Create a 2-minute film inspired by being at home

The Curbside Shorts Filmmaking Challenge

Female and non-binary North American filmmakers are invited to create and submit a two-minute film shot in one week while social distancing.

In the spirit of keeping filmmaking alive, and to capture this moment of profound interconnectivity, Women In Film, ReFrame and IMDbPro have joined forces in support of filmmakers during COVID-19 to stay productive, creative, and inspired while abiding by measures taken to tackle the spread of the virus.

The Call to Action: Female and non-binary filmmakers from North America are invited to create and submit a 2-minute short film (give or take 20 seconds) inspired by life while sheltering in place. What have you discovered about yourself, home, or neighborhood? How do you envision the future coming out of this pandemic? Have you imagined a new character or superhero? Or perhaps been inspired by a real-life hero working on the front lines? 

All genres are welcome: drama, comedy, horror, animation, documentary, or a hybrid. Filmmakers can employ smartphones and/or DSLR cameras, animation, lighting, camera equipment, and editing tools as available “at home” to create a short film.

This film challenge is capped at 200 accepted entries, so be sure to get your submission in first. If your film is not in English, you must submit your film with English subtitles. 

How It Works: Filmmakers have from May 19-26, 2020, to create and submit their film. Submissions are judged for admittance into the film challenge before voting opens. Acceptance into the film challenge is based on the quality of content and adherence to the assignment. Videos that score a 1 will not be allowed to compete in the film challenge. Accepted entries will compete in the film challenge which is hosted in two rounds. Audience voting opens May 26, 2020, at 2 PDT and closes June 2, 2020, at 2 PDT. The top 10 films with the most audience votes and 10 films selected by the preliminary jury will advance to the finals round. From these top finalist films, a jury panel made up of industry entertainment leaders will award a Grand Prize winner, a runner-up, and three additional honorable mentions. Winners announced on June 9, 2020. UPDATE: WINNERS ANNOUNCED BY JUNE 12, 2020.

Film submissions are evaluated based on the following judging criteria:

• Creativity 
• Technical Merit 
• Fresh, Diverse Perspective
• Adherence to the Assignment

Prizes for the Winners: 

Grand Prize: $5,000 

First runner-up: $2,000

3 additional honorable mentions: $1,000 each 

The five winning films will be featured on the homepage of IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for information on movies, TV shows, and celebrities, and receive a one-year membership to IMDbPro, the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals, to help filmmakers continue achieving success in their careers.

Meet The Jury:  The top finalist films will then be reviewed by a jury that includes ReFrame Ambassadors and established industry professionals including Maria Bello (actress/”NCIS”), Cara Buono (actress/“Stranger Things”), Marta Cunningham (director, actress), Nisha Ganatra (director/LATE NIGHT), Catherine Hardwicke (director/TWILIGHT), Barbara Kopple (director/AMERICAN DREAM), Col Needham (founder and CEO of IMDb), Tanya Saracho (writer, director/”Vida”), and Kim Yutani (Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival) who will vote for one grand prize-winning film to get a $5,000 cash prize, a first runner-up to get a $2,000 cash prize and three additional films to each receive a $1,000 cash prize. 

About the Sponsors:

Women In Film, Los Angeles advocates for and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries—to achieve parity and transform culture. Founded in 1973, Women In Film supports all women working in film, television, and digital media, from emerging to advanced career. Our distinguished programs include mentoring, speaker and screening series, a production training program, writing labs, film finishing funds, legal aid, and an annual financing intensive. Women In Film advocates for gender parity through research, education, and media campaigns. Women In Film honors the achievements of women in Hollywood through the Legacy Series, annual Emmy and Oscar parties, and our signature event, the Women In Film Annual Gala. Membership is open to all media professionals, and more information can be found on our website: www.womeninfilm.org.

About ReFrame Founded and led by Women In Film, Los Angeles, and Sundance Institute, ReFrame is an initiative that employs a unique strategy, a peer-to-peer approach, in which​ ​ReFrame Ambassadors​ engage with senior industry decision-makers at over 50 Partner Companies to implement ReFrame programs. The initiative’s goals are to provide research, support, and a practical framework that can be used by Partner companies to mitigate bias during the creative decision-making and hiring process, celebrate successes, and measure progress toward a more gender-representative industry on all levels. For more information download the​ ​ReFrame Culture Change Handbook​ or visit​ ​ReFrameProject.org.

About IMDbPro IMDbPro (http://www.imdbpro.com) is the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals. This membership-based service includes comprehensive information and tools that are designed to help entertainment industry professionals achieve success throughout all stages of their career. IMDbPro offers members the following: detailed contact and representation information; tools to manage and showcase their IMDb profile, including the ability to select their primary images and the credits they are best “known for”; exclusive STARmeter rankings that are determined by page views on IMDb; the IMDbPro app for iPhone and Android; IMDbPro Track, which empowers members using the app to receive personalized entertainment industry news and notifications on the people and film and TV projects they want to follow; and a convenient tool that generates custom digital assets to promote their work on social media and other platforms. 

About AudPop AudPop is the video network for brands. We provide brands a way to easily obtain the video they need and increase digital marketing ROI. We offer an engaging video marketing platform powering turn-key video. Brands use AudPop to crowd-source addictive, gorgeous video content at scale from our award-winning diverse global filmmaker collective. Submissions are juried by the brand, entertainment industry, and voted on by the world. We democratize entertainment by connecting our filmmakers to fans and brands and providing opportunities such as cash, prizes, distribution, and festival screenings. AudPop has worked with many brands including Southwest Air, GoDaddy, Hilton Worldwide, Better Business Bureau, SONY, KODAK, and DELL. AudPop has a community of 75K global filmmakers, 10K short films on platform, and has operated over 500 online film festivals, video contests, and film challenges.

SUBMISSIONS DUE BY

Submissions Closed

VOTING OPENS

May 26, 2020 at 2:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

VOTING CLOSES

Jun 02, 2020 at 2:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Jun 09, 2020 at 2:00pm PDT (America/Los_Angeles)

FINAL TEAM AWARDS

1st Place Jury Award: $5,000

1st Runner-up: $2,000

3 Honorable Mention: $1,000