ICEWHOLE.COM/LOVES ORANGE

Mobile movies just got easier thanks to Orange doing a deal to showcase shorts from Icewhole.com’s treasure trove.

*************************

It’s scary, at times, the speed of change. Except when it provides positive advances like this marriage between two very compatible partners.

The bride – or the groom, depending on your instinct – is Icewhole.com, a lively forum for new filmmakers to showcase their work online, meet like minds and maybe become rich and famous for free.

The rich and famous chance is there because every month a panel of judges including Morgan Freeman and Lord Attenborough vote for the best film of the month, with the very best one likely to start showing in major cinemas soon.

The groom – or bride – is Orange, a phone company with a liking for film, sponsoring the BAFTAs and providing some of the best laughs in a cinema with it’s Orange Wednesday ads.

Now these two are a couple and every month Orange will also comb Icewhole.com’s huge online catalogue for the some great short films which will be made available exclusively on the Orange mobile network.

Are the shorts free? Of course, not! Orange are generous but not crazy.

In any case, the charge is only £1 per download and, this is the best bit, the filmmaker gets a slice of that, a royalty, along with the chance to have his work seen by millions.

That’s right. An audience of millions for a short! Wow.

So at worse, every time you watch anything you are giving a boost to a budding filmmaker and can think of yourself as a mogul.

Steve Lanning, co-founder of Icewhole.com, underlines this point: "For the film maker this provides them with the opportunity of being noticed by a wider audience and a revenue source to help them."

And he has a slew of testimonials from excited directors to back him up.

Jamie Rae, director of Flesh Forum: "I am ecstatic and overwhelmed that Flesh Forum has been chosen out of so many other excellent shorts. This is a great and exciting opportunity, for my work to be potentially seen by thousands, and hopefully entertaining everyone who sees it." See his film at http://www.icewhole.com/raezorcut

Graham Rathlin, director of The Crook, "I'm delighted The Crook has been chosen as one of the first films available for Orange Mobile download. I'm a huge fan of their cinema ads, which I find extremely funny. One of the greatest hurdles for makers of short films is getting their films seen and Icewhole.com and Orange are providing a tremendous opportunity for us to reach a wider audience than ever before." http://www.icewhole.com/primal

Christian Edwards, director A Dirty Job,: "We are very pleased that our film has been selected as one of the first films to be available for download through Orange. It gives us great satisfaction as independent filmmakers to be recognised by Icewhole and Orange in this way and we hope the success of 'A Dirty Job' will inspire filmmakers who are in a similar position to us go out there and make the films they want to make." http://www.icewhole.com/darklightfilmproductions

Tom Cardo-Moreno, director of Bastard: "Thanks so much for choosing my film 'Bastard' for this opportunity for more and more people to see my work on their mobile phones in the uk and around the world. If the Bastard was real he would have a little smile." http://www.icewhole.com/tomcardomoreno

Sounds like these are all guys who have seriously embraced the new technology and might be worth supporting.

However, if you are not on Orange, you could still meet a few like minded film lovers on the Icewholesite itself.

Posted May 8, 2008.