In its 4th year, FYI – Film Your Issue (www.filmyourissue.com ) has grown into a global internet-based competition inviting more than 25 million high school and college students in the U.S. alone to engage in pressing contemporary issues by creating and uploading two-minute short films on issues that impact their generation. In addition to taking the pulse of young adults on issues, FYI – Film Your Issue encourages young people to add their voices to the public dialogue, and underscores how even an individual voice can influence public debate.
Beginning Feb. 15, films can be uploaded on multiple participating platforms including MTV, YouTube and AFI Screen Nation, as well as promoted on MySpace TV, after registering on www.filmyourissue.com. Select entries will be highlighted on MySpace TV and distributed by The Associated Press to its 1,800 Online Video Network media outlets. The submission deadline is April 14, 2008.
“The internet has become one of the most potent platforms of social change , social activism and raising consciousness — and with the rapidly evolving technology which puts filmmaking capabilities into the hands of young people, this competition brings those elements – the internet, social activism and “User-generated-content” — together dynamically,” says HeathCliff Rothman, founder and president of FYI – FILM YOUR ISSUE. “We are excited as we begin the 4th round that this unprecedented consortium of organizations has joined with us to encourage the next generation of leaders, and provide a global platform for pressing social issues.”
Winners are selected by an illustrious VIP Jury, by the public online, and by participating cause organizations. Prizes to eleven winning films include internships at USA TODAY, The United Nations, P.O.V. and The Humane Society and a $5000 college scholarship from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Strong American Schools, and a filmmaker VIP Pass and presentation at SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. Winning films or excerpts will also be broadcast on Starz, and a selection presented at the annual NAACP Conference. The MTV audience favorite will be featured on Think, MTV’s multi-media community focused on youth activism, and the winning filmmaker profiled on MTV News. In
addition, FYI presents two additional annual awards: The Walter Cronkite Civic Engagement Leadership Award to an academic institution, and The Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award, to an individual.
FYI 2008’s VIP Jury is headed by legendary news anchors and authors Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw, and includes MySpace Founder Tom Anderson, MTV President Christina Norman, CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer, NBC Anchor Brian Williams, United Nations DPI Under-Secretary-General Kiyotaka Akasaka, Best Buy Vice-Chairman Brad Anderson, HBO Host Bill Maher, USA TODAY Publisher Craig Moon, USA TODAY Founder Al Neuharth, Weinstein Company Co-founder Harvey Weinstein and others.
Past judges include George Clooney and Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Winners from past competitions have gone on to work in major Hollywood production companies, been invited to present their films on Capitol Hill, and one recently co-produced a film that was the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Award winner. Through the global reach of the internet and The United Nations Department of Public Information, entries from past rounds have come not only from the U.S., but from all points across the globe, including Iran, The Philippines, Brazil, Russia, Hong Kong, Israel, the U.K., Argentina and elsewhere.
Partners for the 2008 FYI competition are USA TODAY, The Associated Press, The United Nations, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MTV, MySpace, NAACP, The Humane Society of the United States, SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival and AFI Screen Nation, Natural Resources Defense Council, PBS’ award-winning documentary series P.O.V., Starz, The Human Rights Campaign, ASCAP and The International Documentary Association. Academic partners are The Association of American Colleges and Universities, The National Association of Student Councils, The American Association of University Professors and The University Film and Video Association.