Three-Minute Masterpiece rules

The Three-Minute Masterpiece digital film contest is back, better and easier to enter than ever. Make your movie, send it to us, and — if you win — see your film shown at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Here's how it works: Use your digital-video camera to make a film on any subject you like, as long as it's suitable for a family-newspaper audience. (No sex, violence or bad language, please.) It must be three minutes or less.

We are bringing back the J. Michael Rima award for filmmakers under 18.

We have a new category this year, the One-Minute Masterpiece, for films one minute or less.

And we have much simpler rules this year! Here's how you enter: Make your movie. Upload it to YouTube. E-mail the link to talktous@seattletimes.com, and we'll add it to our YouTube playlist.

Very important: If you use music, you must have permission.

That's it. When you send your e-mail, make sure you include your name, phone number, age (if under 18) and movie title. If you are selected as one of our finalists, we'll contact you about providing a higher-resolution version of your film.

Winners will be shown on The Seattle Times Web site and at the Seattle International Film Festival. The grand-prize winner will get two full-series passes to this year's film festival. The J. Michael Award will be a special prize presented by the Rima family, and the One Minute winner will get weeklong passes to the film festival. The Seattle Film Institute will also provide free film classes for the top winners. Entries must be e-mailed to us by 11:59 p.m., April 18. Action!