When?  Saturday 14 November 2009

Where? Simultaneously in Athens, Barcelona, Bucharest, Maribor, Novi Sad, Naples, Istanbul, London, Poznan, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Wiesbaden and other cities in Europe and beyond.

Awards: Special European Jury Prize + Various Local Jury Prizes

The Theme: Control

We would like to invite filmmakers from around the world to submit short films (animation, music video, artist films, narrative, documentary etc.) up to 10 minutes on the theme ‘Control’.

Have you ever thought of your life as a walk on a tight-rope suspended between control and its loss? Keep walking, don’t waver, don’t lose your grip! Or just let go and savour the moments of weightlessness! Control has many shapes and measures. It can be mental, political, physical, social, scientific, strict, loose or something completely different. You might think about control theory, risk and stress control, mastery and skill, borders, surveillance and mind control, birth and pest control, Control panels, Ctrl Alt Delete, or just the remote control lying on your couch. We look forward to unexpected or surprising takes on the theme, but please don’t lose control of time – we can’t accept anything over 10 minutes! Well, yes we must admit…we are control freaks!

We’re called “Betting on Shorts” because we invite our audiences to bet on which film will win. Bets must be placed before the screening based on a synopsis, filmmaker’s bio and short trailer. Please keep that in mind when you fill in the relevant fields on the entry form and provide us with a short but informative bio and synopsis.

Submission deadline: 1 July 2009

Entry Procedure: Please submit an electronic entry form available on our website www.bettingonshorts.com. The entry form with all required information must also be printed out and sent with a DVD (PAL) preview copy. Your submission (film and entry form) should reach us by 1 July 2009. For preview only DVD copies will be accepted.

Subtitling: All films (including English films) must be subtitled in English. If your film is chosen for the BoSs 2009 programme we will require a dialogue transcript for subtitling in other languages (a spotting list would be ideal).

Please also note that we can only accept one film per director.

Selection and Notification: As we expect to receive a large number of submissions we regret that we can only write to the selected filmmakers. If you have not heard from us by end of September 2009, please assume that you have not been successful this time.

Dispatch Costs: Filmmakers are responsible for the costs of sending the preview copy and should the film be selected, also the screening copy. Preview copies can only be returned if you provide a self-addressed and stamped envelope.

Please send your preview copy to:

Ricarda Vidal

Betting on Shorts

Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies

School of Advanced Study

Stewart House, 32 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DN

For further information please do not hesitate to contact us at the above address or at:

Tel.: 0044 (0)794045 8535

Email: submissions@bettingonshorts.com

For further information please check our website:  http://www.bettingonshorts.com