Annecy Competition on Youtube calls for submissions

For its anniversary, the Festival is teaming up with YouTube to organize an original competition. Open to all, it gives budding creators, students or industry professionals the opportunity to be a part of a world-renowned Festival. Feel like being creative, making an animated film or adapting an existing production? Taking part could not be easier: simply upload your film to YouTube between 1st February and midnight on 1st May 2010.

The film must be of a maximum running time of 5 minutes, be centered on the theme of "celebrations and anniversary" and integrate the keywords: "50", "Festival" and "Annecy".

This is your chance to really get involved in the Festival! The competition will run on the YouTube channel of the Annecy Festival where entrants can get all the latest news as of today: www.youtube.com/annecyfestival

From 2nd May, users will vote for the 10 best shorts (voting ends at midnight on 23rd May). A jury of professionals will then choose the winner from the 10 finalists (making their decision between 24th and 27th May).

The prizewinner will be treated to a week at Annecy 2010, taking place between 7th and 12th June, and the winning film will be screened during the event. The 3 best shorts will also win a copy of the Autodesk software, courtesy of our event partner.

The French voices of Marge and Homer Simpson, Véronique Augereau and Philippe Peythieu, have done their bit for the competition launch by making a video complete with some fantastic dialogue (www.youtube.com/annecyfestival).

A word from the Festival - "Supporting and even anticipating new trends in both creation and diffusion has long since been a part of the Festival.

Similarly, encouraging creation on the web through this competition is in tune with our long-standing objective to bring together talent from beyond the boundaries", underlines Tiziana Loschi, Managing Director of the Festival and Mifa.

Don't forget that the International Animation Film Festival will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in June. To mark the occasion, the Festival has a host of treats in store for animation enthusiasts: from retrospectives and presentations to very special guests. You won't want to miss it!

It will also be a great opportunity to journey to the heart of the past, present and future of animation, and go behind the scenes of films and their production secrets... diaries at the ready!

"By way of this competition, YouTube wants to offer its users a platform for expression on which their talents will be given free rein and where the creation of artistic, entertaining content will flourish", notes Anthony Zameczkowski, Partnerships manager, YouTube France.

"We are convinced that offering more freedom and creativity to a worldwide audience is the best way for users to express themselves and view content from the world over."

YouTube is the most popular online video-sharing website, where millions of users can upload and watch original videos. It is a permanent world exchange, information and inspiration forum that serves as a platform for creators of original content and advertisers of all types. Based in San Bruno, California, YouTube LLC is a subsidiary of Google Inc.