Yahoo! Telemundo lunches film festival.

Yahoo! Telemundo is tapping into the cinematic genius of Hispanic audiences with the launch of the Yahoo! Telemundo Short Film Festival sponsored by Toyota Yaris. This competition will enable Hispanic filmmakers to showcase their independently produced work to millions online, and allow users to cast votes for the best short films in four different genres.

Through September 5, filmmaking enthusiasts can submit their two-to-ten minute short films on Yahoo! Telemundo Cine, the recently re-launched online movie channel. Films can be submitted in English or Spanish, or both, in any of the following categories: Comedy, Horror, Action/Drama and Animation. Voting begins September 11 and runs through October 20. This festival is designed to inspire and develop the next generation of Hispanic filmmakers and will help expand the frontier in user-generated filmmaking.

“The Yahoo! Telemundo Short Film Festival was created for filmmakers in need of an outlet for their boundless creativity, talent and imagination,” said José Rivera Font, general manager Yahoo! North Latin America. “We are committed to the next generation of creatives whose stories need to be heard, with no limitation of language or media, by giving them access to a media world only Yahoo! Telemundo can offer. This is a groundbreaking competition where we may find the next Alfonso Cuarón or Alejandro González Iñárritu,” added Antoinette Zel, senior executive VP, network strategy, of Telemundo.

Each week users will vote for their favorite film in each of the four genres. During the final week, the films with the greatest number of votes in each genre will compete to become the overall users’ choice.

The short film which earns the most votes will air on Telemundo’s broadcast network in its Weekend Prime Time Movie Block and on mun2, the cable network for young U.S. Latinos, in its soon to be premiered movie-driven show, “Have you Cine?” Additionally, the “Users’ Choice” winner will receive “24 hours of fame” in which his/her film appears on the home page of Yahoo! Telemundo and the winning U.S. filmmaker will win a trip to the Sundance Film Festival January 25 to 29, 2007.

As the exclusive sponsor of the festival, Yaris, Toyota’s new innovative and economical sub-compact model, will be integrated into all online promotions and will give the automaker access to the Yahoo! network’s more than 12.8 million U.S. Hispanic users. The sponsorship is part of a multi-channel marketing campaign created by Conill, Toyota’s Latino communications agency.

“We are targeting a market that is young, fresh and full of creative energy, much like the spirit evident in the new Yaris,” added Teri Hill, car advertising manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “We are truly enthused to join Yahoo! Telemundo in helping up-and-comers realize their filmmaking dreams.”

“This festival puts the power into the consumer’s hands by giving them the ability to choose their favorite short film and discover a rising filmmaker,” said Adam Chandler, national sales manager, U.S. Hispanic Sales, Yahoo! Inc. “It’s a win-win for all involved– would-be directors are given the chance to show off their work and create content for Yahoo! Telemundo and Toyota is able to present the new Yaris to a young, diverse audience with tremendous buying power.”