02. May 2015

Short Films - Regulations

LET’S CEE Short Film Competition

Short Film Competition Regulations 2015

1. Introduction

LET’S CEE Film Festival (‘Festival’) is organised by the Association LET’S CEE Film Festival based in Vienna, Austria. The LET’S CEE Film Festival features high-quality productions from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including the Caucasus region and Turkey. The fourth edition of the LET’S CEE Film Festival will take place in Vienna, Austria, between the 1^st and 11^th of October, 2015.

The LET’S CEE Short Film Competition (‘Competition’) is one of three official film competitions of the LET’S CEE Film Festival. The underlying theme of the Competition in 2015 is ‘ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!’.

The Competition will give ten young film directors from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Austrian ones, the chance to present their work personally at the international LET’S CEE Film Festival, to compare their work directly to that of other excellent young filmmakers, and to exchange thoughts with their colleagues.

1.1. General requirements for entry

Films eligible for Competition are to be considered according to all criteria mentioned below:

• The film is no longer than 30 minutes.

• The film is produced in one of the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia (FYR), Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

• The director’s country of citizenship is one of the countries mentioned above (the residents of the countries mentioned above can be presented Out of Competition).

• The director is up to 35 years of age.

• The film has been completed after January 1^st, 2014.

• The film has not been screened publicly in Austria.

• All languages will be accepted; however (additional) English subtitles are in any case required.

• The underlying topic of the film has to be related to love. As in the previous years of course, the submitted films will be free examine the theme ‘love’ in all forms and shapes, from all perspectives and angles. Great imagination and resourcefulness will be welcomed and free associations allowed. There are no restrictions regarding the content, except an unmistakably clear relation to the topic.

Furthermore:

• The applicant is allowed to submit more than one film (in separate entries).

2. Procedure and Deadlines

The Call for Entries for the 4^th edition of the Festival for will be opened between May 3^th and July 12^th, 2015.

• Film submissions will be accepted through the film festival submission platform Festhome.

• Submission cost for every online entry is 2.00 €.

• All additional material sent to the festival before the final selection will not be returned to the entrants but will be kept in the festival archive and might be used for educational purposes.

3. Selecting procedure

• There will be a pre-selection curatorial panel consisting of filmmakers, film lecturers, journalists and experts on civil society. The curatorial panel will select films based on artistic and thematic criteria.

• The final selection of approximately ten films will be announced till August 15^th. However, the curatorial panel can select more than ten or less than ten films without stating reasons.

• In case a film is selected, the Festival will notify the applicants via e-mail until August 15^th, 2015.

• Once the film is submitted to the Festival, it cannot be removed from the programme, neither by the institution who submitted it nor by any other person or institution for any reason.

• After the confirmation, the entrant agrees that the film won’t be screened publicly in Austria in the period between August 10^th, 2015 and October 11^th, 2015.

4. Invitation procedure

4.1. Invitation of the film’s director selected for the Short Film Competition

• The director should be available between October 8^th and October 11^th, 2015.

• The LET’S CEE Film Festival will provide the final participants of the competition with accommodation of its choice and make a financial contribution to the travelling costs. However, no guarantee regarding covering of full costs can be given.

• Please note that guests of the festival are not covered by the festival’s insurance.

4.2. Transportation, insurance and returning of film copies

• The festival must receive the screening copy of the film before September 1^st, 2015.

• The print/video material of selected films must be made available for screening during the whole festival period.

• The costs of sending the viewing and screening copies to the festival will be covered by the applicant.

• The costs of returning/forwarding screening copies to the destination of choice will be covered by the Festival.

• All prints will be returned within two weeks after the Festival.

• Insurance for the shipping of films and videos to and from Austria is entirely the responsibility of the participants.

• When sending the film from a country that is not part of the European Union, a non-commercial/pro forma invoice must be sent along with the print or video, stating the name of the sender, the company, the address, the title of the film, the format, its length and the description “without commercial value, for cultural purpose only” and marked as “no value” or “not more than 10 Euro/USD”.

• The Festival will not accept shipments for which it would have to bear shipping fees, duties, taxes or customs duties, and will not assume any responsibility for such shipments.

4.3. Film formats

The following film formats and video systems can be accepted for the Competition:

• DCP

• Blue Ray

• Digital Beta PAL

• Betacam SP PAL

5. Short Film Competition

5.1. International Jury

• The International Jury will be composed of 3 to 5 international film makers, film lecturers, film critics, journalists and experts on civil society who will evaluate the selected films in the competitive section.

• The Jury will make their winning selections without external influences and in according to rules based on general principles determined by the Festival.

• The Jury has the right to not award any one of the prizes if they believe that one or several criteria are not met.

5.2. Awards

All short films will be competing for money prizes. All awards are always rewarded to the director of the winning film.

1. The Main Prize in the Short Film Competition: 1.500,- Euro and the Urania statue, will be given by the International Jury.

2. The Audience Award for the Best Film in the Short Film Competition will be decided by the audience.

Furthermore:

• The jury may award honourable mentions to any of these categories.

5.3. Screening Date and Regulations

• The selected films will be presented officially in the Festival‘s Competition between 8^th and 10^th of October 2015.

• The Award Ceremony will take place on October 10^th, 2015 in the Urania Cinema.

• The scheduling of the Competition, as well of any further screenings, is entirely at the discretion of the festival management.

• The Festival has the right to screen selected films more than once over the duration of the Festival without any extra screening fees.

• In case of faulty projection, the festival cannot be held liable for immaterial damages suffered by director, producer or distributor.

6. Media and Publicity Regulations

• Once the film has been selected for the Competition, the Festival’s logo and the official description may be used for publicity purposes by the film director, producer and any person or institution related to the film. The file will be sent to the primary contact in digital form on August 10^th, 2015, together with the confirmation.

• The film will be presented in the official festival catalogue and in the programme. The presentation in the catalogue will include the main technical and artistic credits and a synopsis written by the editing team, as well as a film still. More specific information and additional photo material will be published on the Festival’s homepage.

• For information and promotion purposes worldwide, the Festival is allowed to use any contributed photo or digital film clip (maximal 10 percent of the film’s duration) of each selected film for all kinds of online, film or printed channels. All materials used for information and promotion purposes are entirely at the discretion of the Festival.

• Producers and distributors of participating/winning films are requested to include the mention of participation in/awarding at the Festival in future promotional material. The additional photo and video material will be provided on request.

7. Conclusion

• If the submission of a short film does not meet all of the requirements mentioned above, it will not be eligible for participation in the Competition.

• All eventual omissions or doubts remaining in the regulation will be solved by the Festival, following rules of equity and good judgement.

• In all cases, the Festival management will decide where the regulations and reserves the right to decide on exceptions to the regulations.

• The applicant declares that he or she owns all the rights concerning the use of the submitted work, or guarantees to have cleared all rights needed for screening during the Festival.

• Entering a film into the Competition implies the acceptance of its regulations; all submissions to the Festival translate full acceptance and no reservations in the terms of the regulation.