James Franco will be just one of several famous faces sitting on the jury for the inaugural TIFFxInstagram Shorts Festival.
For any budding filmmaker hoping to catch James Franco's attention on Instagram, your chances just got better. The writer-director-actor-novelist-performance artist will be just one of several famous faces sitting on the jury for the inaugural TIFFxInstagram Shorts Festival.
The initiative was developed between the Toronto International Film Festival and the social-media platform, with the aim to highlight the best work from novice digital filmmakers across the world.
"TIFF's commitment to discovering and developing emerging filmmakers is unwavering," Piers Handling, director and CEO of TIFF, said in a statement. "Our collaboration with Instagram is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the work of filmmakers from all over the world and discover up-and-coming talent through the world's largest creative digital community."
The open competition runs until July 20, with users only needing to upload their 60-second-or-less entry on Instagram with the hashtag #TIFFxInstagram, and complete a registration form on TIFF's website. Festival programmers will then select 30 finalists, which the jury will then winnow down to one winner, who will receive a trip to attend the Industry Conference at this September's fest.
Joining Franco on the jury will be fellow multihyphenate Xavier Dolan, director Ava DuVernay (Selma), actress Priyanka Chopra (Quantico), music video director and photographer Nabil Elderkin, and stop-motion animator Rachel Ryle.
Online users will also be able to vote for the fan-favourite short by awarding it "likes" on Instagram, while the finalists will be available to view on TIFF's website and Instagram channel from Aug. 8 to 17.
"More than 500 million people are using Instagram each month for visual inspiration and creative expression, including video. Over the last six months, the total time people spent watching video on Instagram has increased by 150 per cent," Marne Levine, COO of Instagram, said in a statement. "Filmmakers are already taking advantage of this platform to promote their work and to create films for the Instagram community."
The short film festival precedes the 2016 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs Sept. 8 to 18.
Barry Hertz