INTEL GIVES INDY FILMMAKERS A MAGIC WAND

Intel Corp. is sponsoring an online film contest to support its home-entertainment technology.

The Intel Indies Film Contest asks entrants to submit a short film that shows what they’d do with a magic wand. Grand prize is $25,000, as well as $20,000 worth of digital home equipment and screening at AtomFilms’ indy film Web site. Two runners-up win $10,000 each.

The films— minutes or less— be judged by industry experts, Intel staff and execs from AtomFilms, which handles the contest for Santa Clara, CA-based Intel.

The contest runs through Nov. 21; the winner will be announced in January 2006 at a film festival.

The effort dovetails with new advertising that Intel broke last week touting entertainment on laptops with Intel’s Centrino mobile tech platform. TV spots show movie, music and sports celebs sitting on consumers’ laps to illustrate life-like entertainment on Centrino-wired PCs. Print, online, outdoor, retail and promotional ads also run through yearend via McCann Worldgroup, New York.

San Francisco-based AtomFilms has handled brand-sponsored films for Mountain Dew, Sony, Schick, Honda, Hewlett Packard. Its site contains 1,000 short films accessed by 5 million viewers each month.

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