Camp Kuleshov, the competition for assistants at AICE editorial houses, has gone national. The uber best entries from among all AICE chapters will receive the national prize this fall in Chicago, where it was originated by Cutters’ editor/partner Kathryn Hempel in 2001.
Now all entrants will work with the same uniform set of creative briefs, entry rules, source films and deadlines, Hemple said. Judging will take place concurrently at participating chapters by local juries. Awards will be presented in a two-week round robin of CK events to unfold this October.
Following the local winners’ presentation, a special CK curatorial jury will determine a national Camp Kuleshov champ in each category.
Heading up the new national Camp Kuleshov are CK committee members Hemple and Chris Franklin, editor/owner of Big Sky Edit and long-time leader of the New York chapter’s Camp Kuleshov contest.
Camp Kuleshov, named for the famous Russian film theorist and critic, Lev Kuleshov, who first articulated the ability of editing to shift the mood and tone of a film’s emotional thrust, asks assistants in various crafts to take existing source material — feature films, TV programs or other forms of pop culture content — and reimage them as examples of new genres or entirely new films.
The competition is open to a full-time assistant editor, audio engineer or graphics designer at an AICE member company or one who is freelance at an AICE member company.
Editors are tasked with cutting a number of films into a 90-second trailer that promotes the film as though it were in a different genre or made by a different director. Or they may select two films and cut a trailer that promotes the mashed-up film as picture from yet a different genre.
Deadline for entries is Monday, Sept. 21. Find complete competition details here.
