2008 Machinima Film Festival
Entries invited for awards event to be staged in Manhattan on November 1st.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, August 7, 2008—The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) has opened the call for submissions for the much-anticipated 2008 Machinima Film Festival ( www.festival.machinima.org), which will be held Saturday, November 1, 2008, at Eyebeam, a multi-disciplinary art and technology center in Manhattan. Filmmakers interested in submitting their work for the 2008 Machinima Awards (“The Mackies”) should do so by Friday, Sept. 12.
As in years past, the 2008 Machinima Festival will feature panel discussions with prominent machinima filmmakers from around the world discussing this new form of cinema which often uses popular video games like Halo® 3, World of Warcraft® and The Sims™ as source material for entirely new and often subversive works.
The main highlight of the 2008 Machinima Festival is the awards ceremony honoring the best new machinima movies produced in 17 categories, beginning at 8PM. This year also sees the introduction of new award categories, notably “Best Long Format” recognizing the increasing number of feature-length productions, and “Best Game Studio Machinima” honoring realtime cutscenes and cinematics found in today's next-generation titles.
Hailed as the “Sundance for the Video Game Set” by MTV News, the Machinima Festival evolved from its humble beginnings as an adjunct to QuakeCon in Mesquite, Texas in 2002, into the field’s definitive celebration and showcase. The event, which is organized and produced by AMAS, consistently draws hundreds of machinima professionals, enthusiasts and critics, who gather to explore the works of modern innovators, network and discuss the future of the industry.
Detailed submission requirements and instructions can be found online at www.festival.machinima.org. Interested parties may also contact AMAS at:
ress@machinima.org.
WHERE: Eyebeam
540 W. 21st Street, (between 10th and 11th Avenues) New York, NY 10011
WHEN: 11am-11PM (Awards Ceremony at 8pm)
PHONE: 212-937-6580
About the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences Based in New York, the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a volunteer-run nonprofit established to promote, organize and advocate the growth of Machinima filmmaking and filmmakers. The organization was founded in March 2002 by several leading members of the Machinima community, including Paul Marino, the noted author of The Art of Machinima (2004, Paraglyph Press), who currently serves as president. Their goal in creating AMAS was to make the current creative industries aware of Machinima as well as bring support & credibility to independent Machinima productions as a whole. The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences continues to support the Machinima movement with lectures, presentations, workshops along with its principal event, the annual Machinima Festival. For more information, visit www.machinima.org.
About Eyebeam
Founded in 1997, Eyebeam is an art and technology center that provides a fertile context and state-of-the-art tools for digital experimentation. It is a lively incubator of creativity and thought, where artists and technologists actively engage with the larger culture, addressing the issues and concerns of our time. Eyebeam challenges convention, celebrates the hack, educates the next generation, encourages collaboration, freely offers its output to the community, and invites the public to share in a spirit of openness: open source, open content and open distribution. For more information, visit www.eyebeam.org, or contact 212-937-6580 or info@eyebeam.org.
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Media Contact:
Bill Lessard
PRwithBrains for 2008 Machinima Festival
914.476.6089
wlessard@prwithbrains.com
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