Bakunawa Fest X [Fantastic FIlm, Art + Music] (10)

Festival start: 16 October 2023      Festival end: 18 December 2023

BAKUNAWA FEST [Fantastic Film, Art + Music] - (formerly Bakunawa Young Cinema) - is the first fantastic & genre-based film, art & music festival based in The Philippines currently presented by Negros Museum and E Unlimited; and ran by volunteer filmmakers and artists. Bakunawa is a dragon-like creature in Philippine mythology that devoured moons. Because we are a genre-bending film fest, we want to flip the Bakunawa's role and we want it to instead symbolize the creative monsters inside us.

On its tenth year, Bakunawa Fest adds a new cinema to its in-person fest screenings: UPFI Film Center in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Across the islands, The Negros Museum remains our main venue in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental in Western Visayas Region. This year, Bakunawa Fest X opens on August 22, 2023 and will have a five-day physical festival run with a Bakunawa Funtastik Fair at the UPFI Film Center while we're having the Film Camp for first-time filmmakersy this July 2022 in Bacolod City. [Filipino students who want to join the FILM CAMP, pls email us at bakunawafilmfest@gmail.com]

Bakunawa Fest runs annually in one season - spread in fourth months becoming a hybrid festival resulting from the pandemic lockdowns. Bakunawa Fest starts with a film camp which includes a series of film workshops for first time young filmmakers that culminates into a competition - their final works are mostly genre films (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, folk, noir, folk, etc). From the Film Camp, Bakunawa Fest celebrates the year's crop of genre films through both an online and in-person festival screenings (with competitive and curated sections) of local and international films making their Philippine Premiere. Bakunawa Fest ends its season run with Primetime Philippine Cable TV airing and an Awards Show via SolarFlix TV where we can reach to millions of Filipino viewers.

Bakunawa was initially created with this principle: "new visions, new voices". We still stand by this principle as we continue to program young promising filmmakers, artists & musicians who either have no access to expensive workshops and may not have the name recognition to be programmed in festivals. Since our third edition, we have included a section that screens curated local and international selected films mainly for educational purposes. Most of our Bakunawa Fest's film camps are done as outreach programs/workshops and are mostly free. Here our participants are scholars paid for by the festival and its partners usually hosted by different cities/municipalities in the Philippines.

During the pandemic years and lockdowns from 2020-2022, we have temporarily migrated to mostly online screenings but this year 2023, we will conduct more live screenings following health protocols. For our tenth edition, we will do a semi-hybrid festival wherein we screen more films in live venues and do a limited program online.

[ Please note that, since we are an artist and volunteer-ran filmfest, we can't fund filmmakers to come physically and we don't pay screening fees. ]

We are a fantastic film fest. Our festival is interested in: Horror or Thriller Films / Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Adventure / Experimental Films / New Media, Expanded Cinema / Genre-Bending Films / Music Videos / Creative Documentaries / Contemporary Art / Photography.

For 2023, we have made our submissions more streamlined (This is NOT our programming approach though, just for submissions):
► Fantastic Full-legth Features
► Fantastic International Shorts
► Fantastic Indigenous Shorts
► Fantastic Filipino Shorts
► BAKUNAWA FEST Alumni Filmmakers
► Midnight Films
► Digital Art & Photography
► One-Minute Films
► Trash, B-Movie-esque, Underground Shorts
► Rewind (Past films released earlier than 2021)
► Pinoy Horror (no restrictions, no premiere status required)

OUR PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLE - A NOTE ON FILM SUBMISSIONS
Our programmers pride themselves on watching all submitted films with an annual 98-100% watching average. We don't base our decisions on which festivals your film has been accepted. We decide on the merit of your film and not on the popularity of the filmmakers and its actors. Last year (9th edition), all 100% of our competition shorts came from submissions via Festhome and Bakunawa Forms. Bakunawa has two festival advisers and curators who recommend films from around the world - especially, Asia - but these recommendations still has to pass through our chief programmer and are mostly programmed out of competition. So just submit and don't send us all your laurels. While we are happy of your achievements (because we're filmmakers too!), we still look at each film at "face value" - we watch them (usually more than twice) and decide.

Bakunawa Fest determines the films for competition and outside of the competition sections. The appointed Board of Jury will award films in competition and is only required to award GRAND BAKUNAWA FOR BEST SHORT FILM and JURY PRIZE. The Jury however decides if they want to award films on specific categories. International Winners get a Digital Certificate and Digital Kit while local winners get a printed Certificate and the Bakunawa trophies.

Film Critics invited by our festival also hand out independent awards & citations which were either deliberated or selected by them. Bakunawa team of organizers don't participate in these processes as we want to maintain the critics' independence. The festival hands out Digital Certificates to those cited by the film critics.

Rules & Regulations for BAKUNAWA FEST X. Please READ them before submitting your film.

OUR PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLE - A NOTE ON FILM SUBMISSIONS
Our programmers pride themselves on watching all submitted films with an annual 98-100% watching average. We don't base our decisions on which festivals your film has been accepted. We decide on the merit of your film and not on the popularity of the filmmakers and its actors. Last year (9th edition), all 100% of our competition shorts came from submissions via Festhome and Bakunawa Forms. Bakunawa has two festival advisers and curators who recommend films from around the world - especially, Asia - but these recommendations still has to pass through our chief programmer and are mostly programmed out of competition. So just submit and don't send us all your laurels. While we are happy of your achievements (because we're filmmakers too!), we still look at each film at "face value" - we watch them (usually more than twice) and decide.

[1.] We accept horror, fantasy, sci-fi and genre films. WE ARE A FANTASTIC FESTIVAL AND WE FAVOR GENRE FILMS. Please check our categories for descriptions. * We may cancel or merge sections should the films we select do not reach a good number of entries. *

Our festival is interested in:
Horror & Thriller Films
Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Adventure
Experimental Films
New Media, Expanded Cinema
Genre-Bending Films
Music Videos
Unconventional Documentaries or traditional documentaries with obscure subjects
Contemporary Art & Contemporary Photography

[2] ENGLISH SUBTITLES REQUIRED PLEASE.

[3.] We want films from the young and the young at heart. By young, we mean fresh ideas and concepts; new ways of telling stories; unique approaches to issues; or innovative in many ways. Like any festival, this is a subjective process. We only limit two submissions per filmmaker. If you submit more than this, we shall disqualify all your entries. Just as a submission guide: unless we really love both films, we usually only choose one.

[4.] Because of the pandemic, restrictions and health protocols, all works selected will be screened or exhibited in a semi-hybrid format - ONLINE and IN-PERSON screenings. The programmers will select which goes online and in-person.

[5.] Your films must be available for download up until August 1, 2023 for the festival and must be allowed to be played online up until December 2023 (Bakunawa Fest runs for a season).

[6.] In the past editions, we screen your films to our young film camp participants which we open to the public for free and in very limited engagements. Since the pandemic started, we have screened films online (available for the festival run) through our VOD Channel (with geoblocking provisions). Your films must be available for download and must be allowed to be played for online screenings during the festival season.

[7.] For Filipino films, we will only accept films created from Jan. 1, 2021 online. IMPORTANT: Your film must not have been screened in more than two Filipino film festivals to be accepted especially for competition. If you want to compete, we REQUIRE a PHILIPPINE PREMIERE (for competition films, only 15 minutes and under please).

[8] Invited films though do not have these restrictions. If you feel your film is for our festival and have been screened in other Philippine festivals, please send us a screener at bakunawafilmfest@gmail.com so we can decide. Please give us time to reply.

[9.] We do not pay for screening fees and we cannot fund your travel and accommodations. Please DON'T submit to us if you require fees and you want free travel and accommodation.

[10.] By entering your work in the festival, you are giving the festival and its organizers the right to screen your film, photographs and trailers at all our film camp, online festival sites and all festival venues and to print all film-related photos for festival promotions. Once selected, you cannot anymore withdraw your film from the festival. Our festival runs in months in in different cities in the Philippines so by entering your work, you allow the festival to screen your works in our outreach tours.

[11.] By clicking SUBMIT, filmmakers certify that they possess all rights pertaining to their submitted films and exempt the festival organizers from third party claims. In case of a group work, a single representative must be named for purposes of correspondences.

[12.] By clicking SUBMIT, you hereby acknowledge to abide by the rules and regulations of this festival. We make sure that our staff and volunteers are not harrassed by filmmakers so we shall observe the behavior of filmmakers. We shall implement a mutual respect between filmmakers and our festival when communicating all througout the festival season. We shall decide appropriately and may remove your film from selection list if you treat our volunteers and festival staff with disrespect. Our festival will not tolerate hate speech nor filmmakers who discriminate.

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CHECKLIST OF WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU (If this is NOT complete, you leave us no choice but to disqualify you):
[1] Submission Via THIS FORM
[2] Your film must be downloadable by the festival until August 1, 2023.
[3] Trailer is REQUIRED and must be downloadable until August 1, 2023.
[4] Poster, logline and synopsis are required.
[5] Photo of Director and bio are required
[6] Film Stills are required.

THE FESTIVAL'S COMMITMENT WHEN YOUR FILM GETS SELECTED:
[1] Your film in our Festival Curated Programs
[2] Your film on your own individual page in our festival website.
[3] Your Digital Certificate of Selection from the Festival
[4] Digital Poster of the Festival
[5] Festival Newsletters during Festival run.
[6] Festival Laurels
[7] Portions of your film in our Omnibus Trailers
[8] Three-frame panel in our Instagram Account and Facebook Account.
[9] Your film listed under its Program in our website
[10] Our commitment and assurance that your film is being handled by a handful of persons only so it doesn't get distributed nor shown to third parties and/or other individuals.

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