Cross-Media Forum reveals winners

Power to the Pixel has revealed that Get Over It has won the ARTE International Prize for the Pixel Pitch.

The project developed by writer, director and producer Paula Schargorodsky and creative producer Rabia Williams, was awarded the $8,200 (€6,000) prize at the 7th Cross-Media Forum (Oct 15-18), run in association with the 57th BFI London Film Festival.

It saw off competition from seven other international projects that were presented before leading figures and experts from cross-media, financing and distribution backgrounds.

Get Over It is described as “a humorous, participative, ceremonial interactive experience and intimate transmedia project,” where participants and collaborating artists share their stories of disappointments in love which will become a collective mechanical installation.

The idea for the interactive website and mechanical installation, originated from the feature documentary Girl Behind the Camera.

Liz Rosenthal, CEO of Power to the Pixel, said: “We have seen some fantastic creative multi-platform projects over the last few days, not least from our Pixel Pitch Prize winners Paula Schargorodsky and Rabia Williams with their interactive web and exhibition project, Get Over It.

“I look forward to seeing how these projects develop in the future.”

More prizes

Nearly 100 producer-led international teams from 27 countries applied to participate in The Pixel Market (Oct 16-17) and 30 were selected to take part.

While only eight projects were chosen to compete in the final stage for the ARTE Pixel Pitch Prize, four more teams enjoyed success.

The Cinekid Pixel Market Prize for Best Children’s Project was won by Federico Dini of Germany for Milli, an pre-school series of picture books, interactive storybooks and television episodes.

The ITVS Impact Pixel Market Prize for the Best Social Impact Project was awarded by Jim Sommers, svp content management at ITVS to producer Dan Wechsler, and project manager Ulrich Fischer for Zeru.

The high concept project which is intended to be an interactive graphic novel (IGN), a feature film and web documentary, is set on a business trip to Tanzania, when a restless Afro-American financier is confronted with the horror of the lives of Albinos, persecuted and murdered by sorcery networks. Zeru was developed through The Pixel Lab 2012.

The Merging Media Pixel Market Prize was awarded to director Victoria Mapplebeck, and executive producer Andy Glynne for Text Me (working title), a multiplatform animated series, and interactive storytelling project, exploring the stories and secrets hidden in our phone memories.

Director Victoria Mapplebeck found an emerging personal story, when she realised she had unwittingly archived a three-year text message dialogue between herself and her former partner.

The beActive Pixel Market Prize for Best Scripted Content (Fiction) went to producer Dina Jakir of Croatia’s Studio Dim and author Irena Krcelic for Crochebots/My Grandpa is an Alien.

The project was developed through The Pixel Lab 2011 and also won a Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) grant for script development followed by further HAVC and MEDIA funding for project development.

Their next step is to apply for production grant of HAVC at the beginning of 2014 and they are planning to start principal photography in summer 2015. Jakir wins $4,000 (£2,500) plus automatic selection for beActive’s Digital Lab 2014.

Pixel Lab winner

Alongside the Pixel Market prizes, Power to the Pixel also announced the winner of The Pixel Lab 2013.

Decided by a jury headed by Ray Maguire, chairman of Gazoob, the $4,900 (£3,000) Power to the Pixel prize was awarded to The Viking of 6th Avenue and British producer Holly Elson.

The production companies collaborating on the project are Hark Pictures, Hard Working Movies and Brandwidth.

A web, mobile and film/TV non-fiction project, The Viking of Sixth Avenue tells the story of the blind, homeless street musician from Kansas who rose to become a New York icon, an internationally-renowned composer and a cult music figure.

The film is part financed and prepping for production and the online elements are in development. A wealth of archive material has been unearthed for the project which has the backing of the Moondog estate and the authorised biographer.

The authorised biography has been optioned for both non-fiction and fiction rights. Creative England has committed development funding for the film which also has pre-sale from SVT. The transmedia elements recently won the Docs360 prize.

This year’s Pixel Lab saw 16 producers attend with a cross-media project. After a residential week held at the Château du Lac in Genval, Belgium in June/July, producers attended a second workshop held in tandem with the Cross-Media Forum in London.