05/08/2002 - You still have a few days to submit your ideas for films, be they shorts or features, to several major world festivals

There are still a few days left to send in your film, either long or short, to take part in a whole series of festivals around the world.
August 9 is the closing date for entries to the International Film Festival di Mannheim-Heidelberg, which is taking place from November 7-16, 2002. It will be featuring international productions and will also be holding a special forum in the form of a “producers meeting”.

Entries for the Flanders International Film Festival (October 8-19 2002) have to be in by August 10. This event will be holding a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, (who tragically died 40 years ago) in the form of a special screening of "The Misfits” as well as a photo exhibition. Directors of short works can send their works to take part in one of three different competitions.

August 12 sees the closing date for films heading for the sun and the beaches of Brazil. The International Film Festival of Sao Paulo, will consist of two main sections: the “International prospective” which is for works by already established directors from around the world; and the “New Directors” section which is only open for filmmakers to have made their 1st, 2nd or 3rd film.

The last date to send in works for another 4 festivals is August 15.
There's the Braunschweig Film Festival in Germany from November 5-10, 2002 which is celebrating it's 15th birthday this year. It will be concentrating on 1st and 2nd works. Then between November 15-24 at Wiesbaden there's the Exground Filmfest , which will be focusing on independent American productions as well as holding an event for European Cinematography (last year they concentrated on Spanish films). In Turkey, from October 12-November 4, there's the Festival of European Films which is sponsored by the Turkish Cultural Ministry which will be showing the latest European productions in four different cities, and also to promote Turkish cinema to wider audience. Finally in Britain, experimental directors, and independent producers will be presenting their works at 10th edition of the Raindance film festival which runs from October 23 - November 10. Raindance will also be continuing to organise courses, as it has done since 1993, for youngsters wanting to move into cinema, and for operators already working in the sector.

August 19 is the closing date for entries for shorts and documentaries for the Torino Film Festival - Young cinema. For feature films, there's a bit more time as entries must be in by September 16. The second most important Italian film festival (after Venice) is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year, with a series of tributes (John Milius, Julio Bressane, and Gianni Amico) and, as usual, it concentrates on new generation filmmakers.

If you've made a short film or a film in French, you've got until August 30 to end it in for the first Australian festival of shorts and the Cinemania festival at Montreal. The 12th edition of FlickerFest will be at Bondi Beach in Sydney from January 4 -12, 2003. Films can be in either 16 or 35mm and must be no longer than 30 minutes long. The closing date for entries is 5pm on August 30. Whereas in Montreal, the Cinemania Film festival is for films made in French, which will be shown with English subtitles, from November 7-17, 2002. Last year they held a retrospective on the director Jean-Jacques Beinex.

On the last day of the month, August 31, if you're English or Irish, you can enrol your film in the Cherbourg-Octeville Festival of Irish & British Cinema. This event, now in it's 18th edition, will show films from the UK and Ireland to an extremely dedicated audience, but it's main focus is on the very young. It's run with the help of schools from the region and it will be showing films like Othello, by Orson Welles as well as films like Jimmy Grimble by John Hay. The jury has already partly been appointed, and includes the actors Valérie Lecomte and Vinny Murphy. Finally in Portugal, at Evora, there's Fike 2002 – Evora international short film festival, where you can send any short which was made after January 10, 2001, and is less than 35 minutes long. The Festival is taking place from November 15-23, 2002 and, as above, the last date for entries is August 31.