YouTube Launches New Initiative for Filmmakers

LOS ANGELES, June 19: YouTube
is rolling out a dedicated area that will showcase an international selection
of short and feature-length films, allowing filmmakers from around the world to
distribute their work and generate revenue.

The YouTube Screening Room
will feature four new high-quality short films every two weeks, as well as
feature-length films on a case-by-case basis. It will highlight a wide range of
films, including some that have never been screened before in front of a broad
audience and others that have appeared in film festivals around the world. In
its first month of programming, the dedicated area will include short films
from Norway, Sweden, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., featuring well-known actors
and award-winning filmmakers alongside undiscovered talent. Films showcased in
the first month include the 2006 Academy Award nominee Our Time Is Up; the 2007 Academy Award winner The Danish Poet, presented by The National Film Board of Canada;
the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival winner Love and War; the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival winner The
Shovel; the 2005 USA Film Festival
winner The Big Empty; and the
2008 Academy Award nominee I Met The Walrus, among others. Over the next few months, films
from Germany, Austria, France, Kenya, Australia, Ireland and the U.K. will be
screened.

In the coming months, all
filmmakers will have the opportunity to submit their work for consideration
through an online submission process.

People will be able to
communicate directly with filmmakers to share thoughts, exchange opinions with
fans and provide feedback using YouTube's features to comment, rate and share
films. The YouTube Screening Room will also include a "Buy Now"
button, allowing filmmakers to link to websites selling DVDs and digital downloads
of their films.

"Having produced over
25 short films and having watched hundreds, if not thousands, I know that The
YouTube Screening Room will be a great forum for watching shorts and discussing
them,” said Daniel Dubiecki, a producer of Juno, as well as the short film The Big Empty, which will debut in The YouTube Screening Room on
July 4. “It is a very fair and democratic way of allowing people all over the
globe to watch films, rate them and have the opportunity to speak about their
feelings. I love watching films in theaters, but I now find myself watching
more shorts on YouTube. I'm really looking forward to seeing the community's
feedback on our film."

"YouTube is a natural
place for filmmakers and audiences to connect,” said Sara Pollack, the film manager
at YouTube. “The YouTube Screening Room will serve as a focused destination for
people to discover new talent while being entertained and informed through
film. We are excited to offer filmmakers around the world a new distribution
opportunity and to encourage more conversation within our community around
film."

—By Irene Lew