Green Screen launches mobile competition

The stories of TT’s rivers and seas will meander through green screens this year. Its stories will be told as part of the Green Screen, TT’s environmental film festival, micro shorts mobile film competition called Very Short Shorts.

This is the festival’s latest initiative, a media release said, and competition’s inaugural theme is Stories of our Rivers and Seas.

The competition is open to the general public in two categories: 12 to 17-year-old participants and 18 plus participants. It is also open to film makers of all levels of experience.

The release said, “For the purpose of guidance, the organisers suggest films address one or more of the following issues, but are not limited to these issues only, provided the story is connected to the theme - human environment, food security, ecotourism, meditation and spirituality, wildlife and biodiversity, water/ocean sports/leisure, fishing and fisheries, conservation issues: climate change, overfishing and marine waste.”

The films should be shot, it said, entirely on a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, go-pro or any combination of these) in HD video. The submissions are limited to 60 seconds, not including credits, it said. “Participants will be allowed any number of submissions and one story can be told via several one minute segments. However, each one minute segment must be able to stand on its own as a narrative piece. Submissions will be accepted online only via FilmFreeway,” it said.

The winning films will be selected by a Green Screen jury and its organisers hope to have this as an ongoing competition in the festival’s coming years.

Prizes will include cash with a Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company-sponsored prize of $10,000 for the best overall submission.

Films, the release added, will be disseminated via social media and included in Green Screen’s 2018-19 public screenings.

Carver Bacchus, Green Screen’s founder and director said, “Social Media, and the bite-sized bits of entertainment and information it supports, present a whole new frontier for environmental communications. Traditional film screenings and broadcast have their place but when the potential audience for your message is everyone with a smartphone it’s something we have to take advantage of and help build platforms for our stories.”

The festival “presents top local, regional and international films that highlight crucial environmental issues. Green Screen is a production of Sustain TT, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to highlighting issues of environmental conservation, renewable energy, climate change, social justice and sustainable development,” the release added.

It usually takes place every November and its organisers have decided to bring films and activities to the public at more regular intervals during the year. The release said the Art of Change series ended in May, and focussed on real world stories of what individuals and small organisations are able to achieve when they share their ideas, apply creativity and put people at the centre of solutions.

This year’s core festival will run from October 31 to November 3, with free screenings, receptions and panels.

Visit the website, greenscreentt.com, for more information about the festival and competition.