Babelgum, the free to view global television network and filmfestivals.com, its partner, announced today that film makers and students have just three weeks left to enter their professionally produced content into the Babelgum Online Film Festival. The festival is a major online event celebrating and rewarding the very best in international independent short filmmaking, providing a lucrative opportunity for entrants to showcase their work to a potential global audience of 300m+.

The Babelgum Online Film Festival has seen over a thousand responses to date as participants look to make an impact and exploit the opportunity for international exposure. On top of that contestants have the potential to win €20,000 plus a $5 minimum guaranteed for each 1,000 unique views. The festival also ensures content makers’ work is seen by significant industry peers with a judging panel led by renowned writer, director and producer Spike Lee.

A reminder of the categories available to enter are:

• The Babelgum Looking for Genius Award -- Awarded to new or emerging talent who display clear and outstanding achievement through direction.
• The Babelgum Short Film Award -- Awarded to the best short film (under 20 minutes) that presents a clear, concise and original vision using the short film genre.
• The Babelgum Documentary Award – Awarded to the documentary that best presents its subject in a truthful and fair manner while being original and thought provoking.
• The Babelgum Animation Award – Awarded to the film that best displays story and the craft of animation.
• The Babelgum Social/Environment Award – Awarded to the best film that effectively addresses an issue impacting the world today.
• The Babelgum Spot/Advertising Award – Awarded to the most creative advertising spot highlighting a certain product.
• The Babelgum Music Video Award, to be awarded for innovation and creativity in the genre.

Potential entrants to the film festival can directly upload submissions at http://www.babelgum.com/online-film-festival/. Babelgum has now upgraded its software to ensure compatibility for Mac as well as PC users, making it easy and accessible for all filmmakers to upload their content.

Submissions will be exposed to public rating on Babelgum before being judged by the festival jury, led by Spike Lee. The other jurors consist of film experts from across the globe including the directors of established film festivals, film schools and film industry associations.

During the next week Babelgum is running an online campaign on film related websites to remind filmmakers of the deadline and rules of engagement.