Film Fest! Will you take part?

Loru Destiny: My dears, I keep seeing little films here on Facebook that you lovingly created. Now I got an idea: how about an Opensim Film Festival?

Hmm that got your attention! We all love them, watching and making films to celebrate your virtual worlds. If you want to be part of this event, whether as a filmmaker, or part of the audience, or both, you may have some questions. Let's get some answers!

When is the deadline for participating?
Loru Destiny:  The deadline is 28 February 2025. After that I will prepare everything for the festival. This will take some time. I also have to agree the exact date of the festival with the video artists. So I can't say exactly when the festival will take place. But I'll do my best to organise everything quickly.

Do the people publish the video on their own channel on Youtube? Is it ok if the video is on Vimeo, or some other site? What if I don't have a YouTube channel?
Loru Destiny: I am going to use a script that inserts part of the URL of a video. I know this works very well with a Youtube URL, I have no experience with Vimeo. So I want the video to be on Youtube. You will need access to a channel. It doesn't have to be yours. You can easily create one yourself for free. But if you really don't want to have a YouTube channel, you can send me the video and I'll put it on mine. 

What about the content of the video? Are there any limits?

Loru Destiny: With a few exceptions, the content of the video is up to the creator. I will not accept videos that are pornographic, incite hatred or violence, are racist, are discriminatory, or make an undemocratic political statement. I hope everyone understands that I reserve the right to reject videos. In any case, I will give adequate reasons for doing so. Important note: Youtube sometimes bans movies for copyright music. But there is a huge pool of free music on both youtube and other websites.  

How long do you suggest the videos should be?

Loru Destiny: The video should be up to 6 minutes long. I chose this length for two reasons.

First, most songs are between 3 and 4 minutes long, with opening and closing credits the video will be about 6 minutes long.

Second, if the videos were longer, people might only watch a few of them. The ideal case would be that everyone watches all the videos.

How can people contact you, and what information will filmmakers need to provide?

Loru Destiny: You can contact me in several ways:  via Discord: Loru#5907, then via Facebook: Loru Destiny, Inworld in my grid: artdestiny.de:8002. I would like to know something about the video and the creator in addition to the url I need. I haven't created a questionnaire yet, but I think it makes sense. We also have a group on Facebook to help people to participate.

So - will this be an inworld event? and if so, on what grid?

Loru Destiny:  Yes! There will be an inworld event. We don't have a date yet, it will be after all the videos have been submitted and organized, so,  - date to be confirmed. When the festival starts, you can watch the films on my grid, artdestiny.de:8002 and we're going to build a nice place for it. I don't know exactly what it will look like yet. I can only plan and build something concrete once I know the number and type of videos. Of course, the festival will also include a party with a red carpet and a lot of flashbulbs *g*.

 Loru Destiny: I would like to thank you for your interest in the project and I hope that many people will sign up for the Opensim Film Festival as a result of your blog post. The event can only take place if there are people who want to take part.  I think everything is more relaxed when we don't have a jury. Your movies will all be unique and therefore not comparable. Be brave and creative and don’t be afraid to show what you’ve created! I hereby cordially invite everyone to participate. This is not a German-speaking event either, but an international one. Music and pictures are a "language" that everyone understands.