Chewstick has always been about empowering storytellers, artists and social justice, and in that vein we have always been associated with various forms of entertainment and public dialogue, however there is one medium that has seldom gotten the support it deserves, both generally and through the work of The Foundation. That medium is film. This is a hard industry to fully support on a local level because let’s face it, it takes a ton of time and money to make a film and generally there aren’t many people into it to take it to a high level. Or is it? Making movies has become cheaper and easier than ever, and locally film-making has seen a renaissance of sorts with anyone with a Flip and an iBook making their bffs music video and getting thousands of views on YouTube or Vimeo. The short-form film is making a run for creating a local film industry, showing all manner of local culture and lifestyle and telling a truly unique story that is increasingly essential to fortifying national identity and pride.The Chewstick Foundation wants to do its part to stoke the creative fire and has teamed up with international short film festival organization “Future Shorts” to create an incredible local short film festival called “The Bakatown Short Film Festival”. Details will be forthcoming on the full Festival weekend however the call is being made now to get as many local shorts together as possible to be a part of the event.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines the short film as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.” If that’s good enough for the Oscars then it’s definitely good enough for us. We are asking for submissions to be made no later than January 18th 2012 and apologize for the urgency and quick turnaround. Unfortunately, we only recently found out about the FutureShorts opportunity and to be a part of the FutureShorts network of screenings the local showing must take place before Jan. 31st 2012. But don’t fret, this is the 1st Annual, and you’ll have a full year to prep for next year to submit ; ) Check out the submission requirements below for further details on submitting your work and mark the dates January 26-28, 2012 for a film festival like no other.

Submission Guidelines:

• Must be an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.
• Can be submitted on DVD, CD, USB, or web link, however if accepted into The Festival a DVD copy must be provided.
• Any topic, genre, or technique (animation, CG, music video etc.) can be submitted.
• All films must have a rating no higher than R
• Submissions will be reviewed by a volunteer Festival Review Committee and will be accepted based on engaging storytelling, originality and overall production quality.
• Submissions are due no later than Wednesday, January 18th 2012, by 5pm.