united nations Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The outlaw Ned Kelly, along with his gang, is an important historical figure in Australia and an important cinematic figure in Australian cinema. Including a widely distributed 2003 release starring Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts and Orlando Bloom, the gang has been portrayed in at least 10 films. Kelly's story was first the focus of a 1906 film by Charles Tait titled The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is considered to be the first feature-length dramatic motion picture, with an original running time of 70 minutes (however, there had previously been feature-length films of boxing matches and also other very long religious films). The whole film no longer exists, though; after 100 years, there is only 17 minutes of footage available. It had been thought to have been gone altogether until 1975, when the first small segment was found. Since then, other substantial bits have been recovered, with last year's discovery of a whole reel -- 11 minutes -- being the most significant. What is left of the film was recently digitally restored, screened publicly and finally released on DVD.

That fragmented footage has now also been added to a United Nations heritage register. UNESCO's Memory of the World register recognizes and preserves artifacts and records of world significance, and currently the list only features fewer than 200 items. Another piece of Australian history added to the register this year is records of 165,000 convicts transported from England to Australia throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries. Non-Australian items include records from Nelson Mandela's trial and, also of cinematic interest, the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz and the personal archives of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, which includes hand- and type-written original manuscripts, drafts, notebooks, production papers, photographs and behind-the-scenes footage from his films, and correspondences, all of which, laid out, apparently reaches about 45 meters in length.

Film Your Issue (FYI), a film competition targeted at young Americans age 18-24, invites participants to create 30-to-60 second films about social issues as a way to "empower young adults in being engaged, involved citizens and giving them a voice". Competition has five suggested categories:  Global Issues/UN Millenium Development Goals; Animal Welfare; Arts as a Global Diplomat and Cultural Bridge; Music-driven (solo, band or music video styled film presenting a social issue through music); and Integration of Film and New Media, which will integrate fim and internet-based technologies via through an issue-based page on MSN Spaces.

Celebs including George Clooney, Walter Cronkite and Philip Seymour Hoffman are involved in the project, along with various political leaders and media corporations including Microsoft, MSN Spaces, USA Today, mtvU and Entertainment Weekly. The United Nations and UN Millenium Campaign, The Humane Society of the United States, and USC Center for Public Diplomacy are also involved in the project, which is in its second year.

Top finalists will be sponsored by MSN Spaces to attend the Sundance Film Festival 2007, and various other prizes are offered to finalists and semifinalists. Submission deadline is May 1, 2006.