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Young students will have the opportunity to receive scholarships for their current studies as well as a University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (USC) scholarship.

Short film submissions are open until Dec. 14, 2018.

In support of filmmaker students from across the region, comes the 6th edition of FACIUNI Scholarships. Created by DIRECTV Latin America, SKY Brasil, CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and Sundance TV, the contest promotes the works of young filmmakers from Latin America and supports their academic education.

Students from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela will be able to submit their short films through the faciuni.com website. Entries are open now through Dec. 14. A specialized jury will select a winner from each country who will receive a scholarship to invest in audiovisual equipment or projects. Among the selected students from each country will be the ones to win the grand prize: a full scholarship to attend the Warner Brothers summer program at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts, a worldwide-recognized film school.

Additionally, winning students will have the opportunity to meet with agents from the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a world-class talent agency representing directors such as Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Kathryn Bigelow, and Patty Jenkins among others.

The initiative has grown over the years: more than 2,016 students have participated in the previous five editions. The 2017 winners of the prestigious scholarship were Julián Cortizo from Argentina, Agustín Álvarez Pita from Uruguay and Pedro Henrique Xavier Buson from Brazil. To date, 10 international students were awarded the grand prize and more than US $580,000 have been granted in scholarships to Latin American film students.

The success of the initiative drives DIRECTV Latin America and SKY Brasil to renew it every year, along with its partners Sundance TV and CAA. "A sixth edition confirms that we are on the right track, and reassures our initial expectation that, by giving these young students the opportunity to showcase and develop their talent, we would be helping the development of the film industry in Latin America. DIRECTV Latin America reinforces every day our commitment to continue contributing to this type of effort," said Sandro Mesquita, AVP of Corporate Citizenship & Sustainability, DIRECTV Latin America.

DIRECTV broadcasts cinema on all of our platforms: OnDIRECTV channel, DIRECTV Play, PPV, VOD and the DIRECTV OnCinema portal.

How to participate in the 6th edition?

Students must submit their short films online at faciuni.com. Once the form is completed, they can upload an original short film with a maximum duration of 10 minutes, directed by the participant. Enrollment is now open until Dec. 14, 2018.

About the selection

The selection process consists of three stages.

The first stage consists of the selection of five finalists per country, which will take place from Jan. 4-21, 2019. The FACIUNI Scholarships jury will be made up of a group of internationally and locally acclaimed industry professionals who will chose five winners by judging the short films’ direction, production, cinematography and content. Among those representing the jury will be representatives from DIRECTV, SundanceTV, CAA and various television and film industry executives. The full list will be publicly available.

Five finalists from each country will move to the second stage. In this phase, the public from each country will have a chance to vote for the short films online and the student whose short film has the most votes in their country will be the winner of a USD $5,000 (or equivalent in local currency) scholarship. Additionally, the same amount will be awarded to the university of the winning student. Winners will be announced on Feb. 25, 2019.

In the third and final stage, the USC scholarship will be awarded to a final winner from amongst the finalists from each country, who will be selected by a jury and by an online voting mechanism open to the public. The jury will also carry out its voting under the same evaluation criteria mentioned above.

For more information on the selection process and the scholarship application rules, please go to faciuni.com.