WINDSOR, ONT. -- It’s billed as the world’s largest short film competition, and a group of local filmmakers have their eyes on the prize.
Jakob Skrzypa, Alexander Forman and Milos Savic have pieced together a three-minute film, titled ‘Balls!’ For this year’s My Rode Reel contest.
“It’s Pixar inspired,” says Skrzypa, who directed the short. The film is about a soccer ball that goes missing.
It eventually takes on a life of its own, goes to war, gets married and even starts a family.
“It’s Castway meets Rubber, a film about a tire that you just kind of follow this tire along,” says cinematographer Milos Savic.
Should the film impress the contest judges, the trio will receive cash instead of hardware.
My Rode Reel is giving away $1 million in cash prizes.
“The grand prize is $200,000 U.S. and a bunch of gear from Rode,” says Forman, who co-produced the film.
There’s also special prizes, including People’s Choice.
In total, more than 40 people were involved in the project.
The film was shot in three days, with countless hours in pre and post-production.
“We had a lot of different cars, different locations. I would say over the course of two weeks we put it together,” explains Forman.
Getting recognized by the judges, would go a long way for the filmmakers, according to Skrzypa.
“For us right now, especially as we’re trying to fund our feature film and kind of take our next steps in our filmmaking career that money would be incredible life changing.”
You can vote for the film online.