Machinima Expo is Now Accepting Submissions

The Second Annual Machinima Expo is now accepting submissions for it’s juried competition. The jury, which is still being assembled, will select 5 Machinima films which will be screened and honored at the Expo in November which will take place in the virtual world of Second Life. There will also be a Grand Prize winner for the festival. We are currently negotiating for prizes and hope to make an announcement soon.

Please note that the submission period will be from July 26th to Sept 30th. We will no longer accept submissions after Sept 30th, 2009.

The exact date, time and location of this year’s Expo festival are currently being negotiated. We will post that information as soon as it has been determined. Since there were wome problems with our schedule last year, we promise to make this years schedule easier for everyone.

There will also be an award for the best Asian Machinima submitted. Filmmakers from China, Russia and the Middle East (roughly 55 countries total from Aphganistan to Yemen)  are encouraged to submit your films. Please note that the films you submit are NOT required to have English subtitles, although it is encouraged.

On the sidebar to the right of this blog, you will see links to download the Expo 2 Submission form and Submission Guidelines. We’ve made two changes this year in the rules for submission. I’ve noted them in bold.

International Machinima Expo 2009
MachinExpo Submission Guidelines

1) The International Machinima Expo welcomes machinima films of any style and has no category / genre restrictions. Each work will be juried solely on its own merits, at the sole discretion of the expo organizers. The Expo seeks films which are bold, creative, and vital, films which represent the very best of what machinima has to offer.

2) Machinima films of any duration are welcome for submission; both short and long-form works are encouraged.

3) Submitted works do not need to be pure (100%) machinima. Films incorporating machinima in combination with other media are both welcome and encouraged. As a general rule, approximately 50% of the film should consist of machinima footage (real-time 3d animation).

4) Non-English language films may be submitted with or without subtitles, at the filmmaker’s discretion. (English subtitles for non-English films are encouraged but not required).

5) Submission to the expo is open to filmmakers of all ages, from any country in the world. Filmmakers from Asia are eligible to be considered for a Special Jury Prize for Asian filmmakers. See #10 below for more information.

6) Year of production of the machinima film does not matter.

7) Films which were submitted to the 2008 Machinima Expo (last year’s event) are not eligible for submission again this year.

A “2009 MachinExpo Film Submission Form” must be completed for each film being submitted to the expo. A filmmaker may submit as many of his/her own films as they wish.

9) Films are submitted by providing a link for online streaming viewing at a video sharing web site, such as Vimeo, YouTube, etc. Links to file downloads are not acceptable to this year’s submission process. HD resolution is both welcome and encouraged, if available.

10) Films which are nominated as Official Screening Selections or for Jury Prize Consideration will be contacted after initial submission. At that time, filmmakers will be required to provide a downloadable version of their film in DivX or Xvid AVI, QuickTime MOV, or Windows Media WMV. This file will be used to create a special streaming QuickTime version of the file to be used for viewing by the attending public in Second Life.

11) All submitted films will be reviewed by the expo organizers, and selected works will be put before a jury. Five (5) of these films will be selected for a Jury Prize, and one (1) additional film will be awarded a Special Jury Prize for Best Asian Film. The Special Jury Prize is open to machinima filmmakers from the Asian continent only.

12) In addition to films which are deemed eligible for either of the Jury Prizes, as many as several hours of additional machinima films will be made Official Screening Selections, all of which will be shown to the Expo audience. Selected films for screening or for jury prize eligibility will be notified on or close to October 18, 2009.

13) All submissions for the expo must be received by September 30, 2009.

Any questions related to the submission process should be directed to:
exposubmit@machiniplex.net