Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Elche ()

Festival start: 14 July 2023      Festival end: 21 July 2023

The Elche International Independent Film Festival, organized by Mediterraneo Foundation's main objective is to offer a cultural space to filmmakers and moviegoers.

In a constant commitment to the promotion of culture and supporting emerging values of cinema, focusing on innovation, public conversation with the authors and the elimination of technological compete when barriers and vote.

“MEDITERRANEAN FOUNDATION” AWARD FOR BEST FICTION SHORT FILM, of Spanish nationality. It is endowed with 3000 euros and the Dama Trophy.

“CIUTAT D'ELX" DOCUMENTARY AWARD, of Spanish nationality and endowed with 3000 euros and Dama Trophy.

ANIMATION AWARD, of any nationality. It is endowed with 2000 euros and Lady Trophy.

EUROPEAN AWARD, in any category and belonging to the European area (not Spain). Endowed with 1000 euros and Lady Trophy.

IBERO-AMERICAN AWARD, in any category and belonging to Latin America and Brazil. Endowed with 1000 euros and Dama Trophy.

FES CURT AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy. Which may be chosen in any of the categories and whose production comes from authors of the Valencian Community or production companies based in the Autonomous Community and preferably in Valencian or subtitled in this language.

“CINECLUB LUIS BUÑUEL" NEW FILMMAKER AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy, eligible in any of the categories. Both Spanish and international authors who have made up to their third short film are eligible.

MOBILE FILMMAKER PRO AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and the Dama Trophy, starting with the third short film. They can be Fiction or Documentary, to which both Spanish and international authors whose production has been made by high-end smartphones and who have at least three short films to their credit are eligible.

“HORT DEL XOCOLATER" AUDIENCE AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy from among those Spanish and international short films that are part of the Official Selection of FICIE. The short film that has received the most votes from the audience attending the Official Selection screenings at the Hort del Xocolater between July 14 and 20, 2023 will be chosen.

Important: If the case arises, at the discretion of the Organization and/or the Jury, one of these prizes may remain void.

Important: The FICIE will award the laurels of each award to the winners and their inclusion in the short film is mandatory.

Important: The FICIE does not oblige its winners to come to collect the prizes, nor does it condition the granting of a prize, but it does provide the aforementioned facilities so that they can attend with the public of the city of Elche.


JOINT COLLABORATIONS AND AWARDS

1000 EUROS IN CASH AND EXPANSION OF THE FESTIVALS CIRCUIT


Important: As this edition is so significant for the Fundación Mediterráneo, as organizer of FICIE, some of these awards will be announced before the Closing Gala on July 22, 2022. The how, when and where will be announced in advance and by the usual media, digital and social networks.

In this edition of FICIE, the following collaborations and joint awards have been achieved:

THE BEST SHORT FILM ON HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD, in any category and belonging to the Mediterranean coast and/or linked to it 6, except Spain, in collaboration with SocialMed València - Mediterranean Human Rights Festival. It is endowed with 1,000 euros and a Lady Trophy.

Important: If the case arises, at the discretion of the Organization and/or the Jury, this award could be void.

The Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA) will award the CIMA Award to the Best Filmmaker endowed with its statuette and a one-year subscription to said association.

Important: If necessary, at the discretion of CIMA, this award could be void.


The winner of the Mobile Filmmaker Award will enter directly as a finalist in the Cinephone Smartphone Film Festival in its 2022 edition.

The winner of the Mostra de Cinema Jove d'Elx, in its 2022 edition, will enter directly as selected in our Official Short Film Section, Fiction category of this edition.

At the discretion of the jury and the Reykjavík International Film Festival Organization, one or more Spanish short films from the Official Section or the Palmares will be finalists in the 2022 edition.

At the discretion of the jury and the Organization of the Edimburgh Spanish Film Festival, one or several Spanish short films from the Official Section or the Palmares will enter the Festival of its 2022 edition.

At the discretion of the jury and the Organization of the London Spanish Film Festival, one or more Spanish short films from the Official Section or the Palmares will enter the Official Section of the 2022 edition.

At the discretion of the jury and the organization of the Hayah Panama International Short Film Festival, one or more Spanish short films from the Official Section or the Palmares, will enter the Official Section of the 2022 Edition and vice versa.

From Amazon Prime Video Channel "TVShorts" they will contact, at their discretion, the authors that make up the Official Section to obtain the corresponding permissions to broadcast them on their schedule.

Important: Finally, the FICIE will announce and incorporate all those new collaborations and prizes that have not been closed at the time of publication of these rules.

46th INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
OF ELCHE (FICIE)

July 14-21, 2023

RULES


KEY DATES

● Short Film Registration

From the date of publication of these terms and conditions to April 30

● Communication Official Section As of 06/15/2023

● Receiving digital files Second half of June 2023

● Logistics management selected authors

● Second half of June 2023

● Screenings of the Official Short Film Section

From 7 to 20 July 2023. From 21:30 in the park "Hort del Xocolater” (Elche) and in Arenales del Sol Beach (Elche).

● Closing and Awards Ceremony

July 21, 2022, at 21:30 in the "Hort del Xocolater" Park (Elche)


WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

Any natural person over 18 years of age or any legal person may participate and/or compete, regardless of their nationality.


WHAT TYPE OF SHORT FILM CAN PARTICIPATE?

The Author / Producer / Distributor can present all the short films he wants and that have been produced after January 1, 2021.

Important: Short films are audiovisual productions of up to 230 minutes and must be fiction, animation and documentary. The recommended video formats are mov, mp4 and with a resolution of 1080, framing of 16: 9. The recommended sound format is 2: 1 stereo.

In the Mobile Filmmaker Pro category, the same rules apply as for the rest but with the following conditions: only shorts made by smartphones are allowed, indicating the brand and model ; the use of mobile devices (drones, action cameras, etc.) is allowed for a maximum of 10% of the total duration of the short film; the duration will be up to 15 minutes. The use of external elements (microphones, lighting dollies) is allowed during filming and in post-production the use of editing programs or image treatments that the participant deems appropriate.

Failure to indicate the brand and model of the smartphone implies the automatic disqualification of the short film, and the award may be void at the discretion of the Jury and the FICIE Organization.

Important: Reduced, modified or extended versions of other short films will not be accepted, nor may they have been presented in previous editions of FICIE or with another title. Commercial advertisements, video clips or trailers of other films or unfinished works (work in progress) are also not allowed.


Important: If your language is NOT Spanish, you will have to have the subtitles inserted in Spanish, or the subtitles separately in srt. If necessary, a short film in a non-Spanish language is selected, it will be mandatory to provide the subtitles in Spanish in .srt format, otherwise it will be disqualified.


HOW DO I PARTICIPATE?

Important: Digital files on physical media will not be accepted, only links on Vimeo .

Important: The Author / Producer / Distributor can present all the short films he wishes from the date of publication of these bases and until 23:59:59 pm (Spanish time) on April 30th, 2023 on the associated official platforms, Festhome. There the bases of this edition of FICIE will also be available in Spanish and English.

At the time of registration in the associated official platforms, the Author / Producer / Distributor will have at their disposal a menu to choose from in the category that they wish to register their short films. You can only enter a short film in one category, NOT in several.

The Organization will contact all participants from the closing of the registration period to confirm or not their effective participation in this edition.


All doubts can be resolved in:

Email: festivalelche@fundacionmediterraneo.es
Facebook: https://es-es.facebook.com/festivaldecine/
Twitter @festivalelche


WHEN, WHICH SHORT FILMS ARE PROJECTED AND WHERE?

Important: The Selection Jury will select the short films that will be part of the Official Section. Their decision will be known as of June 15, 2023. All those short films that have been finally selected will be notified of their participation at least two weeks before the start of the screenings.

Important: The screenings of the competitive Official Section and the Mostra't Sections (non- competitive) will take place from July 14 to 20, 2023, from 21:45 approximately (Spanish time), at the "Hort del Xocolater" Park and at the Arenales del Sol Beach.

At the time of communicating the selection, the Organization will send each of the finalists a pdf of the screening conditions and a reminder of the optimal audio and video formats and details of the screening place. In the "Hort del Xocolater" Park (Elche) there is a capacity and attendance of a maximum of a thousand people.

Important: it is mandatory to include the Official Selection laurels for all films selected for FICIE. The screening point at “Arenales del Sol Beach” (Elche) has a capacity for a maximum of 300 people.

The Mostra't Section is NOT competitive and aims to support short films made by authors from Elche, associations, students from educational centers, from the “Miguel Hernández” University of Elche, as well as those short films provided by Amazon Prime Video Channel TVShorts that stand out for having been nominated for the Oscar Awards.

The aim is to promote values of equality, human rights and training in local audiovisual production to both future filmmakers and young people as a film-consuming public. These screenings are held in the same locations and on the same dates but from 21:30 to 21:45 (Spanish time), approximately, according to programming needs.

Likewise, Amazon Prime Video Channel "TVShorts" will contact the authors of the short films selected for the Official Selection to obtain the necessary permissions to be screened on its platform.

The FICIE Organization will publish the calendar and schedule of screenings in its usual media, on its website and social networks.

Important: Participation in this Festival implies the transfer of the rights of diffusion of the images sent within the scope of the Festival itself, which will be archived by the organization if deemed appropriate and by mutual agreement with the owners of the work.

If applicable, certify membership in SGAE or other copyright management organization. At this point, no obligation will be considered by the Festival if the information is not provided.


HOW IS IT PROJECTED?


Important: Once the short films that will be part of the Official Selection are known, the Organization will contact the Author/Producer/Distributor to request the high quality screening copies that will have to be in their possession by June 25, 2023, ideally two weeks before the beginning of the screenings.

The selected short films will have to be identical in duration, content and title to those presented on the associated official platforms and on the Vimeo links presented. Failure to do so leads to disqualification.

Important: The Organization is committed to the highest quality in projections and will guarantee the satisfaction of the Author / Producer / Distributor. The recommended video formats for this festival are mov, mp4 and with a resolution of 1080, framing of 16:9.

The sound format is 2:1 stereo. The recommended digital file weight to be able to project optimally should not exceed 3 GB. At the time of communicating the selection, the Organization will send each of the finalists a pdf of the screening conditions and a reminder of the optimal audio and video formats.

Important: As indicated above, for those short films in a non-Spanish language and that have been selected at this time, it will be mandatory that they present a copy with inserted subtitles or at least in separate .srt format. Otherwise they will be disqualified and and not screened.

The shipping method will be via online : Dropbox, Google Drive, Onedrive, Wetransfer, etc.

Shipments by physical means (pendrive memories, etc) will NOT be accepted.

Important: In the spirit of reaching all audiences, this year the Organization will give the option and will request permission from the authors/distributors/producers of the selected works to screen online on the same days with the usual security measures and the required geographical restrictions. It is optional, NOT mandatory. The same short film can be screened in front of both in-person and online audiences at the same time or only in front of the in-person audience, at your choice.

Important: The Organization wants to facilitate the presentation and networking of the selected Spanish participants.

Accordingly, it will organize a series of activities that will be published on the official FICIE website. The Author/Distributor/Producer of the selected Spanish film plus companion will be offered travel, meals and a hotel stay of more than one night (if possible, depending on hotel availability and agenda of those selected), informing them of the day of the screening of their short film.


WHAT CATEGORIES OF CONTESTANTS ARE THERE?


Important: When registering their short films on FICIE's official platforms, the Author/Producer/Distributor will decide in which category to enter their short film. Each short film can only be entered in one category, not in several.

However, the Organization and/or the FICIE Selection Juries will have the power to change the category of those short films that, according to their criteria, are not in the one that corresponds to them and that, consequently, may better qualify for the prizes of the list of winners.


● Fiction Category: Those who register for this category will be Spanish and international fiction authors who want to compete for the “Mediterranean Foundation” Best Short Film Award, “Ciutat d ‘Elx” Fiction Award, Best European Short Film and Best Iberoamerican Short Film awards.

● Animation Category: Those who register for this category will be Spanish and international Animation authors who want to compete for the “Mediterranean Foundation” Best Short Film Award, Best European Short Film Award, Best Ibero- American Short Film Award and the Animation Award.

● Documentary Category: Those who register for this category will be Spanish and international documentary filmmakers who want to compete for the “Mediterranean Foundation” Best Short Film Award, Best European Short Film Award, Best Ibero- American Short Film Award and Best Documentary Short Film Award.

● Fes Curt Category : Those productions that come from authors of the Valencian Community or production companies based in said Autonomous Community and that may compete for the Best Short Film Award of the Valencian Community will enter.

They can be works of Fiction, Animation or Documentary and preferably in the Valencian language or subtitled in it.

● Novel Author Category: Both Spanish and international authors who have made up to their third short film who want to compete for the "Luis Buñuel Club Cinema" Best Novel Short Film Award. They can be works of Fiction, Animation or Documentary.

● Human Rights Category: International authors from Mediterranean countries or those linked to it 4, except Spain, who want to compete for the Human Rights Best Short Film Award, may choose. They can be works of Fiction, Animation or Documentary.

● Mobile Filmmaker Pro Category: Both Spanish and international authors whose production has been carried out using a smartphone will be eligible. It can be Fiction or Documentary.


OVERALL 46th EDITION AWARDS: 13000 EUROS


“MEDITERRANEAN FOUNDATION” AWARD FOR BEST FICTION SHORT FILM, of Spanish nationality. It is endowed with 3000 euros and the Dama Trophy.

“CIUTAT D'ELX" DOCUMENTARY AWARD of Spanish nationality and endowed with 3000 euros and Dama Trophy.

ANIMATION AWARD, of any nationality. It is endowed with 2000 euros and Lady Trophy.

EUROPEAN AWARD, in any category and belonging to the European area (not Spain). Endowed with 1000 euros and Lady Trophy.

IBERO-AMERICAN AWARD, in any category and belonging to Latin America and Brazil. Endowed with 1000 euros and Dama Trophy.

FES CURT AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy. Which may be chosen in any of the categories and whose production comes from authors of the Valencian Community or production companies based in the Autonomous Community and preferably in Valencian or subtitled in this language.

“CINECLUB LUIS BUÑUEL" NEW FILMMAKER AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy, eligible in any of the categories. Both Spanish and international authors who have made up to their third short film are eligible.

MOBILE FILMMAKER PRO AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and the Dama Trophy, starting with the third short film. They can be Fiction or Documentary, to which both Spanish and international authors whose production has been made by high-end smartphones and who have at least three short films to their credit are eligible.

“HORT DEL XOCOLATER" AUDIENCE AWARD, endowed with 500 euros and Dama Trophy from among those Spanish and international short films that are part of the Official Selection of FICIE. The short film that has received the most votes from the audience attending the Official Selection screenings at the Hort del Xocolater between July 14 and 20, 2023 will be chosen.

Important: In the event that, at the discretion of the Organization and/or the Jury, any of these prizes may not be awarded.

Important: FICIE will award the laurels of each prize to the winners and their insertion in the short film is mandatory.

Important: FICIE does not oblige its winners to come to collect the prizes, nor does it condition the awarding of a prize, but it provides the above mentioned facilities so that they can attend with the public of the city of Elche.

Important: Some of these awards will be announced before the Closing Gala on July 21, 2023. The how, when and where will be announced in due time and through the usual media, digital and social networks.

In this edition of FICIE, the following collaborations and joint awards have been reached:

BEST SHORT FILM ON HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD, of any category and belonging to the Mediterranean coast and/or linked to it, except Spain, in collaboration with SocialMed València - Mediterranean Human Rights Festival. It is endowed with 1,000 euros and Dama Trophy.

Important: In the event that, at the discretion of the Organization and/or the Jury, this prize may not be awarded.

The Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA) will present the CIMA Award to the Best Female Filmmaker with a statuette and a one-year subscription to the association.

Important: At CIMA's discretion, this award may be declared void.

The winner of the Mobile Filmmaker Pro Award will be entered directly as a finalist in the 2023 edition of the Cinephone Smartphone Film Festival.

The winner of the Mostra de Cinema Jove d'Elx, in its 2022 and 2023 editions, will enter directly as selected in our Official Short Film Section, Fiction category of this edition.

At the discretion of the Jury and the Reykjavik International Film Festival Organization, one or more Spanish short films from the Official Selection or the Palmarés will be finalists in the 2023 edition.

From Amazon Prime Video Channel "TVShorts" will contact, at its discretion, the authors that are part of the Official Section to obtain the corresponding permissions to be able to broadcast them on its grid.

Important: Finally, FICIE will announce and incorporate all new collaborations and awards that have not been closed at the time of publication of these rules.


WHAT IS DONE WITH THE SHORT FILMS AND THE STORED PERSONAL DATA?

The Author / Director / Distributor of the works submitted to the competition declares that they are of his authorship, direction and production and that, being original, they are free from third party claims.

Without prejudice to the use and commercialization that the Author / Director / Distributor makes of the awarded work, the Organization will be empowered to:

● The right to preserve the works in a digital file so that they can be viewed only by users during the week of screenings at the FICIE headquarters in the “Hort del Xocolater” park (Elche) and on the Arenales Beach of the Sun (Elche).

● The limited rights of public communication of the winning works so that the Fundación Mediterráneo, through the activities it organizes or collaborates with, can carry out as many projections as necessary in order to promote the winning works. The projections will serve to disseminate the short film and the Festival itself, as long as this does not affect the distribution and possible commercialization of the short film and having the necessary permits to be able to project the works of its Official Section and/or will negotiate the fee or canon in order to project them.


● The reproduction rights of the winning works so that it can be archived and that the Mediterranean Foundation can make a special edition in cd, dvd, or similar format in which the work is included along with the rest of the works presented. to the present or previous Editions of the International Independent Film Festival of Elche, but always with the authorization of the Author / Director / Distributor in order not to harm its distribution and commercialization. If necessary, the Organization will negotiate a fee or canon for this type of edition.

● The Fundación Mediterráneo supports the short film industry by paying copyright to the SGAE on all its reproductions, whether during the screenings of the Official Section or in other organized cycles.

● All personal data and only the email addresses of those registered in the FICIE edition will be kept for the purpose of communicating new editions. Those registered in the newsletter on the official FICIE website at www.ficie.fundacionmediterraneo.es will also be used for this purpose.


HOW AND WHEN ARE THE PRIZES PAID?

The FICIE Organization will contact all the winners to indicate the payment conditions. The Organization undertakes to make the payment in a maximum of three months after having the corresponding information with the following exceptions:

● If the Organization cannot establish contact with the winner/winners within that period, the amount of the award prize will revert to Mediterraneo Foundation as organizer of FICIE.

● If the Organization cannot make the bank transfer due to international trade embargoes.

● The economic endowment of the prizes are gross amounts to which the corresponding withholdings will be applied by Spanish and international legislation.


AND THE SENDING OF THE TROPHIES?


The trophies that have not been collected by the non-attending winners will be sent after the Closing Ceremony.

Due to the safety and hygiene conditions provided by the health authorities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the trophies will be properly packaged, sanitized and sealed and subsequently sent to the winners through the SEUR international courier service.

After the completion of this edition, the Organization will contact the Author/Producer/Distributor to request their postal address and contact telephone number.

If the Organization cannot contact or have a postal address to duly deliver the trophies of the authors who could not come to collect them, they will be returned to the Fundación Mediterráneo, which will keep them in storage.

The same will apply in the event that there are trade embargoes in the destination country and delivery cannot be made.


MARCH 2023