Record number of entries for Uni Shorts 2014

30 June 2014

In only its third year, the Uni Shorts International Student Film Festival continues to grow and organisers are rapt at the record number of short film entries it has received for this year’s festival which is again being held in Auckland, New Zealand on 12-14 September. Uni Shorts chair Alex Lee is rapt this year’s entries have exceeded the number of entries from the previous two years. “This year following our extended 30 April deadline, we received close to 200 films with 190 entries,” he says.

Film entries were received from as far away as Eastern Europe, Asia, USA, Middle East and the UK, with a notable jump in interest from film and design schools, universities and polytechnic institutions on both sides of the Tasman in Australia and New Zealand. There was also strong interest from New Zealand secondary schools for the high school category. The animation and documentary categories were especially popular with the number of entries in these genres double last year’s total.

The Uni Shorts organising committee is now near the end of the pre-judging process and will announce the final selection of films that will go into competition on 7 July 2014.

Uni Shorts 2014 will see student and emerging filmmakers, as well as educators and industry guests converge on Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland for a weekend of screenings, panel sessions and workshops. It will culminate in an awards night where the winning films will be announced. The list of guest speakers will be announced shortly.

“We cordially invite students, new filmmakers as well as educators for what will be a weekend of exciting dialogue about the issues important to them in today’s ever diversifying filmmaking landscape,” explains Lee. “Plus there will be some amazing short films being screened reflecting the emerging new talent heading into the industry.”

You can register to attend Uni Shorts on the website www.unishorts.unitec.ac.nz

ENDS/

For more information:
Peter Rees (Publicist and Festival Coordinator) prees@unitec.ac.nz (+64) 9 815 4321
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