Editor

Sheffield Doc/Fest, the UK’s premier event for international documentary professionals, and Sheffield based Showcomotion, the Young People’s Film Festival, have joined forces with Crossover Labs to stage the first Crossover Kids pitching event. The inaugural event was held at the Princess Anne
Theatre, BAFTA, London on Thursday 11 December.

The Crossover Kids event was developed to help filmmakers and commissioners embrace new technologies relevant to young people.

Six teams of professionals from a wide range of different sectors collaborated to present six projects at the pitching event, which they generated a week before at the Crossover Kids residential Lab in Sussex.

Crossover Labs, produced by Sheffield Doc/Fest and Unexpected Media, are designed to explore the creative and commercial challenges of developing content and services for digital media. The labs are directed by Frank Boyd and in 2008, Crossover Kids was the sixth and final lab of the year. The week long lab gave 24 individuals the opportunity to brainstorm and develop ideas for innovative projects with potential partners from gaming, interactive media, TV and other creative industries. Participants worked together to produce a uniquely creative atmosphere, and new business possibilities.

During the Crossover Kids pitching event, hosted by Marc Goodchild, Head of Interactive and on demand at BBC Childrens, the six teams presented to a panel of industry experts which awarded a £5,000 development purse to the project with the greatest potential.

The judges were:
Debbie Macdonald, VP, Programming Director, Nickelodeon UK
Rebecca Shallcross, Multiplatform Commissioning Executive, BBC Children's
Jonathan Kingsbury, Programme Director, Creative Economy, NESTA.
Sanjay Mistry, Sales Manager UK and Northern Europe, Softimages and a member of the BAFDTA Games Committee

The £5,000 prize was awarded to Art Heist, an innovative concept designed to encourage children into galleries and museums through game-play experiences before, during and after their visit. The judges were unanimous in their decision and commented:

“Of all the projects, Art Heist made the best use of different platforms including online and the Nintendo DS, and could be extended onto others” - the judges mentioned XBox Arcade and Home on the PS3.

“The group found something that children would find very compelling. The arrival of a secret package in the post, the online preparation for the trip, the sense of adventure in the gallery and the ability to collect items would all provide incentives to play. The project has huge potential as a game and could be applied to many other museums and exhibitions.”

Heather Croall, Sheffield Doc/Fest Director and Crossover Labs Producer, said:

“It is very exciting to have two Sheffield-based media festivals coming together to work on a Crossover Lab for the first time. Crossover Labs is pioneering the development of cross-platform media and the first ever Crossover Kids event is just one example of how we are helping filmmakers and commissioners to embrace new technologies, attract new audiences and access different funding streams.”