[23 submissions, which is now closed.]

We are looking for artists of all levels to create and upload a short film of 2-3 minutes to the Internet Archive to help us celebrate Public Domain Day on December 17th!

Public Domain Day is a celebration of all the rich content that will be newly available to the public free of copyright restrictions from the year 1925. We want artists to use this newly available content to create short films that contain content from the archive’s collection from 1925. The uploaded videos will be judged and prizes of up to $1500 awarded!! (Please see details below)

Winners will be announced and shown at the virtual Public Domain Day Celebration on December 17th at 3pm Pacific (registration opens soon), and we will introduce the artists. All other participating videos will be added to a Public Domain Day Art Collection on archive.org and featured in a blog entry in January of 2021.

Here are a few examples of some of the rich content that is now available for you to use:

• Movies from 1925
• Sheet music from 1925
• Periodicals from 1925
• Books from 1925 (The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925)

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:  

• The Great Gatsby (going Public Domain January 1, 2021)
• Gilded Age, Industrial Age

Guidelines

• Make a 2-3 minute movie using Newly Public Domain Material from 1925 (If you have something to add to the Internet Archive from 1925, then please add it in and feel free to use it)
• Mix and Mash content however you like
• Add a personal touch, make it yours!
• Keep the videos light hearted and fun (It is a celebration after all!)

Submission Deadline

All submissions must be in by Midnight, December 13th, 2020 (PST)

How to Submit

• Create an Internet Archive Account
• Upload your film to archive.org with a subject tag field of “public domain day film contest 2020” in the upload form (see example here)
• Link all your sourced materials from 1925 in the upload description

Prizes

• 1st prize: $1500
• 2nd prize: $1000
• 3rd prize: $500

*All prizes sponsored by the Kahle/Austin Foundation

Judges

Judges will be looking for videos that are fun and interesting for showing at the Public Domain Day virtual party and that highlight the value of having cultural materials that can be reused, remixed, and re-contextualized for a new day. Winner’s pieces will be purchased with the prize money, and then put into public domain under a CC0 license.

• Amir Saber Esfahani (Director of Special Arts Projects, Internet Archive)
• Carrie Hott (Artist and Professor, University San Francisco)
• Brewster Kahle (Founder, Digital Librarian, Internet Archive)