Mozilla will be at TIFF this year to announce the winners of Firefox Flicks, a global, open-entry contest that calls on aspiring filmmakers in the open-source software community to create a one-minute film about the new Firefox mobile operating system.
Now in its second year, the contest will be coming to TIFF for the first time. The grand prize winner, four regional winners (Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific/Europe, Middle East/Africa), and the people’s choice winner will be presented with awards at an evening event. A panel of industry-leading judges, which includes Academy Award-winning actor Edward Norton, producer Helen Estabrook and Panavision evp global sales and marketing Bob Harvey, will select the winners from among more than 400 hundred entries.
Contestants were given a short brief challenging them to make a film that “tells the story of how having access to the Web through a mobile device can change the way you see the world and how you function within it.” The brief was built on Firefox OS’s “Get Mobilized” brand messaging, about how mobile access changes our day-to-day lives.
The first-place team will be flown to L.A. to work with producers Franklin Leonard and Couper Samuelson and Panavision to professionally produce remake their film as a professional spot. The team will also get a one-day training session at the Dolby Institute and an invite to a film premiere at the Dolby Theater. Regional winners get $5,000 and regional runner-ups get $2,500.
To promote the contest and the new OS at TIFF, Mozilla brand ambassadors will show the winning videos via tablet to festival-goers while they stand in line. The big furry red fox mascot will be around for photo-ops.
“We decided to announce the winners at TIFF primarily because we feel like it’s a great way to reach a new set of consumers that we typically don’t talk to,” said Kristin Baird, Mozilla’s director of integrated marketing. Having the contest videos on hand will help new consumers understand what the brand’s about, she added.
Check out this early-bird winner from Alberto García Ballesteros in Mexico:
