International Short Film Festival Oberhausen/reelport
REELPORT: Online festival registration now available

As of today, filmmakers can enter their work in the Oberhausen, Gothenburg and Vila do Conde film festivals by means of a new Internet film submission platform called reelport.

Festival registration by mouse click

Now filmmakers can submit their films within seconds to one or more festivals simply by uploading them to the reelport server (www.reelport.com). Today, more and more films, including short films, are being produced digitally. In response to this development, a common submission platform has been developed by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens Vila do Conde (Portugal) and the Gothenburg Film Festival (Sweden), together with technology partner Telefónica Deutschland GmbH.

Submitted films are archived on the reelport server and transmitted as needed to festivals and film markets, where selection committees or possible buyers can examine the work. reelport is an effective way to save money at all stages of the film submission process. Every year thousands of short and feature films are submitted to the approximately 250 European festivals organised into the European Coordination of Film Festivals alone. Up until now filmmakers had to send their works by mail to each festival, usually on video. The festivals then have to store and insure countless videotapes each year, at great expense. With digital transmission of the films, these costs are reduced to a minimum. Of course, films can also still be submitted the "traditional" way.

The complete digital value chain

The aim of reelport is to digitise the entire festival work cycle within the next two years, from film submission to projection in the cinema. A database of submitted films will be created which will be an extensive resource for European film production. Making these films available in digital form will open up new sales and distribution channels for cinemas, TV stations and distributors.

New partners and MEDIA funding

In order to achieve this ambitious goal, reelport has been able to win the support of several partners. The film institutes of Norway, Sweden, Czechia, Hungary and Spain have joined the project, as well as the film festivals of Valladolid, Oslo and Tampere. Other partners have also expressed an interest in participating. Furthermore, last week the European Union granted the International Short Film Festival, reelport and their partners additional funding from the MEDIA programmes budget. Now nothing stands in the way of building reelport into a model for the film industry digital value chain of the future.

Oberhausen, 9 September 2004