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Calling short film ideas! You’ve got a pitch? Reel Asian wants to hear all about it! Returning for its sixth season, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and Charles Street Video presents the So You Think You Can Pitch? competition. Any and all short ideas are welcome!

Shorts must be less than 30 minutes and in any style or genre of the filmmaking team’s choosing. In accordance with Reel Asian’s goal to enhance the Asian Canadian filmmaking community, each team must include an Asian member in a main creative role in order to qualify.

Applications can be found here, and the deadline for submission is September 23rd and successful applications will be announced at the Reel Asian Official Press Launch on October 11th. These finalist teams will participate in the Reel Asian Pitch Clinic boot camp, where they will fine tune presentation and pitch techniques under the direction of industry professionals. The will also be given festival passes which include access to all screenings as well as Industry Series Sessions. Not only are they able to network with filmmaking experts, they have the opportunity to learn from these experienced pros.

All of this gears up to the grand finale pitch competition, taking place during festival week (November 8-13). Those finalists who think they can pitch will show their stuff in front of a live audience for top honor! The prizes are huge! They include $1,500 cash, $10,000 worth of production and post services for the Emerging Category, $18,000 of production and post services for the Established Category, a one-year membership to Charles Street Video and distribution possibilities through Ouat Media. These prizes will help launch or wrap up, as the case may be, your team’s short film. Not too shabby!

With less than one month to the deadline, get your team together and get brainstorming. If you think you can pitch, prove it! For more information on the So You Think You Can Pitch? Competition or the Annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, please check out the Reel Asian website. And good luck!