Last minute change for this years' festival.

The Haydenfilms Team is extremely excited to showcase the First Annual Haydenfilms Online Film Festival, featuring a $10,000 grand prize from August 30 through October 30, 2005! We are pleased to support independent filmmakers by helping them gain the exposure and recognition they truly deserve for their hard work and dedication.

As a result of the tremendous response to our Season I Call for Entries, the Haydenfilms Staff and the Season I judges have collectively decided to make a last minute change for this year's festival. Many talented filmmakers have submitted work that is longer than the 10-minute limit that our official rules stated www.haydenfilms.com/rules.html . Based on the percentage of films that are over the 10-minute limit, we have concluded that all films with a running time of up to 30 minutes will be considered fully eligible for the judge's review. If selected by the judges, these films will be showcased online during the festival and eligible for the public vote. This decision of the Haydenfilms staff and the judges was based on what we believe is fair for the majority of film submissions.

The finalists for Season I will be announced on August 24, 2005 and Haydenfilms Marketing Kits (including 500 business cards, marketing posters, and Haydenfilms apparel) will be shipped to each filmmaker to help them promote their films on our site.

The Official Rules for the Season II Festival will be announced in November of 2005. The decision has already been solidified that there will be two different categories: shorts no longer than 10 minutes in running time, and films 10-30 minutes in running time will all be taken into consideration, and will be competing for next year's grand prizes. We sincerely apologize to those filmmakers that may have been discouraged by our 10-minute time limit this year. We encourage you to consider submitting your film project(s) to next year's festival.

Whether you are a filmmaker, a movie buff, or you have accidentally stumbled across our site, we are proud to have you as a part of our growing online independent film community.