Film Festival is particulary aiming to reward young filmmakers and producers.

“We’re looking for stories in any genre or format. So that can be short film, live-action or documentary or a web series episode. The sky’s the limit as long as it’s story-driven. What we’re really trying to do is find the best stories in the world and find the best storytellers and connect them with a global audience on a scale that hasn’t been available to them before. We’re really excited about it,” said Nate Weinstein, entertainment marketing manager for YouTube.

Fifty semi-finalists, ten from five geographic regions, will be selected by Scott Free Productions, the film and television production company founded by Ridley and Tony.

The films will make a channel on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/yourfilmfestival) and the users will be able to vote them in June. The first 10 filmmakers (two from each region) will have the chance to present their creations at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August.

“Through our sponsorship of Your Film Festival we are supporting the journey of emerging filmmakers through YouTube’s innovative entertainment platform. The festival has such a wonderful and rich history with launching great talent. We’re thrilled to remain on the cutting edge and let the world participate in our festival,” said Alberto Barbera, the Venice Film Festival’s artistic director.

YouTube launches Your Film Festival. Young talents are expected to submit their works between February 2 and March 31.

The winner, selected by a jury headed by Ridley Scott, will receive $500,000 and a development deal at Scott Free Productions.

“Short filmmaking is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago, so to be helping new filmmakers find an entry point like this into the industry is fantasticIt’s great to be partnering with YouTube again for this global search for the next generation of exciting filmmakers,” said .” Ridley Scott.

YouTube partnered with Scott Free on the documentary Life In A Day, which premiered at Sundance a year ago. The feature-length documentary combined videos submitted by YouTube users.

Your Film Festival is co-sponsored by Emirates Airlines.

Your Film Festival: “The global search for the world’s best storytellers.” (video):