Tiscali announces Best UK Debut Short Award for the Raindance Film Festival

Tiscali UK is set to continue its support of The Raindance Film Festival in September by launching the Best UK ‘Short’ by a First Time Film Maker Award - to be announced today at the opening of the Raindance East Film Festival.

The entry criteria: contestants must be first time filmmakers and have submitted a short film of under ten minutes. Raindance will select a shortlist of the five best short films, which will then be shown online and voted for by Tiscali users as well as a Raindance panel of judges. The winner will be awarded a prize of £1,000 and free Tiscali broadband for a year.

This is not the first time Tiscali has shown a commitment to the film industry. In 2004, Tiscali was announced as one of the major sponsors of the Rotterdam Film Festival, where it experimented in distributing art house films over the Internet and has also supported The Venice Film Festival. The company also backed a full feature film, 05/06 directed by Theo Van Gogh about the assassination of the flamboyant right-wing politician Pym Fortuyn which made its debut online. Within hours of its Internet release thousands of broadband users were downloading the film.

Richard Ayers, Portal Director of www.tiscali.co.uk says: "This is the next step for the film industry. The question is not "what is broadband?" but "what can you do with it?" The music industry has finally embraced online distribution and for film makers it offers very cost effective distribution to millions.”

"We are absolutely committed to putting more entertainment online. We have been showcasing free short films for over two years and this is a great way to debut new talent."

Elliot Grove, founder and Managing Director of Raindance says: "We believe Tiscali is particularly innovative in this area. We welcome any company that champions creativity, and brings independent film to a wider audience consuming in a new medium."

The Raindance Film Festival was established in 1992 to celebrate and support British film making and innovation and has gone on to become the largest independent film festival in Europe. Patrons include directors such as Mike Figgis, Ken Loach and Michael Winterbottom, and artists including Ewan McGregor, Samantha Morton and Bill Nighy.

For more information on the Tiscali Best Short by a First Time Film Maker Award, go to www.raindance.co.uk to download the submission form along with the rules and regulations.