Ventura Water, iThentic Announce Third Annual Global Online Short Film Contest for Environmentally Conscious Filmmakers @WaterTake1.com

Water Awareness Campaign promotes New Dates, New Venues

Ventura Water located in Ventura, California partners with iThentic for the third annual Water: Take 1 Online Short Film Contest, a cooperative initiative that highlights our relationship with water through the art of film and calls attention to growing water challenges across the globe.

Filmmaker submissions are being accepted immediately at www.watertake1.com. Eligible submissions are recent short films under five minutes that address the topic of water in any genre, including documentary, drama, comedy, animation, sci-fi or experimental. There is no fee for submission and films will be posted online and able to be viewed upon acceptance.

New this year, Water: Take 1 is expanding its reach with the launch of Water: Take 1 NewsReel, a bi-monthly e-Newsletter, aimed at keeping the conversation going all year long. Articles and profiles of filmmakers, jury members, sponsors and partners will increase awareness of the campaign and drive traffic to the site on a continual basis. In addition, Water: Take 1 has extended the prize period and will now have two submission deadline periods – the ‘Early Bird’ deadline of September 15 and a final deadline of November 1 – again keeping the contest open and relevant for a longer period of time. A final Audience Choice Award voting deadline will be December 15.

Several other new developments are in the works including a ‘Sneak Peek’ reception and video presentation in mid-November at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach Hotel as well as a new venue and date for the annual Awards Celebration. Water: Take 1 is also planning to bring its message to the community via screening presentations and collaboration with area film festivals such as the Ojai Film Festival’s Focus Earth and increased social media efforts.

“For us in California, the continuing drought only serves to highlight the vital importance of water stewardship,” said Ventura Mayor Cheryl Heitmann. “Water: Take 1 connects water, as seen by filmmakers, with viewers from around the world and invites us all to examine water in different and thoughtful ways.”

Prizes for the top films will be announced at the Awards Celebration to be held at the Century Downtown 10 Movie Theater in Ventura in March 2015.   A jury-awarded Grand Prize of $1,500 will be presented to the Grand Prize Winner. Water: Take 1’s distinguished jury of entertainment and environmental professionals will also select an entry filmed in Ventura, California for the second Ventura Vision Award, sponsored by the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach Hotel, as well as a recipient of the Best Student Short Film Award. Viewers visiting www.watertake1.com will have an opportunity to “share” and “vote” for their favorite entry online and the film with the most votes will receive the Audience Choice Award.

Winners of the 2013 Water: Take 1 were announced at a community ceremony last November in Ventura. The $1,500 Grand Prize, sponsored by Patagonia, was awarded to the film “Water Collaborations,” directed by Crelis Rammelt, who is from the Netherlands. The jury also selected the film “Bottle vs. Tap,” directed by Hawaiian high school students Danica Brown, Denise Torres, Jai Litman, and Jason Schwien, as the winner of the Best Student Short Film Award, sponsored by Carollo Engineers and Kennedy/Jenks Consultants.   The contest’s first Ventura Vision Award, sponsored by Crowne Plaza Hotel, was awarded to “The Big Ventura River Bottom Clean Up,” directed by the Community Access Partners of San Buenaventura (CAPS). The recipient of the Audience Choice Award, sponsored by EJ Harrison & Sons, was “Water … The Lifeline of Life,” directed by Aniruddha Dhanaji Mane of India.

The contest is being hosted by online distributor iThentic which has a history of mounting successful entertainment contests and campaigns. Most recently, iThentic partnered with the Canadian Film Centre for its online festival, ShortsNonStop, and launched the interactive web series Guidestones.

The Water: Take 1 Online Short Film Contest brings together leading experts in the fields of water conservation, recycling and resource management with partners in online entertainment media production and distribution. It serves as a mechanism to create a social network of online content and extend the national reach of Ventura Water and its partners. The distinguished jury made up of leaders in water and environmental issues, entertainment professionals and influential members of the community are as follows:

Gail Gendler, Vice President, Acquisitions for AMC/Sundance Channel Global Networks, Gill Holland, Producer, (FLOW: For Love of Water, SPRING FORWARD, LOGGERHEADS), Kathleen McInnis, Founder, See-Through Films, Film Curator and Director of Industry Programming, Palm Springs ShortFest, Jane Sievert, Managing Photo Editor, Patagonia, Nicole Torre is President of New Angle Media, (Houston We Have a Problem), Richard Nagel, General Manager, West Basin Municipal Water District.

In partnership with other businesses and organizations, Ventura Water aims to bring water education and water efficiency messages to a broad audience. Designed to teach new ways of managing outdoor landscapes, a series of free Water Wise gardening classes in Ventura – covering topics from irrigation system efficiency to composting to turf alternatives – will help make our outdoor spaces more sustainable. Community engagement will be the spotlight with the introduction of a new effort to create Ventura’s first Integrated Water Resource Management Plan. Like many communities, aging infrastructure and water supply challenges are facing us. Envisioned to draw upon a broad range of perspectives and expertise, this stakeholder-driven public process will explore the options available to Ventura to secure future water supplies and work towards community consensus.

PR: Nancy Broschart
nbroschart@venturawater.net
(805) 223-4378

Contest information: Rachael Shapiro
Rshap33@hotmail.com
(310) 991-9568

About Ventura Water

Ventura Water, the City of Ventura’s Water Department, is dedicated to serving our beautiful coastal community with quality drinking water and water reclamation services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Delivering drinking water from local sources since 1923, cleaning water for more than a century, and preventing storm-water pollution for the past two decades, we support Ventura’s vitality. Our goal is to integrate water management to create long-term health and economic benefits for our community. As financial stewards, our goals are to operate and use resources efficiently, understand and meet the needs of our customers, and protect our infrastructure by investing wisely in maintenance and renewal projects. We believe that true water sustainability -- where the needs of the human population and the environment can live in balance –- will be achieved only when choices are made collectively to use water efficiently in all ways to restore our watersheds and protect our children’s future.

About iThentic

iThentic is an online video content production and distribution company with offices in Toronto and New York City. Launched in 2006, iThentic is carving out a place for independent filmmakers on digital platforms by aggregating and distributing the very best in independently produced content. The company is backed by three engaged and prominent shareholders: eOne Entertainment, Canada’s largest entertainment company, the founders of iThentic LLC (led by Catherine Tait), and Smiley Guy Studios, an award winning animation and new media studio. Smiley Guy Studios is the operating partner with Jonas Diamond as CEO and Catherine Tait as Chair of the company. iThentic is also a leading producer of web series, including recent International Digital Emmy, Canadian Screen Award, Digi and Rockie Award winner, Guidestones. IThentic was named the 2012 Digital Company of the Year by Playback Magazine.

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