Napa Valley Film Festival Announces Grand Prize and Jury for New Animated Short Films Category Sponsored by Amazon Web Services

Napa Valley Film Festival Announces Grand Prize and Jury for New Animated Short Films Category Sponsored by Amazon Web Services

NAPA, California, June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --



Brkly Studios Founder Neil Berkeley, and Atomic Fiction Co-Founder Ryan
Tudhope and AWS Principle Data Scientist Matt Wood to award $10,000 in AWS credits to Best


Animated Short Film at NVFF Awards Ceremony



New Animated Short Films Category Gives Filmmakers Free Access to AWS for


Development and Rendering of Films; Submission Deadline is June 30



The Napa Valley Film Festival [http://napavalleyfilmfest.org ] (NVFF) is pleased to
announce a a new category as part of the 2013 NVFF (Nov. 13-17): Animated Short Films,
sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The new category will encourage animated short
film submissions and the use of technology that helps bring the filmmaker's vision to
life. By showcasing the best in animated filmmaking, NVFF and AWS will provide the digital
animation community with a platform for their artistic concepts and vision within this
medium. Working together, the companies will shine a light on the raw talent of the
filmmaker-artists and incorporate the use of cloud technology as they complete their
digitally animated short films. NVFF and AWS are also providing filmmakers with an
educational forum with access to industry mentors and game-changing technology to help
nurture their careers. A prestigious Jury comprised of Brkly Studios Founder Neil
Berkeley, Atomic Fiction Co-Founder Ryan Tudhope, and AWS Principle Data Scientist Matt
Wood will award $10,000 in AWS credits to the Best Animated Short Film on Sunday, November
17 at NVFF's Closing Night Awards Ceremony.



NVFF Executive and Artistic Director Marc Lhormer said, "We welcome the opportunity to
work together with Amazon Web Services on this exciting new collaboration and look forward
to showcasing cutting-edge animated films at the Napa Valley Film Festival."



Matt Wood, Principle Data Scientist for AWS, said, "AWS is helping filmmakers from
around the world to power the rendering of digital effects or entire digital animated
movies. In the past, if a filmmaker wanted to make a film, they had to gain capital to
acquire the technology. Then to render digital images, they had to buy farms and farms of
servers to handle the large compute capacity. But with AWS, filmmakers can get started
with near-instant infrastructure, use AWS's massive computing power to drive higher
quality effects, letting digital effects artists and digital filmmakers focus on the
creativity of their craft versus the infrastructure required to run it. We're excited to
support NVFF and the film community, and to see the types of dynamic new films that will
be developed with AWS."



PRIZES & AWARDS - The Animated Short Films category, sponsored by AWS, is a
competitive juried section of the third annual NVFF (November 13 - 17, 2013) and is
presented in collaboration with AWS.



- 1st Place- Best Animated Short Film, as chosen by the NVFF Jury. The Napa Valley
Film Festival will award the winner of the Animated Short Film category, sponsored by AWS,
$10,000 in AWS credits.



- Audience Award: Favorite Animated Short Film, as chosen by audience votes.


CATEGORY RULES - Films entered in the Animated Short Films category, sponsored by AWS,
must be under 20 minutes in length and contain a significant amount of animation. All
submitted films will have access to free trial credits provided by AWS to take advantage
of infrastructure and computing services needed to complete the films. Film submissions
are accepted through Without A Box [https://www.withoutabox.com/login/9764 ] (WAB) where
filmmakers will also have instructions on how to set up a free AWS account and access the
free credits as part of their registration for the competition. Note: filmmakers may enter
their film in any stage of completion, utilizing AWS to create a new film from scratch, or
do a final polish on a short film near exhibition-ready, or anything in between. Entry
through WAB must take place by the final deadline of June 30, 2013, and completed films
must be received by NVFF by July 31, 2013.



Whether or not a specific submission is accepted by the Napa Valley Film Festival, all
filmmakers who enter this category will be given the opportunity to have their completed
films showcased by AWS in various AWS promotional activities. Filmmakers choosing to
participate will grant AWS a non-exclusive perpetual license to use all final digital
assets from submitted films, along with film names and filmmaker names, exclusively for
such purpose, and not for any other purpose that might in any way hinder the filmmakers'
own plans for marketing and exhibiting their films. The AWS sponsorship allows animation
filmmakers two benefits: 1) experimenting with new rendering and file-sharing tools that
support creativity and enhance productivity, and 2) broad exposure for and promotion of
the filmmakers' new creative work.



About the Animated Shorts Category Jury



Matt Wood



In his role at Amazon Web Services, Matt Wood helps teams of all sizes bring their
ideas to life through technology. With a background in the life sciences and a focus on
big data and high performance computing, Matt helps AWS customers take advantage of
utility computing at scale, to do more with their data, at a lower cost.



Neil Berkeley



Neil Berkeley is a director living in Los Angeles has been working in film and
television for over ten years developing content and packaging for some of TV's most
popular shows including Project Runway, Top Chef, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food,
America's Next Great Restaurant, Bravo's Work of Art and many more. Berkeley has also been
design producer for several documentaries including The Cool School, Johnny Cash's
America, Air Guitar Nation and Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records.



Berkeley released his first feature length documentary, Beauty Is Embarrassing, in
2012. The film chronicles the life of artist Wayne White and had its premiere at SXSW in
March of '12. Neil is currently working on his second documentary, which will feature
writer, Dan Harmon. Berkeley has been operating his design-based production company,
BRKLY, since the summer of 2009. As owner and principal creative Berkeley directs all of
the company's live action productions and acts as creative lead on their various projects.



Ryan Tudhope



Ryan Tudhope is co-founder and visual effects supervisor of Atomic Fiction, a studio
specializing in digital characters and effects for major motion pictures, cinematics and
commercials. Tudhope has supervised or produced visual effects on numerous films including
Flight, Looper, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Superman Returns, SinCity, Hellboy and the
Academy Award-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. On the commercial front,
Tudhope has supervised visual effects for clients including Sony, IBM, Disney, Nike and
the US Navy.



Earlier in his career, Tudhope parlayed his interest in film and computer graphics
into a job at Skywalker Ranch just days after his high school graduation. Once there, he
worked directly with George Lucas, designing key sequences for Star Wars: Episode One. He
is a Visual Effects Society Bay Area board member, has been featured on numerous panels
and publications and actively speaks to promote school-to-career programs, advice on
entering the workforce and the use of technology in the classroom.



Napa Valley Film Festival Overview
The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, the third annual Napa Valley Film
Festival (NVFF), November 13 - 17, 2013, will light up the picturesque towns of Napa,
Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of year. NVFF features over
100 new independent films screening in 12 eclectic venues throughout four walk-able
villages, as 300 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate
events. Enjoy film industry and culinary panel discussions, wine tasting pavilions,
Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, an array of parties, VIP receptions
and winemaker dinners. For information or to buy passes, visit
http://www.napavalleyfilmfest.org or call 707-226-7500. Advance lodging reservations
are strongly recommended.


About the NapaValley Film Festival
The Napa Valley Film Festival is produced by Cinema Napa Valley, a registered 501c3
non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. Recent Festival highlights
included the world premiere of the highly anticipated wine documentary Somm, screenings of
Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut Quartet and the Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook,
Celebrity Tributes honoring heralded actors Alan Cumming, James Marsden and "Rising Stars"
Imogen Poots and Adam Driver. In addition to producing the annual Festival, Cinema Napa
Valley presents special film events throughout the year and provides support to student
filmmaking efforts in Napa Valley schools via its Education and Outreach Programs.



Media contacts: Erin Cain, erin@glodownead.com and Danielle Mayer,
Danielle@glodownead.com at Glodow Nead Communications, +1(415)394-6500.




Napa Valley Film Festival


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