Homespun Yarns has just launched for 2020, with a new, one-off format necessitated by the pandemic crisis: G.O.A.T. 

Rather than commissioning new films to be made in the coming months, as normal, the filmmaking competition run by editing company Stitch has been reimagined to look back through its back catalogue of entries to find the G.O.A.T. - Greatest Of All Time.

During June, people can view the films made under the Homespun Yarns scheme in the past six years, and vote for their favourites. The Yarns films in the back catalogue have have been split into four categories: documentary, comedy, fantasy and drama. These categories will be released weekly for voting on the Homespun Yarns website.

Voting will be open until July 3rd. The winner of each category will be announced and out of those four winners, the one with the most votes will be the G.O.A.T. 

Set up in 2014, the entirely not-for-profit initiative conceived and funded by Stitch has consistently identified the next wave of directing talent and given 22 finalists a unique platform to turn their treatments into fully formed short films.

“When we realised that Homespun Yarns wouldn’t be possible this year we were thinking of how we could keep the initiative going in a pandemic safe way," says Stitch owner Tim Hardy. "We liked the idea of a retrospective as an interesting way to celebrate the achievements of everyone who has been involved in the films since we started. From this we came up with G.O.A.T., the perfect way to keep the competition element alive as well as the initiative itself.”

Yarns has also had support from other companies within the industry who collaborate with, and help the filmmakers with their time, expertise and sponsorship. Kodak, The Panavision Group, Wave Music, Universal Music, Globe, Decca Records, Slingshot, Nineteen Twenty, Freefolk and Big Buoy have all been crucial in the success of the competition as well as the individual films.

“We are incredibly lucky to have the very best in the business on board with Yarns," says Stitch owner Leo King. "Our partners are all involved from the pre-production stages to advise our directors and guide them through their areas of excellence. This has also allowed everyone involved to to establish contacts at the beginning of their careers that they have been able to build on for their future filmmaking.”

• For more information follow @homespunyarns.tv on instagram. Regular content will be posted during the voting period. Watch the trailer, watch the films, and vote for the G.O.A.T., at www.homespunyarns.tv.