The Bitfilm Festival for digital film will be the first film festival worldwide which pays the prize money in Bitcoins, the new digital currency.

Bitcoin is money that is generated by a sophisticated mathematical process on the Internet without the need of a central bank. It is designed to be as rare as gold and will therefore not be subject to inflation. Its value has risen from a few cents to over 20 US Dollars in the last months. More than 2000 products and services can be bought with Bitcoin and its acceptance as a means of payment is constantly rising.

The Bitfilm Festival‘s prize money will be raised through a crowd sourcing process. Participating filmmakers and film fans who like to watch Bitfilms on the Internet are asked to transfer Bitcoins to Bitfilm‘s wallet. The result will be split between the award winners in these three categories:

3D SPACE: entirely computer generated Films made with 3D animation software

FX MIX: Films which mix various techniques digitally, eg. 3D animation, 2D
animation and live action

MACHINIMA: films which are shot live inside a computer game or a virtual world like Second Life

The Bitfilm Festival 2011 will take place on the Internet, in Hamburg (Germany) and Bangalore (India). You may read the whole press release and download pictures in printable resolution here: http://www.bitfilm.com/press