Watch, vote and comment now

We are delighted to announce that this year's DepicT! shortlist is live - and we need your votes to decide the winner of this year’s coveted Audience Award.

DepicT! is Watershed’s ultra-short film competition. It's been going for over twenty years and features as part of the brilliant Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival held here in Bristol. The premise? DepicT! asks filmmakers from across the world to create shorts that are 90 seconds or less in length, and challenge what we think of super short filmmaking.

With over 500 submissions for this year’s DepicT! from 66 different countries, we’ve had an especially exciting and diverse pool of mini movies to whittle down to our most international shortlist to date. The twenty films shortlisted are now live on depict.org and awaiting your votes and comments.

There are multiple awards and prizes to be won but we specifically need your help to decide the outcome of the Shooting People Audience Award. With a lifetime membership to Shooting People up for grabs (a global network of filmmakers and industry professionals), the winner of this prize is chosen entirely by the public through voting on depict.org. There’s a massively varied selection to choose from and we’d love to hear your thoughts, feelings and even critical analysis in the comments section of each film.

Join us on Sat 23 Sept at 14:00 at Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival for the DepicT! Showcase - the big screen premiere of the DepicT shortlist, a chance to meet some of the talent behind the films and for a discussion on the ultra short film format. The showcase is followed by DepicT! Drinks in the café/bar sponsored by St Austell Brewery open to DepicT! Showcase ticket holders.

Our panel of judges also meet at the Festival to decide on the winners to be announced at the prestigious Encounters Short Film & Animation Award Ceremony - headed up by twice Oscar® and BAFTA nominated Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC (Atonement and Anna Karenina) on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society.

Seamus is joined by leading industry practitioners; Afolabi Kuti, BAFTA-winning producer of short film Home (on behalf of BAFTA); Åsa Lucander, Director for Aardman Animations; Beth Webb, Multiplatform Editor at Channel 4’s short-form arts strand Random Acts); Matt Turner, Shooting People Membership & Editorial; and Chris Auty, former film critic and producer, currently Head of Producing at NFTS.

The jury will have the tough job of deciding who will be awarded this year’s much coveted DepicT! prizes – the main DepicT! Award of £1,500, the Royal Photographic Society Cinematography Award of £1,000, the British Special Mention Award, a talent development package supported by BAFTA and NFTS, and the Random Acts Special Mention Award, that gives priceless exposure via Channel 4’s short form content platform and a chance to pitch for a new Random Acts commission.

Remember though, the winner of the Shooting People Audience Award is down to you, so don’t miss your chance to have your say. Voting is now open on depict.org until 17:00 on Sat 23 Sept. Simply rate the film by selecting 1 – 5 stars or leave a comment if you want to say more and be part of the discussion. Happy watching!

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