The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival ()

Festival start: 01 June 2020      Festival end: 08 June 2020

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is a unique event that brings Brooklyn’s celebrated film and media makers together with their peers across the country and around the world. The award-winning AoBFF is a filmmaker-focused event, platform and showcase for exciting emerging creators and established voices. We partner with film distributors and media organizations, host world-class talkbacks, create innovative programming for networking and skill building, and screen in state-of-the-art theaters for enthusiastic audiences across Brooklyn.

Founded by working artists in 2011, ten festival premieres have gotten theatrical distribution to date — and one became an HBO series. We have held events in nineteen different venues in nine neighborhoods across Brooklyn (so far,) often partnering with local businesses and organizations to reach the widest possible audience.

Our innovative approach to ensure that no single POV dominates the curation process includes working with a different Guest Festival Director every season. And our ethical and transparent submission policy is a model for the industry.

We believe that film festivals exist for filmmakers, not the other way around.

In 2014 we became the only indie film festival to build and program our own video-on-demand streaming platform: Brooklyn On Demand, where we broadcast festival favorites, original series and more, online and on a Roku channel with over 16,000 subscribers, alongside Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. brooklynondemand.com

The AoBFF will present awards to the following categories:
- Best Screenplay (and a staged reading of your screenplay)
- Best Feature
- Best Short
- Best Super Short
- Best Documentary
- Best Comedy
- Best Drama
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Performance
- Best Short Documentary
- Audience Choice Award
- Jury Prize
- Dark Side Award (For Horror/Thriller/Noir Films)
- Vanguard Award (For Experimental/Non-Linear/Avant-Garde Films)

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival programs all genres including comedy, drama, documentary, animation, horror, sci-fi, music video and experimental. Our Film Screening Panel —led by our Festival Director— views all submissions and selects the films we program. We guarantee that ALL films and screenplays submitted will be considered up until midnight of the final day of submissions. A Judging Panel of industry professionals selects award-winning films in each category and our winning screenplay.

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival strongly prefers to program premieres, especially for features, but will consider all films submitted.

All film submissions must include an online screener. Screenplays must be uploaded in PDF form only.

All filmmakers must have a screening-quality digital exhibition format available. We always screen directly from filmmakers' files. (No DVDs or Blu-Ray.)

If your film is accepted, you will be solely responsible for delivering exhibition materials to us and from the festival venue. The Art of Brooklyn cannot be held liable for any materials that are lost or damaged.

Payment made by credit card via the online submission platform is preferred.
All submission fees must be paid via credit card or PayPal. Festival dates are subject to change. ALL SUBMISSION FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

FILMMAKER AGREEMENT:

By submitting my film, I allow it to be screened at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival if accepted.

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any accepted film for any promotional purposes. (Print, press, online.)

The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations.

The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless The Art of Brooklyn from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

By entering (submitting to) The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, entrants release and hold the The Art of Brooklyn, its Board of Directors, Officers, Staff and Volunteers harmless from and against all losses, damages, rights, claims and actions of any kind arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from participation with the competition or participation in any competition related activity.

By entering (submitting to) to The Art of Brooklyn Festival you are granting the right for The Art of Brooklyn to screen your film publicly one to two times in the next twelve months (depending on the festival entered).

By entering (submitting to) The Art of Brooklyn Festival you are admitting that you have read, understood and agreed to follow our Rules and Regulations for festival submission and to abide by our Terms and Conditions of service and our general festival Rules and Regulations.

Failure to comply with The Art of Brooklyn guidelines, rules, regulations, or eligibility will be cause for disqualification and can result in having your film pulled from screening or competition.

All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.

RULES SPECIFICALLY FOR SCREENPLAY SUBMISSIONS:
​
Screenplays cannot be submitted over 120 pages without festival permission. Screenplays can be in any format (Feature, TV, Short) as long as they do not exceed the page limit.
Screenplays submitted must not have been previously sold or produced unless said sale or production was completed with no financial gain to the writer.
All deadlines are at 11:59pm PST on the date listed. Any deadline alteration or promotion of any kind does not make any entry valid of a refund of any kind.
There are no refunds for any submitted screenplay. Coupons may not be applied to previously submitted scripts.
There is no limit on the number of scripts a writer or writing team may submit.
Prizes are award per script and teams of writers are expected to divide prizes on their own accord.
The decision of the judges will be final and cannot be contested in any manner. There is no score on a scorecard that guarantees advancement to the next level as advancement will be based on all score in the competition.
The contest reserves the right to delay announcements for any reason. Delay may last up to but never more than 90 days. While we never anticipate any delays, such delays will not alter the standing of any screenplay entry and will qualify no script for a refund under any circumstance.
By submitting to the contest you are releasing your script to the film festival and its partners, and holding harmless the festival or any affiliates from any claims, expenses, and liabilities, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, copyright, libel, trademark infringement, slander, personal property infringement, etc.