festival

I have a nice stash of chip music in my iTunes folder, and have long been an enthusiast of the 8-bit aesthetic - the crude music and graphics of retro-gaming - so Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet is a documentary recently shown at SXSW 2008 which is simply a must-see. I've already included some of this scene in a screenplay, so this doc has just made it onto my essential research list.

You too can level up at 2 Player Productions.

The 59th International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen has an astounding range of shorts and a very cool music video programme (I had the pleasure of being on the jury for it last year). There's still time to enter your music video into the festival:

The MuVi International programme combines extraordinary music video productions from all over the world and is highly appreciated by the festival audience with around 1000 professional guests.

Deadline for entries is 5 March 2008.

We are looking for music videos with unusual visual conceptions and stories, experimenting with all kinds of visual techniques – no matter what kind of musical genre.

The 59th International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen has an astounding range of shorts and a very cool music video programme (I had the pleasure of being on the jury for it last year). There's still time to enter your music video into the festival:

The MuVi International programme combines extraordinary music video productions from all over the world and is highly appreciated by the festival audience with around 1000 professional guests.

Deadline for entries is 5 March 2008.

We are looking for music videos with unusual visual conceptions and stories, experimenting with all kinds of visual techniques – no matter what kind of musical genre.

Things are hotting up over at the AV 08 Festival site, with announcements of the UK premiere of John Cage's Variations VII, an Authechre jam and the 12 screens of Deep Play by German film-maker and artist, Harun Farocki - The 2006 World Cup Final from Every Angle. The 2008 Festival runs from 28 February to 8 March in venues across Newcastle, Gateshead, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. I might even get even get on the ferry for this one...

"De Montfort University’s Institute of Creative Technologies will host the 2007 European Machinima Festival, the first Machinima festival to be held in Europe. The festival, which will take place at the University’s campus centre from 12 – 14 October, will show case the latest Machinima films and will attract Machinima makers world-wide."

Portable Film Festival is a no-nonsense, straight-talking, and sleekly put together Australian initiative. It does exactly what it suggests: showcasing mobile films.

Voting finishes tomorrow on the festival selection.

The new Fuel TV-backed Swerve Festival is seeking innovative narrative and documentary short and feature films, animation, design films and music videos. Audience and Jury awards will be given in multiple categories. Films must have premiered after January 1, 2006 to be eligible. Final deadline is August 6, 2007.

Swerve Festival is a new annual film, art and music festival in Los Angeles that celebrates the creative subculture of action sports with film and video screenings, live music performances, art exhibitions, workshops and a televised awards show. The festival is directed by Jonathan Wells, founder and former Festival Director of the acclaimed international film festival RESFEST.

The arts/culture events scene is hotting up again on the U.S West Coast. The Swerve Festival takes place September 28-30. Also look out for Terrabyte 2.0 at the LA Arboretum and Botanical Gardens on August 26.