PRWeek has teamed up with sister title Campaign to launch a Brand Film Festival that will celebrate the marketing industry's finest achievements in cinematic storytelling.
The festival will showcase the year's most artistic, creative, and effective branded content films, from Vines to YouTube videos to long-form documentaries.
Submissions will be open until February 22, 2016, after which the best films will be selected by a high-profile jury comprising top creatives from the worlds of PR, advertising, digital, production, film, and media. Full submission details and an entry kit can be found here.
The jury will review the most creative activations across sectors including CPG, sports, healthcare, and sustainability; branded entertainment such as documentaries, animals, heartstrings, and LOL moments; engagement metrics such as viral and user generated; craft criteria including editing, direction, screenplay, foreign language, and silent; and Best of the Best.
PRWeek US editor-in-chief Steve Barrett and Campaign US editor-in-chief Douglas Quenqua will also be part of the jury. The top films will be screened at a gala event in May.
"Brands have become content owners and the Brand Film Festival will celebrate the most creative films across 28 categories," said Barrett. "Video now sits firmly at the heart of communications and marketing, whether lasting a few seconds on SnapChat, Vine, or Instagram, a few minutes on YouTube or Vevo, or full-scale documentaries on mainstream TV."
Agencies and brands of all types are staffing up with directors, editors, graphic designers, broadcast journalists, developers, art directors, producers, and other specialists to help place themselves at the center of the modern creative offer.
The Brand Film Festival will profile the work of this new generation of marketers, recognizing the evolution from distraction to entertainment, while rewarding the brands, agencies, and craftspeople leading the way in their fields.
Follow the Brand Film Festival on Twitter and Facebook for updates.