After the success of the first edition of  the Babelgum Online Film Festival which presented 1012 films from all over the world, Spike Lee announced the second edition of the event at a press conference at the Toronto Film Festival, significant not only for the world of movies  but also for the web. Let’s remember that in the last edition even Italy participated and won; in fact, 2 of our nationals were rewarded: Andrea Lodovichetti, with Sotto il mio Giardino in the category “Looking for genius” and Emmanuel Exitu with Greater – Defeating Aids, in the category “Documentary”.

The Babelgum Online Film Festival, realized by Babelgum, TV on independent and free internet, is open to professionals and students registered at cinematographic schools all over the world. The categories  are: Short film (20 min), Animation (5 min.), documentary (30 min), and Mini masterpiece (5 min). Also for the second edition , Spike Lee has been reconfirmed as President of the Jury, thus bearing witness to a new more evolved phase of cinema, connected to web 2.0 and to the principles of democracy and sharing that characterize it.

Web 2.0 is gradually assuming a more significant role of alternative channel to grant more visibility to products, contents, forms of art among which cinema, which by following traditional avenues would find it difficult to reach the great majority of the public.

These difficulties are related to economic aspects and to the smash hit logic, where some types of movies are left out because they do not meet the harsh requirements of box office return.

This way,  those who do not have the necessary resources to produce a “ smash hit”, (not always synonym of quality), do not propose plots that are considered successful and can not afford a cast with very famous actors, rarely succeed in making it.

But does the public really only want box office hits?  Web 2.0 has already confirmed for us that the logic behind hits is not always a winning one, that the audience has diverse tastes and preferences which more often than not are not satisfied.

The  Babelgum Online Film Festival represents, then, a phase of cinema evolution, which by opening up to the dynamics of Web 2.0, encourages the encounter between the public and film students or professionals, granting the latter  with a higher degree of visibility and an immediate feedback on their work.

With the  launching of the second edition of  the Babelgum Online Film Festival, Ciaopeople, had an interesting interview with the chief executive officer at Babelgum,  Valerio Zingarelli,  to get a more in depth account of the event.

In one of your latest interview on the second edition of Babelgum Online Film Festival you have underlined a fundamental concept: “The future of the cinema is the web”. Is it possible then to imagine that the cinema will be no more represented by ready-made hits, but by innovative and original products capable to satisfy the long tail of the audience’s tastes?

We don’t believe that the Web 2.0 is going to replace traditional filmmaking, not in the short term, at least. Rather, it will complement it. It will definitely expand the market and create new opportunities in film production and distribution, not to mention the deep impact it will have on the way films are conceived, shot and cut.

We don’t know yet whether the long tail of the audience is going to be satisfied with innovative and original products vs. ready-made hits. What we do know is that the results from the 1st Babelgum Online Film Festival proved that audiences from all over the world were eager for new content; and that independent film-makers were excited to have found a new place to showcase their work.

Of the 1012 films submitted for the first edition, 25% of entries were original content, giving Babelgum users the first chance to view them. At least 60% were conceived for the small screen, indicating a shift in the way the industry is moving and a realisation that to be successful, filmmakers need to go where their potential audience is congregating, whether that means online or even on mobile devices such as laptops or phones. Meanwhile, 19 entries were made solely for the purpose of entering the Babelgum movie contest, in turn proving that the festival generated new film productions.

Babelgum Online Film Festival represents the first important partnership between film art and web with a very successful result. The  user generated content doesn’t only mean “amateur”, but mostly a professional work and  thanks to the Web 2.0 it can easily reach a large audience, hardly obtaining through the traditional media. How do you think this relation can develop in the near future?

The Babelgum Online Film festival is open only to professional filmmakers and film school students and NOT to user generated content. This is to make sure that films submitted to our movie contest maintain a high standard of quality.
Having said that, we do wish to open our arena also to gifted newcomers and filmmakers on a shoestring budget; which is why we decided to introduce the “Mini masterpiece” category in this 2nd edition. This is meant to become a natural port of call for those who have flair for telling bizarre, funny, surprising, provocative, shocking or experimental stories, including viral videos (5 minutes max.).
It’s worth bearing in mind that in the inaugural edition of our festival there was a large component of young and emerging filmmakers, with the average age of entrants being 29. 198 were film school students.

Babelgum Online Film Festival gives talented young men a great opportunity to show their artistic works and projects and, at the same time, it allows the audience to directly vote the movies. In conclusion can we say that it represents the triumph of the web democracy?

Let’s say that the web is a fantastic tool to help make democracy real and effective. Now, there’s a reason why we decided to give so much space and importance to the viewers’ opinions. We believe it’s absurd to reward a film if it hasn’t met with the positive consensus of the general audience. Unfortunately this is what sometimes happens at traditional film festivals: the films awarded then raise little or no interest among the audience when they are theatrically released.

Which is the Italian audience’s answer to Babelgum Online Film Festival? Has it been mature enough to pass from just “spectator” to a more active role?

There was a large proportion of Italians among the 1.5 million Babelgum viewers who took part and had their say on who was to become the next big thing in filmmaking. Just think that around 10% of all the films showcased in the past edition were made by Italian directors and were available in Italian language (with English subtitles). Internet use and broadband penetration might still not be as high as in other first world countries, but Italians are among the most sophisticated and curious web surfers in the world.

After the experience of the first edition whose success has been amazing, for this second edition has  Babelgum Online Film Festival introduced something new or just decided that winning card doesn’t change?

Internet is a work in progress and our festival is no exception. Therefore we decided to narrow down the number of categories and focus on those which proved most popular with the audience as well as most interesting in terms of submissions.

Which are the main characteristics that the talented young men should possess to participate in the Babelgun Film Festival?

Passion, courage, energy, dedication and inventiveness.

Simona Fiore

Bookmark to: