Festival Internacional de Cine de Ponferrada ()

Festival start: 03 October 2024      Festival end: 11 October 2024

Film Festival Ponferrada renews its objectives to specialize in the dissemination and promotion of short films anywhere in the world without taking into account its production, distribution, exhibition, category, gender or theme format.

We also want to value the short film as an audiovisual, current or historical document, which reflects the cultural, social and linguistic diversity of any region of the world as part of the memory of the most unknown universal audiovisual heritage and heritage.

Cash Prizes: 3,100€

- Retina National Short Looks + € 1,000 and trophy for the best national short film.

- Retina International Short Looks + € 1,000 and trophy for the best international short film.

- Film Schools Award + € 500 for the best short film conducted by students from any school in the world that teaches cinematographic or audiovisual studies, organized in collaboration with the Local Youth Council of Ponferrada.

- Accesits See To Educate 2024 and € 200 to each of the short films of the “See to educate 2024” program that stand out for their values education in values.

- Special Mentions to the best director, actress, actor, etc. of the finalist short films in the official sections to competition.

- Tribute to the person or entity that has stood out for its contribution to cinematographic and audiovisual diffusion.

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION
22nd INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PONFERRADA

1) FESTIVAL DESCRIPTION

Film Festival Ponferrada renews its objectives to specialize in the dissemination and promotion of short films anywhere in the world without taking into account its production, distribution, exhibition, category, gender or theme format.

We also want to value the short film as an audiovisual, current or historical document, which reflects the cultural, social and linguistic diversity of any region of the world as part of the memory of the most unknown universal audiovisual heritage and heritage.

In this sense, we intend to convert the festival into a cultural, professional and festive meeting point about this type of short -term cinema that, in addition to being a learning resource for new professionals in the film industry and a promotion medium to give the jump to the feature film can also be a very creative and free form of expression, narration and experimentation, without market units.

The 22nd edition of the International Film Festival Ponferrada will be held from October 3 to 11, 2024 and complementary activities in collaboration with other entities throughout the last semester of 2024.

The Association “Mi Retina me Engaña” is the organizer of this event, being Ponferrada Council and Castilla y León Regional Government the main sponsors.

2) SECTIONS

OFFICIAL SECTIONS TO CONTEST

Fiction, documentary, animation or experimental short film from every country or nationality that comply with any of the thematic contents of each section and the corresponding participation requirements.

OS1) Short Looks. National Short Film Contest. Production short films and/or Spanish direction may participate. Free theme.

OS2) Short Looks. International Short Film Contest. Foreign production short films made anywhere in the world may participate. Free theme.

OS3) Film Schools. International School Short Film Contest. Short films carried out by students from any school in the world that teach cinematographic or audiovisual studies of any kind may participate. Free theme

PARALLEL SECTIONS

Short films, feature films or audiovisual fiction, documentary, animation or experimental films from any country or nationality that reflect the cultural, social and linguistic diversity of any region of the world, as part of the most unknown universal audiovisual heritage, can participate or be invited by the organization, especially those audiovisual projects shot in the Bierzo or by Bercian authors. Free theme

COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES

They can participate or be invited by the organization short films of fiction, documentary or animation of any country or nationality that comply with any of the thematic contents requested by each programmed complementary activity.

CA1) “SEE TO EDUCATE 2024” PROGRAM Values for children and adolescents can participate or be invited by the organization: Family, housing, education, health, food, play, equality, friendship, solidarity, protection against child labor, respect for the environment, etc.

Online cultural activity organized in collaboration with the Culture Area of Ayto. De Ponferrada and the Interested Ponferrada educational centers. It will be held during the last quarter of the year 2024

CA2) 38RETINAS 2024

Complementary activity that aims to bring the best of short films and audiovisuals from any corner of the world to the 38 municipalities of the El Bierzo region that so wish, through the 6th Itinerant Film Show in The Bierzo Region (www.38retinas.com) that will be held throughout the last semester of 2024. Free theme


3) PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

- Films shot in any format and produced after January 1st 2023.

- The maximum duration of the short films or audiovisuals participating in the official sections may not exceed 30 minutes.

- Films shot in a language different from Spanish must show Spanish subtitles, preferably with a file in SubRip (SRT) format.
- Films can only participate in one section.

- Films that have been registered or shown in previous editions of the festival or were released in movie theaters in Ponferrada cannot participate.

- The films shot in the Bierzo or by Bercian authors can only register in the parallel sections of the festival, because all the prizes of the official sections are voted by the public.

- The organization reserves the option of declaring any of the different sections of the competition void, if the films received do not meet the minimum technical quality required by our festival.

- The contestants will be solely responsible for ensuring that their video does not violate the rights of third parties in terms of image, graphic material, music and authorship of a work. The organization will be exempt from any responsibility.

- Under no circumstances will those short films or audiovisual works that threaten the honor of a group, include discriminatory material and/or violate the rights or dignity of individuals be accepted.

4) REGISTRATION

The submission of the works that participate in the official sections and complementary activities must be carried out exclusively online through the Festhome platform (www.festhome.com) It will be mandatory to upload as attachments: technical/ artistic sheet, the poster, 2 frames of the film and a photograph of the director. It is recommended to send a promotional trailer.

Those films that want to participate in the parallel sections, in addition to being able to do it through Festhome, can also register and send the works through any online platform (WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive, Vimeo, etc.) to our e-mail (info@ponferradafilmfestival.com). Registration in these sections does not mean the screening of these films in the schedule of the Festival, but they will be checked by a Committee which will decide the selected works.

The deadline for submissions will end on June 30, 2024.

5) SELECTION PROCCESS

Every section will have a selection committee that will decide the finalists from among all the works and the respective categories. The decision of the selection committees will not be open to appeal.

From August 15 the organizers will inform the selected participants about the decision through the e-mail address they have supplied in the application form in the corresponding section containing personal information or datasheet of each film.

The organizers can change the section of the selected film when it deems convenient.

The selected films will appear in the magazine or the official program and on the Festival website (www.ponferradafilmfestival.com).

All the selected films will have to upload before September 15 a trailer and a screening copy in HD file with the codec H264 and minimum resolution of 1920x1080 -1080p- in .mov or .mp4 format to Festhome (www.festhome.com)

In case of any queries or doubts, please e-mail us at: info@ponferradafilmfestival.com

6) SCREENINGS AND ONLINE VISUALIZATIONS

All projections of the official, parallel sections and complementary activities will be carried out in person, except the view program to educate 2024 that can be seen online during the official dates of the festival.

The films selected to participate in the “See To Educate 2024” program can only be online in the online and primary education schools of our nearest environment, during the last quarter of the year 2024. The educational centers will have to register through our email to register them on the Festhometv platform, and to be able to access the contents housed in the Festival's private video library. After viewing in the classrooms, students will participate in the proposed educational activities (School Drawing Contest, Alternative Poster Contest, etc.) and will be public in www.verparaeducar.miretina.org

The copies of the films and trailers sent by the participants will be owned by the organization, which will be integrated into the Festival Audiovisual Archive, being able to be used for non -lucrative cultural projections in collaboration with other entities, prior communication to its owners or authors.

The producers of every piece of work will allow the use of the trailer requested or a 3 minutes fragment (max) for them to be distributed as promotional and informative material in every media used by the festival (cinemas, public screenings, television, internet etc.)

7) AWARDS

- Retina National Short Looks + € 1,000 and trophy for the best national short film.

- Retina International Short Looks + € 1,000 and trophy for the best international short film.

- Film Schools Award + € 500 for the best short film conducted by students from any school in the world that teaches cinematographic or audiovisual studies, organized in collaboration with the Local Youth Council of Ponferrada.

- Accesits See To Educate 2024 and € 200 to each of the short films of the “See to educate 2024” program that stand out for their values education in values.

- Special Mentions to the best director, actress, actor, etc. of the finalist short films in the official sections to competition.

- Tribute to the person or entity that has stood out for its contribution to cinematographic and audiovisual diffusion.

All awards will be voted by the public attending the projections, except the mentions, accesits and the tribute that will be granted for the organization of the Festival, the corresponding selection committees or jurors.


The Retina awards will receive a representative trophy of the Festival (a ceramic piece simulating a Retina) that will be sent by post to their corresponding addresses.

All the award-winning works in the official sections will receive a diploma and a laurel of recognition that proves their status as winners of the Festival.

All the finalist works of the official, parallel and complementary sections will receive a laurel of recognition that proves their status as selected in the Festival.

The organization reserves the right to award other awards in consideration of the artistic and technical quality of the works presented.

On Friday, October 11, 2024, the closing gala of the festival will be held where all awards and mentions will be communicated, in addition to paying tribute to the person or entity chosen with the projection of any of their most emblematic works.

Economic awards will be paid through a deposit in favour of the person or legal entity that owns the film, subject to the suitable withholding according to the current law. Also, the economic amounts may be modified according to the agreements reached by sponsors before the Festival takes place.

The Festival will not pay any financial amount to the authors or those responsible for the works selected in the parallel sections for their exhibition on the festival dates.


8) ACCEPTANCE OF RULES AND REGULATIONS

The participation in this Festival implies the acceptance of the rules and regulations explained above. If any relevant piece of information is missing from the application form or the material attached to it or if deadlines are not met, the piece of work will not participate in the Festival. Any kind of incident that takes place during the festival will be taken care of in the way the organization finds most appropriate.