Arts Engine‘s annual Media That Matters Festival — now in its 12th year — is accepting new entries for short films! In addition to being a “premier showcase for short films with big messages” Media That Matters will give filmmakers the opportunity to connect with educators, activists, and nonprofits around the globe, helping to move communities towards social change. If selected, your film will be screened at the Fall festival and featured via a “multi-platform campaign combining online streaming with personalized screenings,” and made available under CC BY-NC-ND.

Submission criteria from the announcement:

Short Film: Films must be twelve minutes MAXIMUM; the ideal length is around eight minutes.

All Styles: We accept documentaries, narratives, animations, music videos, public
 service announcements, dramas, comedies, hybrids, or a style of your own creation!
 Creativity is always encouraged. The only guideline is that your project must focus on a 
social issue.

All Issues: Any and all issues will be considered.

All Ages: All ages will be considered!

The early deadline to submit is February 23, regular deadline is April 20, and the late deadline is May 1. Submit your film at http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/submit. Send questions to festival@artsengine.net.

The eleventh annual Media That Matters Film Festival is taking place once again in New York City! More than a film festival, Media That Matters inspires and impacts audiences across the globe. Covering a vast array of topics from LGBT youth, autism awareness, biased-based bullying, immigration and much more, the eleventh annual collection will feature thirteen new shorts.

Arts Engine invites you to their World Premiere, Thursday October 27, 7:00 p.m. at the SVA Theatre in New York. General admission tickets, discounted tickets for educators, and free tickets for students are available at http://mediathatmatters11.eventbrite.com.

Following the premiere, Arts Engine will host a series of panels on Friday, October 28th at SOCDOC (the documentary program at the School of Visual Arts), geared towards filmmakers, educators and activists. And on Saturday, October 29, Arts Engine will present Women and Girls Matter, a look at the obstacles and opportunities for women and girls in film making and new media.

The festival serves as the launch to Arts Engine’s year-long campaign to inspire audiences to screen, act, and create impact with the eleventh annual Media That Matters film collection. The films will be made available online under CC BY-NC-ND starting October 27th at 8 p.m.

For more info, visit the website and watch this video made with Arts Engine in 2008 explaining how CC has helped filmmakers in the Media that Matters film festival.

Now in it’s tenth year, the festival showcases twelve social justice shorts selected by a fantastic jury of filmmakers and activists. New this year is the impACT salon which will allow attendees the chance to meet the festival filmmakers, learn about the festival’s presenting partners, and will include free ice cream from the Raw IceCream Company.

Following the premiere, the films will be available for purchase under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license on region-free unencrypted DVDs.

The premiere will take place at The Visual Arts Theater (Google Map) and will include not only the films featured but also a salon with some of the MTM presenting partners and a chance to meet the festival filmmakers. Be sure to purchase tickets in advance if you wish to attend in person.

Following the premiere, the films will be available for purchase under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license on region-free unencrypted DVDs. This allows activists, educators, fans, and audiences to host their own non-commercial screenings of the shorts without having to negotiate complex contracts with MTM and the many different filmmakers participating in the festival. Those interested should preorder a DVD, check out MTM’s DIY Screening Guide, and add themselves to the list of existing screenings.

Visit the festival’s site for details, schedules, and downloads. Also, check out the video that Creative Commons and Arts Engine collaborated on in late 2008 that explains how CC licenses have helped filmmakers in the Media that Matters festival (more info and download available here).

Every year, Arts Engine produces the fantastic Media That Matters Film Festival. The festival awards and screens a dozen social justice shorts each year and then releases them for sale under our Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license on region-free unencrypted DVDs. This allows educators, fans, and audiences to arrange their own non-commercial screenings of the shorts and help promote them without having to spend time negotiating with MTM and the many different film makers participating in the festival.

This year’s Official Ninth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival is happening next Wednesday, June 3rd in NYC but there are hundreds of screenings organized all around the world. In conjunction with the NYC festival, there will be an impACT salon featuring the festival’s presenting partners that begins an hour prior to the screening at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Visual Arts Theater.

Check out the official site for details, schedules, and downloads.

Also of interest may be the video Creative Commons and Media That Matters collaborated on in late 2008:

You can download the video and learn more about it on its video page.

• They use CC’s BY-NC-ND license to encourage educational reuse and sharing of the material.
• The DVDs are not region encoded or encrypted. This means you are free to copy and share the DVDs according to the license without running afoul of laws regulating anti-circumvention technologies.
• All of the films are available online in high and low quality formats.
• The DVD cases are clearly marked with the badge of our the license.
• Arts Engine uses these DVD sales to support more CC licensed films being made.
• Arts Engine provides educational materials and discussion guides to help educators present the films to students.

If you’re interested in submitting your work to the 9th Annual Media that Matters Film Festival, check out their submission page here. Either way, consider buying a DVD today!

Arts Engine, a non-profit that creates social-issue documentaries, just released a call for entries for their 9th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival. The films produced for the MTMFF are short form, focus on social issues, and made mostly by young filmmakers.

Following a New York City Premiere, Awards Ceremony and industry networking event in June 2009, films submitted will take part in the Media That Matters international, multi-platform campaign with “DVD distribution, broadcasts, streaming and hundreds of screenings across the globe.” After the festival has been completed, the films will be released under a CC BY-NC-ND license. From MTMFF:

The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action.

From gay rights to global warming, the jury-selected collection represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers, many of whom are under 21. The films are equally diverse in style and content, with documentaries, music videos, animations, experimental work and everything else in between. What all the films have in common is that they spark debate and action in 12 minutes or less.

You can check out entries from previous MTMFF here, here, and here. Details on how to enter below:

Short Films: Keep it short! Under 12 minutes is good, but under 8 is even better.

All Genres: Documentary, animation, PSA, narrative, music videos – be creative!

Social Issues: Any and all. This year we are looking for films on Media Literacy, Human Rights, Elections & Democracy, Sustainability, Sexual Identity—but all social issues are accepted. Youth produced projects are encouraged.

Cash Prize: $1,000 per film.

Submission Fee: $25 for general submissions; $10 for students over 18 (with valid student ID); free for youth 18 and under (with valid ID).

Deadline: All submission materials must be postmarked by January 9th, 2009.

Check website for more details: submit.

Arts Engine also sells region-free unencrypted CC licensed DVDs of all the films that can be shown in any non-commercial setting.