YouTube Names 50 Semi-finalists for Your Film Festival

A Malaysian filmmaker’s entry ‘Wickate’ one of the 50

Semi-finalists chosen by Scott Free Productions from more than 15,000 submissions

YouTube users able to view and vote at youtube.com/yourfilmfestival to send 10 finalists to the Venice Film Festival

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12, 2012 - YouTube and Emirates, in partnership with La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Film Festival) and Scott Free, announced today the 50 semi-finalists for Your Film Festival - a global competition to find the world's best storytellers. Scott Free had the difficult task of narrowing down more than 15,000 submissions from more than 160 countries across the globe. The 50 semi-finalists are listed below. It is now up to the YouTube community to view and vote on the semi-finalists at youtube.com/yourfilmfestival thus helping decide which 10 filmmakers will attend the Venice Film Festival and compete for the $500,000 grand-prize.

Watch critically acclaimed director and Your Film Festival judge, Ridley Scott, discuss the 50 semi-finalists and the voting process in depth here: http://youtu.be/k4_v7PecvjE

50 Semi-finalists:
Film, Filmmaker (Country of Residence)
88:88, Joey Ciccoline (USA)
Aisha's Song, Orlando von Einsiedel (United Kingdom)
An Exclusive, Krzysztof Szot (Poland)
Bat Eyes, Damien Power (Australia)
Bench Seat, Anna Mastro (USA)
Biondina, Laura Bispuri (Italy)
Boot, Damien Power (Australia)
Camino Al Cementerio, Mijael Milies and Carla Pastén (Chile)
The Child, Sebastian Mantilla (Spain)
Cine Rincao, Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil)
Cortometraje Teta y Sopa, Alberto Gómez (Spain)
Das Tub, James Cunningham (New Zealand)
The Debt Collector, Alan David Morgan (USA)
Doorhandle Thoughts, Carlos Crespo Arnold (Spain)
Dr Grordbort presents: the Deadliest Game, James Cunningham (New Zealand)
The Drought, Kevin Slack (USA)
Ebony Society, Tammy Davis (New Zealand)
El General, Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia)
El Porvenir- Episodio 1 Hermanos, Manuel Alejandro Anell (Mexico)
Fish, Shaun Escayg (USA)
Good Pretender, Maziar Lahooti (Australia)
The Guilt, David Victori Blaya (Spain)
I'll Keep an Eye on You, Torben Bech (Denmark)
Kiss, Alex Murawski (USA)
La Carta, Angel Manuel Soto Vazquez (Puerto Rico)
Learning Spanish the Hard Way, Eric Stolze (USA)
Letting Go, Daniel McCauley (South Africa)
No Exit, Jesper Isaksen (Denmark)
North Atlantic, Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom)
The Obstacle, Maxim Neafit Bujnicki (Ukraine)
On My Doorstep, Anat Costi (Israel)
Our Mission: Pascal, Johanna Pyykkö (Sweden)
Photo For Baba, Harel Yana & Moti Malka (Israel)
Picnic, Gerardo Herrero (Spain)
The Return Address, Abi Varghese (USA)
Scruples, Adrian Powers (Australia)
Secular Quater #3, David Gidali (USA)
Skatesistan: To live and skate in Kabul, Orlando von Einsiedel (United Kingdom)
Skin of Glass, Lukas Dhont (Belgium)
Sold, John Irwin (USA)
Start the Engine and reverse, Andrey Zagidullin (Russia)
Stop. Watch. Love, Brad Herbert (USA)
Storm, Cesar Cabral (Brazil)
Super.full., Niam Itani (Lebanon)
The Telegram Man, James Francis Khehtie (Australia)
Ter Ter, David Lucchini & Fabien Carrabin (France)
Then and Now, Paul Johannessen (Japan)
This Time, Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt)
Turkish Coffee, Thiago Luciano (Brazil)
Wickate, Niralji Ravishanker (Malaysia) [click on the title to view video]

Content creators around the world were asked to submit a 15-minute, story-driven video of any format, style and genre. Submissions came from all over the world and the semi-finalists reflect the global reach of the festival. The ten finalists will travel to Italy, where their work will screen at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August. A grand-prize winner will then be named by a special jury, which includes Sir Ridley Scott and acclaimed actor Michael Fassbender, and awarded a $500,000 YouTube original production grant to work with Scott Free.

Starting today and through July 16 the entire YouTube community will be able to view and vote on the selection of films at youtube.com/yourfilmfestival.

Your Film Festival is one of several efforts by YouTube to push the boundaries of music, art, and film. It follows the incredibly successful partnership that YouTube experienced with Scott Free to help create the critically acclaimed documentary Life In A Day. Other projects like the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, YouTube Play, and YouTube Space Lab are examples of the convergence of online video with traditional arts. Emirates, the global airline, is also on board as a proud sponsor of the program and the festival.