Today, Sir Ridley Scott announces Porcelain Unicorn from American director Keegan Wilcox as the winning short film in Philips’ Tell It Your Way film-making contest.

The contest, which received over 600 entries from around the world, invited aspiring filmmakers to create an original short film using the same six-line dialogue as the Cannes Lions award-winning Parallel Lines short films directed by RSA talents Carl Erik Rinsch, Greg Fay, Johnny Hardstaff, Jake Scott and Hi-Sim.

Commenting on his choice of winner, Sir Ridley Scott said: “I chose Porcelain Unicorn to be the winning film as it had a very strong narrative; a very complete story that was well told and executed.”

from the London River's publicist

Set against the backdrop of the 7th July 2005 bombings, London River tells the story of a friendship which develops between two seemingly unconnected people - Elizabeth (Brenda Bleythn) and Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyate).  Both of them have come to London to search for their children who are missing in the aftermath of the bombings.

Although they come from different religious backgrounds - Ousmane is an African Muslim living in France and Elizabeth is a white Christian living in Guernsey, they share the same hope of finding their children alive. Putting aside their cultural differences, they give each other the strength to continue the search and maintain their faith in humanity.

This much I know: that while there are very bright people in both worlds, there are very few film industry people who really understand software development and web technology, and not that many coders who understand the film, TV and video industry.

At the intersection of these spaces is New York's Open Video Conference, now in its second year, and a vital meet-up, platform and debate-space for those working across both worlds. From Tommy Pallotta, the animator who introduced Richard Linklater to rotoscoping and went on to produce Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly to the creator of the VLC player. From Damien Kulash, lead singer of treadmill legends OK Go to Obama adviser and law professor Susan Crawford, from Mozilla Firefox to the Workbook Project's Lance Weiller. This year in the evenings there's also a Shared Film Festival, which will include the Yes Men presenting their latest film.

This crossover of law, business, civil rights, open media, anti-censorship, open source technology, and pure wow-factor geekery creates a gathering unlike any I've been to before: arriving last year for the first day I wondered around with glazed eyes. Surrounded by spirits I'd mostly only connected with thru online or a chance encounter - and had no idea there were so many people active in this space. These are the people who are battling to ensure that our media future isn't owned, controlled and mediated by a single giant corporation; if you share their vision you should get down there or watch the webcasts.

I will also be involved with a panel on the future of cinema and exhibition with some very special guests (more info to follow soon) so if you do make it the conference - come and say hello! Details of the schedule below.

Submissions for the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival, 15 - 26 June 2011, will open on 1 November 2010.  

The Festival aims to stand internationally as a festival of discovery, a celebration of cinema, a centre of debate and a catalyst for new films.  For a chance to be part of it check the website for more details on how to submit www.edfilmfest.org.uk or email the Submissions Coordinator on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

from Hush Your Mouth's publicist

Stars Jason Maza, Samuel Oatley, Jay Simpson, Jade Williams, Ruth Sheen, Coshti Dowden | Written byTom Tyrwhitt UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 98 minutes | Directed byTom Tyrwhitt

When Darren decides that enough is enough and threatens to speak out against what his fellow gang members are doing, he is killed. His younger brother Leo (Maza) is grief-stricken and struggles to cope, without a job and without much of a home life. Suspicion for Darren's death falls on Leo's friend Isaiah (Dowden) but evidence slowly begins to point the finger at someone else.

From Red Bull's PR Agency (unpaid)

Enlightenment arrived at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland tonight August 31, as Chris Burkard was named Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2010 winner at an emotional unveiling ceremony packed with photographers, competition judges, athletes and special guests. 

The 24-year-old professional photographer’s image of surfer Peter Mendria riding waves on Chile’s West Coast in golden sunlight was named Overall Winner of the world’s biggest action and adventure sports photography competition out of 22,764 photos submitted to the contest by nearly 5000 photographers.

Scottish Documentary Institute is pleased to announce that Bridging the Gap 8 is now open for applications!

We are looking for Scottish-based filmmakers to make ten minute documentaries on the theme of SHIFT. We want films to be told in the first person – either by the filmmaker or the main character.

12 ideas will be short-listed on the basis of the proposal and supporting materials. In the following weeks they will be developed and honed further through weekend workshops so that they can be pitched to a panel of experts who will commission the final 5 projects in December 2010. The films are intended for distribution in cinemas and festivals and to be delivered by April 2011.

Who can apply?
This scheme is open to all filmmakers based in Scotland, and particularly aims to bridge the gap between training/graduation and a first commission, and those filmmakers who have not made films for the big screen. We are especially interested in filmmakers from diverse and under-represented backgrounds. We cannot accept applications from students in full time education.

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Cor blimey governor, Special Edition # 42 is a massive one. Laurence Boyce has been watching a multitude of DVDs and the column includes numerous feature debuts, some great British features and THAT sci-fi show that is always mentioned in this column. Given it’s so big, better stop waffling on and get straight to it!

Whilst the phrase “A comedy about suicide bombers” would seem to be an exercise in Daily Mail baiting, it’s worth noting that Four Lions (Optimum Releasing) is satirical, poignant and timely. It’s also bloody funny. Chris Morris, in his feature film debut, knows that comedy can arise when you have a great group dynamic. It just so happens that this group dynamic comes from a bunch of people who want to be terrorists. In following the motley bunch of wannabe Northern jihadists, there are a group of excellently staged set-pieces (including a section at a Pakistani training camp in which our leads manage to do everything spectacularly wrong), a number of stand- out performances from the likes of Riz Ahmed and Nigel Lindsay who manage to make us sympathise with the group despite the terrible nature of their plans and line after line of tremendously funny material. Morris and crew have done meticulous research into the subject and the film never comes across as glib; indeed, the climax of the film is both disturbing and powerful and it provides much food for thought about the nature of fanaticism and the lengths that people will go to in order to belong. An example of brave and daring British filmmaking. The extras on the disc are notable as well: the deleted scenes throw up many treats whilst some of the behind-the-scenes stuff is fascinating when you get to see Morris at work. It’s just a shame that he ultimately decided that he didn’t want to put commentaries on there...