In Film: The Cinemocracy Film Festival

The Cinemocracy Film Festival :: Denver
by Lisa Gedgaudas

Denver is one of the luckiest cities to have a mayor like John Hickenlooper who carries a consistent track record of one-upping himself with his willing, innovative, charming and interactive-activist ways, simply to show everyone that it is just that easy to take part in your city.

This August Denver is about to harbor one of the most historical and political events to date, The 2008 Democratic National Convention. The Convention will take place Aug. 25-28 at the Denver Pepsi Center, and is expected to host anywhere from the estimated 35,000 to 50,000 visitors to our Mile High City.

Mayor Hickenlooper is already on board and taking part with innovative ways to get his town, and all its walks of life on board including one, under the radar approach called The Cinemocracy Film Festival. Building upon the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee's Call to Democracy effort, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) and Denver Film Society (DFS) have announced the launch of the Cinemocracy Film Festival, an open source film festival to coincide with the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The goal, is to get filmmakers, musicians, artists, students, or even your dad to address the topic of “How do you define Democracy?” The call to action is for the citizens of not just Denver but the world to speak out and share ideas on what democracy is (or isn’t) through the creation of short films.

Mayor Hickenlooper has already answered the call and created his own short film, Many People, One Voice, which is available for viewing at www.denverfilm.org/cinemocracy. He has made a point of reaching in and placing his two cents into such a great event.

"Denver is excited to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention and we encourage all people to make their voices heard during that time by participating in this unique project,” explains Hickenlooper.

Everyone has a chance to participate in the project, either by taking the challenge of submitting a film or by sitting back and watching the shorts and voting on them. All films can be submitted via free upload and will be judged by the online public.

The top 25 films will be screened at a free public event Denver during the week of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The filmmakers of the top 10 ranked films will be provided with airfare and lodging to attend and introduce their films at the Cinemocracy Film Festival public screening. Five of the top 25 ranked films determined by a panel of judges comprised of film industry professionals and politicians will be screened as part of the official 31st Starz Denver Film Festival (Nov. 13-23) and thus be eligible for the Starz People's Choice Award for Best Short which carries a $2,500 cash prize.

The film festival is one of many events planned that underscore the Host Committee's Call to Democracy efforts, encouraging public engagement and civic awareness in the democratic process. The 2008 Cinemocracy Film Festival is the first of an annual open source film festival to be hosted by the Denver Film Society in subsequent years. Submitted films can be up to five minutes long and can be uploaded from March 1 through July 15 to www.denverfilm.org/cinemocracy.
Voting will remain open until Aug. 1.

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