Arash & Arman T. Riahi's Everyday Rebellion wins ARTE Pixel Pitch Prize

Arash & Arman T. Riahi’s Everyday Rebellion has won the ARTE Pixel Pitch Prize at the sixth Power to the Pixel (PttP) cross-media forum, which closes today (Oct 19).

The Austrian-Iranian filmmakers [pictured] developed the project through the 2010 Pixel Lab and saw off competition from seven other international projects presented at The Pixel Pitch on Oct 17 to scoop the £6,000 prize. The judges praised the cinema documentary and cross-media project about the power of creative, non-violent activism for its quality of story and implementation of cross-media strategies.

Liz Rosenthal, CEO of PttP, commented: “We have seen some wonderfully creative, innovative and inspiring projects over the last few days, not least from our Pixel Pitch Prize winners Arash and Arman Riahi. The Cross-Media Forum and Pixel Market have showcased some of the best ideas and future opportunities in the transmedia arena and I look forward to seeing how these projects develop in the future.”

Almost 100 producer-led international teams applied for this year’s The Pixel Market with thirty selected to take part. Of the eight chosen to compete for the ARTE Pixel Pitch Prize, four other projects also won awards.

Michael Luda, Sven Sund (Saxonia Media) & Thomas Langhanki (Experimental Game) won the Cinekid Pixel Market Prize, which recognises the best project aimed at 4-14 year olds, for The Slumbers - Wish Tales. As a result of the win, Lund and his team are automatically selected for the market at this year’s Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam, with free accreditation, travel and accommodation.

Jim Sommers, senior VP content management at ITVS, awarded the Mozilla Pixel Market Non-fiction Prize to producer Sarah Arruda, writer Mary Dickie and creative director Alex Wittholz from Canada’s Helios Design Labs for their web native piece Queen West. Art. Noise. Mayhem. Arruda will now participate in the Living Docs Hackathon in San Francisco in 2013.

SOS: Save Our Skins, from producer Catherine Tait of Canada’s Duopoly and Jonas Diamond, took home the beActive Pixel Market Comedy Prize with Tait winning £2,500 and automatic selection to beActive’s Digital Comedy Lab next year.

beActive’s Nuno Bernado said: “There was tough competition for the Comedy Prize this year but SOS: Save our Skins stood out because of its originality and creative incorporation of transmedia. The premise instantly caught my attention and I look forward to seeing how the project will develop.”

Alongside the Pixel Market prizes, the winner of The Pixel Lab 2012, which carries a £3,000 prize, was Laurent Nègre from Switzerland’s Bord Cadre Films for Zeru: White Skin, Dark Fate, a thriller which incorporates a feature film, interactive graphic novel and educational elements.

PttP’s clients and partners include ARTE, BAFTA, BBC, BBH, Berlin Film Festival, BFI, Canada Media Fund, Cannes Film Festival (Marché du Film), EAVE, EU MEDIA Programme, Edinburgh International Film Festival, IFP, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mozilla, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Orange, Telefilm Canada and TorinoFilmLab.