YouTube launches online short film festival.

YouTube is to follow up its user-generated movie Life in a Day by launching an online short film festival aimed at encouraging fresh talent, according to a report by Associated Press.

The 10 winners will be sent to the Venice film festival and compete for a $500,000 prize.

The website is teaming up again with Life in a Day producers Scott Free, the British company owned by Hollywood directors Ridley and Tony Scott. The film-makers will choose 50 semi-finalists, at which point users of the site will be invited to vote for 10 winners. These will be flown to Venice in August, where Ridley Scott will lead a jury to decide the ultimate prize winner, who will receive the $500,000 grant to work on a movie for Scott Free. All the semi-finalist films will be shown on a new channel titled Your Film Festival.

"Through this programme, YouTube will give film-makers the opportunity to reach a vast audience, screen their work during the Venice film festival and potentially be rewarded in a career-changing way," said Robert Kyncl, global head of content at YouTube, in a statement. Ridley Scott said: "Short film-making is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago, so to be helping new film-makers find an entry point like this into the industry is fantastic."

The festival is part of YouTube's efforts to rebrand itself as the No 1 destination for video on demand in a rapidly developing marketplace. The site launched a movie rental service in May along with more than 100 original channels, including a $10m co-branded channel with Disney.

YouTube is aiming to attract young film-makers to submit work for its festival, though there are no age limitations for entry beyond an 18+ stipulation. All entries must not have been distributed prior to 1 January 2010 and can be no more than 15 minutes in length. Organisers will take submissions between 2 February and 31 March.

YouTube plans a big push at the forthcoming Sundance and SXSW festivals in the US to encourage film-makers to view its event as a platform to attract industry attention. "We've always wanted to do something like this, but there were limitations in the past that prevented us from doing it," marketing manager Nate Weinstein told the Associated Press. "The time also seemed right given the work that the organisation is doing within original channels."