Film Your Issue is an independent national competition for American youth (ages 18-26) to express their thoughts and opinions on today's important social issues through creating and entering a 30 to 60 second short film clip/commercial about their social issue of interest, and blogging about this issue.

Poverty, education reform, child abuse, environmental issues, AIDS awareness, peace and war, the rights of marginalized people, the role of government and business in civil society: Where do American youth stand on these issues? What are their questions? What are their answers? By supporting FYI, MSN Spaces and MSN Video aspire to empower youth to create their own 30-to-60-second film clip or commercial on an important social issue, broadcast their work and their blog on the internet, and facilitate youth's contribution to the public dialogue on some of the most important social issues today.

Please find more information on the contest at these sites:
Website URL: http://www.filmyourissue.com
Blog: http://spaces.msn.com/filmyourissue
Open letters from George Clooney and Walter Cronkite encouraging young Americans to participate: http://spaces.msn.com/filmyourissue-openletters

TheProject.(dot)TV Student Film Contest

3 Episode Short Film Miniseries
Submission Deadline: June 30, 2006
1st Place - $25,000, 2nd Place - $10,000, 3rd Place - $5,000
Sign up at - www.theproject.tv

Interested in entering your work in a National Short Film contest for University and College students? The contest is being hosted by www.theproject.tv and is structured as a 3-episode short film miniseries in which the student will have to structure, write, shoot, and edit a sequence of three, 3-minute short films which carry a common theme or topic throughout. The episodes may be traditional or animations.

The Voting structure of the contest is based on popular voting similar to American Idol. Once an episode is submitted, the viewers will vote for the Director whose series they would like to see continue. Those Directors with the most votes will then move on to the next round while those with the least votes will be eliminated. There are a total of 3 rounds. In the final round, the 3 directors with the most votes will win $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 respectively.

Attention Documentary Filmmakers!

Check out the International Documentary Challenge (IDC)! The IDC is a new timed filmmaking competition developed by KDHX (Saint Louis Community Media) in cooperation with the International Documentary Association, the Documentary Organisation of Canada and the creators of the 48 Hour Film Project.

The Premise: Filmmaking teams from around the globe have just 5 days to make a short non-fiction film (4-8 min.) The winning films will screen this July at a theatrical event presented in association with SILVERDOCS, hosted by AFI Silver Theatre. A traveling showcase of the winners will play festivals and film series' across the country, a DVD will be released, and television distribution will be pursued. The IDC took place March 22-27, 2006. You can read more about the event and register here:

http://www.documentarychallenge.org