• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 24, 2005

In an effort to expand its video content library, AOL's Moviefone unit Thursday announced plans to launch a virtual short film festival next week. Ford Motors' Mercury Milan is sponsoring the event, which includes fifteen comedic shorts, including "The Office Party" with "The Daily Show"'s Jon Stewart, and "Young Arty Feldman," which tells the story of a 15-year-old wheeler-dealer who brokers jobs in the San Fernando Valley's fast food industry.

In addition to spotlighting the featured shorts, most of which have already made the rounds at established film flings like Sundance and Tribeca, Moviefone is beginning the festival with an open call for film submissions--an invitation not unlike the one rival Google extended to users in April in an effort to grow its own video database.

Steven Yee, vice president and general manager at Moviefone, acknowledged that the festival is partly a means to cultivate and diversify the breadth of AOL's video content. "Today, you've got consumers who want more video online, and advertisers looking for more video on which to show their video ads," said Yee. "Everyone knows inventory is lagging, so that's why events like this one are so important."

Mercury Milan branding will appear in both banner and rich media form across the entire AOL Network, including AOL.com, AIM, Netscape, AOLCityGuide, AOL Music, and Moviefone.com's new content area dedicated to the shorts, www.moviefone.com/shorts, which will sport Mercury's sponsorship logo placement.

In the fall, the Mercury Milan also will be featured in a 15-second pre-roll video that runs prior to each of the short films available for on-demand viewing. In addition, Mercury Milan and Moviefone will host co-branded in-theater screenings of the short films for dealers and invited guests of Mercury.

Moviefone will be promoting to festivals across the entire AOL Network of sites. It's also employing a search engine optimization strategy, and will be advertising in the entertainment trade publications.

The winning filmmaker, to be named in October 2005, will receive a $5000 cash prize and an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles to meet with senior production and development executives at Warner Bros. Studios.