Tribeca Film Festival founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff along with American Express have launched an Amazon Theater/Tribeca Short-Film Competition in recognition of the importance of shorts in the bigger cinematic picture.
Beginning on March 3 and running until April 13 www.amazon.com will accept submissions of short film up to seven minutes in length, according to rules and instructions found on amazon
Amazon customers will be able to view the films in the Tribeca Screening Room on the company's Web site, where they will be invited to rate the films on a scale from one to five, using the existing Amazon.com star rating system. Additionally, five celebrity jurors from the Tribeca Film Festival will review selected film submissions alongside Amazon.com customers and provide their commentary on the site.
The five highest-rated films will be screened at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City and will run over a period of four weeks on the Amazon.com home page.
The top filmmaker as rated by Amazon.com customers will receive a grant of $50,000 for his or her next film, which will be awarded in the form of an American Express prepaid card in the amount of $50,000. The winning filmmaker will be announced in early July.
Robert De Niro said: We're very happy to be working with Amazon.com to help identify and support emerging talent."
