More details appear below in the note from Paulo Coelho and the competition with over 6000 subscribers worldwide is now closed.
As you know, the results will be known by the 24th of August 2008, the date of my birthday.
A jury made up of a movie producer, an Italian publisher and a reader will be making this choice.
UP-DATE 1: The Jury is composed of the following people
Director: Elisabetta Sgarbi www.bettywrong.com
Publisher: Eugenio Lio
Reader: Clara Belen Gomez
You will be able to see the results here in my blog : www.paulocoelhoblog.com as well as in my MySpace profile : www.myspace.com/paulocoelho. You will also be able to follow up the updates that I will post here whenever I have any news.
After the 24th of August my team and I will commit ourselves in giving a maximum of visibility for this film : releasing this common enterprise in the Internet as well as screaning it in festivals around the globe. However, it must be stressed that the final cut, according to the first glimpse of the minutes of the material we received for each character, will take longer than expected - close to 3 1/2 hrs. That may lead to a problem in distribution (they are used to 52 minutes for TV and 90 minutes for theaters), but I prefer to maintain the integrity of the submitted material at this stage, and divide the movie in two parts. Later on, based on professional comments and on the final product, I will discuss with the selected directors what to do.
As we had many submissions, we will have to choose - and some excellent works may be left aside. I am not the one who is making the final decision; if I could, I would select all, as the simple fact you spent time and money to put a project like this together is an invaluable gift to the readers. But my intention is, as soon as we have the final cut, to put the movies that were not selected in several social communities, so you can see by yourselves the excellence of the work submitted.
The current stage, selection/first draft/editing/sound, etc. may take three to four months minimum.
Some directors may receive a letter from the team, asking for a high definition copy.
Love,
Paulo
