Still from Jo Magee's DepicT! '14 shortlisted film Modrifried

Ready, steady, DepicT! - 2015 submissions now open

Posted on Tue 17 March 2015

We are back for our nineteenth year of DepicT!, our ultra short film competition that asks filmmakers from around the world to create an original short film under 90 seconds long.

We are back for our nineteenth year of DepicT!, our ultra short film competition that asks filmmakers from around the world to create an original short film under 90 seconds long.

It doesn't matter if you've got a big budget or a teeny tiny one; whether you specialise in live action, animation or documentary; whether you live for horror, comedy or romance; or hail from Japan, Brazil or Holland - as long as your film is less than a minute and a half long, you can submit your short film to this year's competition for free!

We're interested in seeing as many original, imaginative and engaging films as possible and giving the best of these works and the talent involved the exposure they deserve via the DepicT! competition, showcase and networks.

If your film makes our DepicT! 2015 shortlist, you'll be invited to showcase your film at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival (15 - 20 Sept), the UK's longest running competitive short film and animation festival. Distributors, producers, funders, exhibitors, other filmmakers, and enthusiastic fans of the short film format – not to mention the stellar judges - will all be there, so it's the perfect opportunity to get some priceless exposure and industry experience. Not to mention that you also be in with a chance of winning up to £2500 prize money, and other exclusive prizes, such as invaluable talent development courses to help you get to the next stage of your career.

Steve Rose of The Guardian said of Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival 2014:

Much has changed in the worlds of short and animated film-making in the past 20 years – digital has transformed the industry, short-film debutants have become major directors – but this festival has remained Britain’s premier destination for both.

Previous DepicT! winners have had their work screened at international film festivals, been picked up by commercial distributors, carved themselves successful careers in the film industry and beyond.

Daniel Chisholm who won both the DepicT! Special Mention and DepicT! Shooting People Award at last year's ceremony with spirited short Nati, is now back in Italy making a feature length version of his winning piece. You can read more about his journey here.

Daniel Chisholm picking up one of his two DepicT! '14 awards - Image by Jon Craig

Ninian Doff of DepicT! 2013 fame - who scooped both the Main DepicT! Award and The Shooting People RPS Audience Award with comedic gem Cool Unicorn Bruv - has gone on to make impressive music videos for the likes of Kasabian.

Ninian said of DepicT!:

DepicT! is the perfect creative challenge. 90 seconds to do your best means its not some daunting shoot but a manageable task that forces your screen writing and editing skills to be super sharp. DepicT! is also a really good platform – a lot of people pay attention to it and just making the final screening at Encounters is a prestigious achievement. The fact that DepicT! is a competition which genuinely anyone can win, whilst also being a serious, professional filmmaking award, means it is pretty unique and well worth entering.

Sound like your kind of challenge? As long as your film is under 90 seconds or less, you can enter your film to DepicT! - it is always totally free to enter your movie and this year you can submit your movie using either Vimeo or YouTube, making it easier than ever to get your work to us!

Submissions close on Mon 6 July 2015 so there is plenty of time to read the rules and get some more inspiration by checking out our archive of 18 years of teeny, tiny shorts.

So pack your tiny film with masses of creativity and send it to us - good luck!

Get double the exposure for your short film! This year any films under 90 seconds or less submitted to Encounters get automatically entered into this year's DepicT! competition. So if you fancy double the chance of winning, enter your shorts via the Encounters website here.


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