Whether you make it or watch it, short-film has the power to move people like no other medium on earth. And few places on earth can offer such a breath-taking palette of filmic locations as Whitby – historic whaling-port at the foot of the North Yorkshire Moors.

Of course, Whitby and Film go together like Montreux and Jazz. So, for these reasons, and a thousand others, 2009 will see Whitby hosting the first “Whitby In Shorts” International Short-Film Festival.

Who, what, where and when
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The 5–13th September 2009 is when Whitby will be buzzing with the creative talents of hundreds of short-film makers, animators, directors, actors, film-lovers and goodness knows who else. We'll be completing the programmes of events soon, but until then, here’s a taster of what you can expect.

Saturday 5th September – come along to our Grand Welcome Party; meet the movie people, drink the wine and listen to the band – it’s Opening Night.

Sunday 6th - Friday 11th September – for the next six days, the twenty best short-films in each of twelve Genres – the WiSiS-FF Finalists – will be screened in five star venues in and around Whitby; that’s four ten-film sessions per day; two in the afternoon, and two in the evening – plus a host of ‘fringe’ events all over the town.

The 12 Genres

Fiction/Drama – Documentary – Comedy – Horror - Sci-Fi – Animation - Computer Graphics (CGI) - Music Video – Environment – Sport – Travel – and Religion

From these 240 Finalists will be honed down to 24 Nominations – two from each Genre.

Saturday 12th September - From these 24 Nominations, our international panel of Judges will select the 12 Genre Award Winners.

Then, on Sunday 13th September, at the WiSiS-FF Grand Gala Award Ceremony, the ‘Best of Festival’ overall winners will be acclaimed in each of the following major Categories: The WiSiS-FF Best Short-Film Award 2009 – The WiSiS-FF Best Individual Performance Award 2009 – The WiSiS-FF Best Score/Soundtrack 2009 and The WiSiS-FF Best Special Effects Award 2009

That’s a total of 16 prestigious Awards, each carrying substantial Prizes, to be announced during the build-up to the Festival. So if you’ve made a short-film between three and fifteen minutes long, then click on the Entries button and find out how you can be part of WiSiS-FF (pronounced ‘wississiffi’), the best-located Short-Film Festival in the world.

About
“WHITBY IN SHORTS” is the brain-child of Whitby composer and film-maker Nigel Ward, and it has emerged as a direct consequence of his unique approach to making two full-blown feature-length movies here in Whitby, produced in Dolby Digital™ 5.1 Surround Sound, with no grants and no funding – in fact, totally zero-budget! Non-profitmaking.

How can that work?
Well . . . you have to use your assets.

What assets?
People . . . and places.

People?
Yes, a community. A committed team of local actors, designers, cameramen – the whole crew – giving of their best for the best reason of all; they wanted to. That’s what arouses the support of the community. That’s an asset.

And places?
A unique mix of landscapes. Watched over by a ruined Abbey, Whitby is an old fishing port, a jumble of pan-tiled cottages nestled around an ancient harbour where the River Esk meets the sea. That same river flows from the wild uplands of the North Yorkshire Moors, with its working steam railway, through the most idyllic English woods and meadows, to the quays and jetties of a working harbour. And beyond the piers, below the East Cliff and along the Scar, is a timeless and desolate lunar landscape. People have been shooting pictures here for over a century. That’s an asset!

And it has to be self-standing?
The whole point is to give people the chance to do what they want to do – that’s when they do things well; that’s when they do things with a passion. That passion forms the work and transmits itself into the whole community. In short, “WHITBY IN SHORTS” is a way of life; people helping one another to achieve the impossible. We want Whitby to build a independent Film Festival that is vibrant and sustainable, and not reliant  on the crutch of bureaucratic support.

And the Festival?
“WHITBY IN SHORTS” INTERNATIONAL SHORT-FILM FESTIVAL has emerged spontaneously out of this community-driven approach to film-making and to life. The film-makers want their work to be screened; the audiences want to see them; they know that they will be seeing something rare – honest endeavour. That is a much-prized commodity in Whitby; Captain Cook built his ship in Whitby and named her the  ‘Endeavour’, and then he sailed around the world in her. Now the world can bring its films to Whitby and help us set a people-power example to an ailing world. We want to share the passion.

That sounds a bit like hippy talk?
If you say so. But we’ve proved it works. So, no funding? No problem! No grants? Don’t need them! We will build our Festival from the best that people have to offer – their passion, their commitment, their art and their sense of community. Now, that’s an asset!

Anyway, Hollywood is a really a long shot.

Why not come to Whitby? – and bring your Shorts!

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• Website: http://www.whitby-in-shorts.org.uk
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