Ustories is a project of cinematographic residency for the realization of a short film site specific in Umbria.

The contest is directed at young professionals/rising artists under-35, promoting and reinforcing the audiovisual sector. 

The Ustories residency is aimed at young professionals go age between 18 and 35 who work in the cinematographic and audiovisual field, with no restrictions of residence and nationality. The legal age must have been reached at the publishing date of this announcement. To sign up to the Ustories contest one must read the guidelines and accept them in its entirety, fill the online form and deposit the registration fee.

The applications to the Ustories residency can be sent to the organization through the specific online form according to the aforementioned deadlines and by and no later than 23:59 of 15 February 2022..

The Ustories residency is aimed at young professionals go age between 18 and 35 who work in the cinematographic and audiovisual field, with no restrictions of residence and nationality. The legal age must have been reached at the publishing date of this announcement. To sign up to the Ustories contest one must read the guidelines and accept them in its entirety, fill the online form and deposit the registration fee.

The applications to the Ustories residency can be sent to the organization through the specific online form according to the aforementioned deadlines and by and no later than 23:59 of 15 February 2022..

To sign up to the Ustories contest one must read the guidelines and accept them in its entirety, fill the online form and deposit the registration fee. The call’s first phase involves the selection of the couples contesting for the Ustories residency through the following documents:

1 Personal curriculum of each participant (including filmography/videography with links to their last works);

1 Valid ID of each participant;

2 Cover letter of each participant (2 units* max; font COURIER NEW size 12, line-spacing 1.5, 30 lines per page);

Small report that is 5 units* max (font COURIER NEW size 12, line-spacing 1.5, approximately 30 lines per page) including a small plot for the short film loosely based on one of the themes written below, directing notes and annotations on the approach to the chosen theme.

The following themes can be developed freely, not necessarily tied to Umbria’s territory. 

To each theme is connected an aphorism, which must be interpreted as a non-binding narrative “trigger” that indicates one of the many possible directions:

TIME

Some hours are slow and some rush.

RELATIONSHIPS

The individual is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots.

THE DREAM

My house will continue to travel on two legs and my dreams will have no boundaries.

Only one of the three suggested themes can be developed, with no restrictions of genre, it will also be possible to use elements from the other two themes, provided that they won’t be prevalent.

All the documents must be uploaded to the specific online registration form in pdf format.apposito form di registrazione online in formato pdf.

The selection of the applications will be carried out by and at the incontestable discretion of Ustories’ Artistic Direction.

In the beginning of March the official announcement of the 5 couples of artists selected to take part to the artistic residency will be published.. 

Before the start of phase 2 and the ensuing residency, the 5 couples of finalists will receive a containing textual and photographic info on the main location of the site specific short film. 

In the month of April, the selected 5 couples will be hosted for a week in Umbria, in the location where the first step of the residency will occur, with board and lodging provided by the organization. During the days of this residency the couples will be able to visit the location that’s going to be the center of the site specific short film and its urban and natural surroundings.

The couples of artists will be supported during the residency by professional tutors who will help them with the writing and the preliminary development of the project and by illustrators/graphic designers, whose job will allow the couples to prepare a mood board in view of the final pitch., il cui lavoro permetterà alla coppia di preparare un moodboard in vista del pitch finale. 

At the end of the week the finalists will have to submit: an original screenplay with no restrictions of genre of max 15 pages (A4 format, cover excluded, font COURIER NEW size 12) that has as the main location the one chosen by the organization; a pitch of max 1 folder that describes the cornerstone of the story in a captivating way; a mood board of max 10 panels that allows to understand the background and the concepts around the staging.

The screenplays will be presented during the residency’s final evening through a pitch in which the very authors will recount their stories to the audience with the aid of audio, video and graphic supplies.

Still in April, in the weeks following the first step of the residency, the winners will be declared, assigning the production prize of 15.000 € to the most deserving screenplay; the people’s choice award; other potential mentions..

The screenplay of the winning couple will be produced and finalized in the 5 following months, among May and September.

To sign up to the Ustories contest a registration fee is required (referring to both participants, not the individuals):  

50 € if the registration occurs by 23:59 on the 15/12/2021

70 € if the registration occurs by 23:59 on the 15/01/2022

100 € if the registration occurs after 15/01/2022 and still within the registration deadline on the 15/02/2022.            

The couples selected for Ustories will work in close proximity with the territory and the location of the cinematographic residency. For this reason, there will have to be a location that in the screenplay’s writing will constitute the main scenography of the short film’s narration. Before the start of phase 2 and the ensuing residency, the 5 couples of finalists will receive a dossier containing textual and photographic info on the main location of the site specific short film.

The short film will therefore be site specific, wherein site specific means an intervention, in this case an artistic one, in a precise location.The interaction of the intervention with the surrounding environment is crucial for the jury’s judgment and will be allowed to reference all the aspects about its identity: from story to architecture, from special structure to culture.  

The name and the information about the site specific location will not be made public until the dossier is sent to the finalists couples.

In addition to the designed location, it will be possible to involve in the screenplay up to three locations, identified during the residency’s week in the month of April 2022.

Ustories will assist the authors of the short film with the research of national and international festivals to which submit the short film they created.

This support will be coordinated with a distribution company specialized in short films with which the residency project will establish a partnership.

The opportunities offered by Ustories are supported with a production prize of 15.000 € assigned to the winning couple, entirely spent on the short film.

In the following phase, with the help of a production tutor,the couple will be able to distribute the different assets to the single expense entry, prior consent of the organization, which will ensure to trace all the payments. The very same, commits to pay every expense within the month of September 2022..

In addition to the production prize, are also provided the public prize and others special mentions.

During the last day of the first step of the residency all the projects will be presented through a public pitch. Each viewer will receive a form with the titles of the screenplays and a series of boxes from 1 to 5. The viewer will have to punch the slot corresponding to the grade that they consider appropriate. At the end of the poll, the winner of the People’s choice Award will be declared. 

The couple who wins the people’s choice award will receive a prize from one of the venture’s partners.

The 5 finalist screenplays can receive some mentions tied to artistic quality, involvement of the site specific location and originality of the submission.
The ones who receive a mention will have the chance to participate for free to the next edition of the Ustories residency.

The winners of the Ustories residency, that is the creative couple that will make the short film through the production prize made available by the organization, will keep moral property on the work while ceding for free every right to economic use to Dromo Studio snc, which will be presented as only producer of the film.

In case the short film’s budget is integrated by third parties, a share of associate production will be included for each party, guaranteeing each of them a percentage of the right to economic use of the work. 

Dromo Studio snc will in any case maintain majority of the decision making power on the economic use of the work.

Ustories is a project of cinematographic residence for the realization of a short film site specific of the winner couple. 

The screenplay of the winning couple will be produced and finalized in the 5 following months through the following phases:

May 2022: the winning couple will have to submit the definitive screenplay after the online revisions of the text with the tutor. Still in May , the couple will carry out a second step of the residency of 5 days to define the production plan, the technical/artistic cast, together with a first directing plan;

May/July 2022: the couple, with the tutors and the organization, will define the details of the production plan.The couple will be able to continue their work remotely and/or in person at the participants’ discretion;

July 2022: the couple will carry out a third step of the residency of 7 days

to conduct the production of the short film with the technical/artistic cast and the organization;

August/September 2022: the couple will carry out the fourth and last step of the residency of 7 days for the post-production and finalization of the work.

To help finalize the project, the organization will make resources and support available in the area for:

research of the workforce necessary to carry out pre-production, production and post-production;

facilities such as a photo shooting and a casting room, costume shop, carpenter’s shop, and a scenography workshop;

technical and technological equipment for shooting and production;

audiovisual post-production and editing studio equipped with state of the art software and technology;

technical and artistic expertise brought respectively by Dromo Studio and Strani Rumori, as well as logistic and productive expertise brought by Atmo;

activation of audience development strategies.

The organization will put at the winners’ disposal a list of regional professional figures for every position (actors, stagehand, set designers, costume designers, editors etc.) along with audiovisual services. The couple will be free to call trusted professionals from outside the region for a total expense of maximum 30% of the established budget.

The supplied budget can be integrated with external financing sources if the winning couple has the means or commits to finding a contract of associated production, sponsorship or others. Every choice will still have to be examined with the organization and the production tutor and will in no way be able to change the timings present in Ustories regulations.

Yes. The ones allowed to participate in the Ustories are young professionals in the cinematographic and audiovisual field, of age between 18 and 35, residing in national or international territory.