Archive for April, 2009

Announcing the winners of the 2nd Babelgum Online Film Festival

Published by catherine on April 28, 2009 in Babelgum Online Film Festival, Film and Various. 0 Comments

We are pleased to announce the winners of our second Online Film Festival, who received their awards last night at an awards ceremony at a private event held during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

The Professional Jury Awards were chosen by our panel of film experts Richard Abramowitz, Joe Bateman, Michael Cox, Tiziana Loschi and Carl Spence from the top 10 shortlisted  films that received the most audience votes in each category.

The hand-crafted Murano glass trophies went to:

  • Documentary:  Joseph Cottrell-Boyce for GLUE
  • Animation:  Michael Patrick O’Hara for MR. HAPPY

The Spike Lee Awards, chosen by the director himself from the top 10 shortlisted films, consisted of a cash prize of 20,000 Euros and a trophy. They went to:

  • Animation:  Guy Ben Shetrit for HEY

And the Looking for Genius Award, also chosen by Spike Lee among all the films in the festival, went to Francesco Sperandeo for BAB AL-SAMAH
He also wins 20,000 Euros in cash and a glass trophy.

All of the winning films can be seen on the brand new 2nd Babelgum Online Film Festival Winners channel on Babelgum web and mobile.

Congratulations to all the participants in the festival and to the lucky winners and as always, thanks to all our viewers who voted for their favorite entries over the past couple of months.

For more information about the winning films and the Festival, click here, and to see more photos of the event go to our Flickr page.

Winners & Spike Lee on stage

Bananaz: Online Première now live!

Published by catherine on April 20, 2009 in Music and Various. 0 Comments

The online première of Ceri Levy’s documentary Bananaz, which goes behind the scenes of the hugely successful virtual band Gorillaz, is live at last on Babelgum web and mobile as of today, April 20th.

You can now watch the 90 min-long doc in all its glory, and go the Bananaz page to find out more about the production, get exclusive downloads, games, pre-order the DVD and take part in the Bananaz competition.

bananaz liven online première

Babelgum Online Film Festival 2: Announcing the Shortlists

Published by catherine on April 6, 2009 in Babelgum Online Film Festival, Film and Various. 0 Comments

Voting for the 2nd Babelgum Online Film Festival closed last Thursday April 2nd at 1pm GMT.

The films receiving the most votes from the audience made it to the shortlist.

All of the shortlisted films (10 entries in each of the four categories) can now be seen here on the Shortlist channel

These films will be judged by Spike Lee and the Professional Jury. For more information on the competition and awards, see the FAQs for details.

“Extinction Sucks”, Babelgum’s second original production

Published by catherine on April 3, 2009 in Our Earth, Various and exclusive. 0 Comments

Babelgum has commissioned a second project as part of its digital studio initiative (following our first original production, Downstream, which we presented here on Tuesday). Extinction Sucks is a wildlife series in six parts, and is premiering on Babelgum as of today March 27th .

Made by wildlife doc gurus Off the Fence, the series suggests concrete solutions to the threat of extinction.

It follows the real-life adventures of Aussie conservationist Aleisha Caruso and her friend Ashleigh Young as they find ways to help save endangered species around the world. In each half-hour episode, the girls are challenged to mount an expedition to help a particular species of animal.

The production’s green credentials are further boosted by the involvement of WWF experts, who will be offering information and input on species and locations.

The show already has a strong online presence, with pages on MySpace and Facebook.

Watch the first episode on Asian Elephants now on Our Earth and for more details about the series click here.

Extinction Sucks on Babelgum