Posted by r.t. at the UPFI yahoogroup:

We are pleased to announce our inaugural short

film festival and awards ceremony, The 2006 Nice

Shorts Awards.

This short film festival is unique because it will

merge both cinema and the internet in presenting

the best of Australian and foreign short films to

the world.

Filmmakers, fans, and even the judges themselves

will be viewing the nominated films online and

then watch as the winners go live at the historic

Chauvel Cinema on the 7th of December.

Over the next few months, the Nice Shorts team

will be nominating a number of short films from

the website. On November 7, these nominees will be

announced and fans can then watch and vote for

their favourite films online. The winners will

then be announced and screened at the cinema. Not

only that, the entire event will be webcast LIVE

for the rest of the world to see.

A lot of prizes are at stake, including some very

cool trophies which you'll definitely be proud of

showing off next to that Oscar you'll win someday.

Here's how it works-

Submission process

1) First, log on to www.niceshorts.tv and create a

profile page for yourself and your film.

2) We accept films of any genre, with a maximum

running time of 30 minutes. Documentaries, music

videos, and film trailers are especially welcome.

Films will not be judged based on category or

genre but on overall impact.

3) Next, click on SUBMIT and send us your film

using the following methods:

- Post. Mail us a DVD or MiniDV (PAL) tape of your

film. This would actually be preferred because if

your film is nominated, we will be using your

MiniDV copy for the screening version. You may

also send us a data DVD of your film, preferably

in full quality .AVI or .MOV format. Foreign

submissions which do not use the PAL format may

prefer this option.

- Upload your film via our FTP server (you will

need an FTP program for this). Simply copy/ paste

your film on to the address provided. Keep the

film as high quality as possible, but the maximum

upload limit is 1GB.

- Send us a link to your film where we can

download the film from. Do NOT send us links to

Youtube, Google Video, or other streaming sites

because we obviously won't be able to download

your film off of that. We find that

www.yousendit.com works great. Again, the higher

the quality of your file, the better it will look

when it is converted and streamed on Nice Shorts.

4) Deadline for films to be submitted is November

1, 2006. You have until that date to get us your

films to be eligible for this year's Nice Shorts

Awards. If you submit your film past the November

1 deadline, no worries, you will still be making

yourself eligible for the 2007 Awards.

5) Submission is FREE. We'd much rather you spend

your hard earned money for your next film.

Selection process

1) Your film will be screened by the Nice Shorts

Acquisitions Team. If they select it, your film

will be posted on the Nice Shorts website

alongside your profile that you have created. Your

film is then eligible for nomination for The Nice

Shorts Awards.

2) If your film is nominated, you will be informed

via email and your film will be placed in a

special Nice Shorts Nominees page alongside the

other nominated films. Viewers can then view all

the films and vote for their favourite one. At

this point, you'll want to spread the word and

tell your friends to log on and vote for your film.

3) The film with the most number of votes takes

home the coveted Audience Award. Meanwhile, our

distinguished group of judges will also be viewing

the nominated films, after which they will select

the other winners of several other categories,

including:

BEST FILM

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST ACTOR

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

BEST EDITING

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST MICRO-SHORT

For more information, log on to www.niceshorts. tv

Looking forward to seeing your films. Good luck!

Carlo Ledesma

Nice Shorts Manager/ Festival Director

www.niceshorts. tv