The Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) is back for its 9th edition. The event screens feature films, documentaries and short films from any genre. The films will be up for 11 coveted Mweya awards at the annual Closing Night ceremony on Saturday Sept. 2, 2006. In 2006, the festival will be bringing audiences in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo the best in world cinema. For more information, visit www.ziff.co.zw.

Backed by entertainment leader Showtime Networks, alt.SHO.com has launched its inaugural Alternative Media Festival. alt.SHO.com is accepting original content submissions from digital artists, animators, directors and programmers to be judged by a panel of technology and entertainment industry leaders based on artistic merit and innovative use of technology. alt.SHO.com accepts only entertainment shorts created using digital tools, and those specifically designed for viewing through existing Internet bandwidth constraints. The Alternative Media Festival will have nine categories: comedy, drama, action, documentary, sci-fi, horror, family, experimental and toys/games.

The Reel Film Festival 2001 is an international online visual arts festival for independent artists and student artists around the globe. Our goal is to offer a forum for the arts that allows for recognition of artistic talent and the fusion of artists from different fields, including film, screenplay writing, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and architecture.

Zoie Films Festival is open to feature films, film shorts, documentaries, animations, music videos and mixed media projects utilizing innovative techniques. A media panel judges all entries and winning films are showcased online via special screenings available at high-speed Internet connections. Zoie Films utilizes the latest encryption technology to present the finest quality streaming programs. Zoie Films Festival presents certificates, prizes and awards in animation, drama, comedy, action and new media forms. Founded by Victoria Lynn Weston in 1996, Zoie Films Festival is an exclusive online film festival dedicated to the development of independent artists and exploring innovative exhibitions of their work. The early deadline is December 1, 2003. For more information, contact e-mail: info@zoiefilms.com or Web: www.ZoieFilms.com.

Can You Make A Movie Under the Gun?
Do You Have What it Takes?

Take the Ultimate Moviemaking Challenge!

Softimage launched its Student Animation Contest 2004, which seeks to recognize the leading talent from up-and-coming animators worldwide. "Be The Hero" invites both full and part-time students to submit a piece of animation, which could win them one of three two-part prizes. Top prizes include a production license of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, with one year's maintenance for the winner, plus Academic versions of the industry's leading nonlinear software system for the winner's home institution. First prize is a production license of SOFTIMAGE|XSI Advanced software and 10 seats of SOFTIMAGE|XSI Academic Edition software for their educational institution. Entrants must submit a rendered piece of animation that includes a coherent narrative. This can be a story, a spoof of a commercial or a social statement and must run for a duration of 10 seconds to a maximum of two minutes, including all titles and credits. The piece will be judged on its visual (lighting, texturing, modeling) and storytelling (animation and camera moves) sophistication. The judges will be paying particular attention to the quality of the modeling, animation and rendering, and how effectively each serves the story. For complete information on prizes, eligibility, rules of entry and additional requirements, please visit www.softimage.com/contest.

animate! tv is looking for new ideas.

The UK commissioning programme for experimental films for television is selecting another slate of personal projects, with running times of up to 6 minutes and production budgets between

Winterfresh Gum and Dreaming Tree Films is sponsoring the Fresh Films Teen Filmmaking Contest. The contest gives teens a chance to enter their film ideas for the opportunity to film their story. Two winning ideas will receive help from Dreaming Tree Films to produce the short film along with help from the winner's friends. For more information, visit http://www.winterfresh.com/films.

eDward, the eDIT Film Award, is a European newcomer competition. Participants can win prizes up to 2,500 Euro. The competition is open to young Europeans up to 30 years old. Participants must be resident of Europe, which extends from Urals to the Atlantic, from Malta to Iceland. The 30-second film must be about the special fascination of football (soccer) in general and a worldwide Football Cup in particular. Submissions will be judged according to the following main criteria:

* thematic relevance of content
* visionary perspective
* original nature of idea
* visual language/optical representation
* execution (camera, effects, editing, sound, image processing)

The winners of each category receive

Converse/Chuck Taylor is hosting a film competition to support emerging artists. For more than 90 years, Converse has stood for creativity and originality and now it wants to know what that means to artists by asking them to express themselves.

To enter the competition, make a 24 second film that combines what you stand for as an artist with what you think Chucks stand for. Check out the online gallery for all the information and to see some winning examples. Many of the films will be posted in ConverseGallery.com and the finalists will be on MTV and given $10,000 to further pursue their creative endeavors. For more information, visit www.conversegallery.com.