Porto Femme - International Film Festival (8)

Festival start: 08 April 2025      Festival end: 13 April 2025

Porto Femme - International Film Festival is a place for the exhibition and dissemination of multiple and diverse artistic visions. A concrete action in the struggle for equal representation, focusing on new identity representations that seek to deconstruct stereotypes and erase invisibilities. The Festival aims to create a visibility space for women and/or non-binary identities in the cinematographic world, uniting them internationally.
Feminist solidarity is our guiding thread, and we want to continue creating feminist spaces through an innovative, intersectional, and intergenerational way of working characterized by support, diversity, creativity, and experimentation, serving as a point of sharing, debate, and creation for all those who love cinema.

These films intend to educate and inform the public about social and political issues that affect women and minority identities worldwide and give voice to several groups and struggles.

Our curation aims to reflect the diversity of genres, themes and languages. PORTO FEMME is a festival with a varied and appealing offer to the public, including competitive sessions, exhibitions, workshops, debates, Q & A sessions, exhibitions, among others.

The best work in each category will be awarded: Fiction (short and feature length), Animation, Documentary, Experimental, for each competition.

The "Women’s Rights and Struggles Award" will also be given to a film from the entire official selection; the "Women’s Voices Award" will distinguish the best national film—regardless of its competition category. This will be the third time the award will be given in partnership between MIRA Galleries and Porto Femme.

The cloud storage and transfer platform MyAirBridge offers the festival’s winning films a free annual PRO Plan that includes:

- Storage Capacity: 200 GB
- Single upload transfer limit: 50 GB
- Superior upload/download speed
- Presentation of your brand

PORTO FEMME – INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025
(EN) Terms and conditions

1. Organization
The XX Element Project is a non-profit cultural association with the aim of promoting the cultural enrichment of the general population and of a civic and social nature, with a special focus on themes around women, promoting gender equality.

2. 2025 – 8th edition of PORTO FEMME
The eighth edition of Porto Femme - International Film Festival will take place from April 8th to 13th 2025, at Batalha Centro de Cinema and other locations in the city of Porto.

3. General Conditions

- The festival comprises 5 competitions: International, National, Student, XX Element, and Thematic.

- Films made by women and/or non-binary identities filmmakers are accepted, but there is one competition (XX Element) is open to everyone.

- Participants must submit their works in one of the presented Competitions and categories (fiction, animation, documentary or experimental).

- The early bird submission is open until October 25th, 2024, the regular deadline is November 30th, and the extended deadline is December 20th.

- Submissions are subject to a registration fee, as indicated below:

- international films:

i. early bird: EUR 7
ii. regular deadline: EUR 10
iii. extended deadline: EUR 12

- national films:

i. early bird: EUR 4
ii. regular deadline: EUR 5
iii. extended deadline: EUR 7

- Submissions are made through the Festhome platform.

- The festival organisation will not pay exhibition rights for the films selected for the festival.

- Selected films may be eligible for the Women's Struggles and Rights Award.

- Selected films may not be withdrawn after their participation in the Festival has been officially announced.


4. Competitions

4.1. International Competition
Films that meet the following conditions will be admitted for consideration in the International Competition:

- Films made by women and/or non-binary filmmakers are accepted, with no age limit or restrictions on the number of works submitted by the director or restrictions by country;

- Produced after January 1st 2022;

- Not available online;

- Films that are not completed (work in progress) will not be accepted, only their final versions.

In the International Competition are accepted films in the categories of:

FICTION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

ANIMATION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

DOCUMENTARY - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

EXPERIMENTAL – Short films up to 20 minutes.

The films can be submitted in only one category in this competition.


4.2 National Competition
Films submitted for consideration in the National Competition must meet the following conditions:

- Films made by women and/or non-binary identities of Portuguese nationality, with no age limit or restrictions on the number of works submitted by the director or films produced in Portugal;

- Produced after January 1st 2022;

- Not available online;

- Films that are not completed (work in progress) will not be accepted, only their final versions.

In the National Competition are accepted films in the categories of:

FICTION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

ANIMATION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

DOCUMENTARY - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

EXPERIMENTAL – Short films up to 20 minutes.

The films can be submitted in only one category in this competition.


4.3. Students Competition
Films submitted for consideration in the Student Competition must meet the following conditions:

- Films made by women and/or non-binary identities who made the film during their schooling, regardless of the level of education, with no age limit or restrictions on the number of works submitted by the director or restrictions by country;

- Produced after January 1st 2022;

- Not available online;

- Films that are not completed (work in progress) will not be accepted, only their final versions.

In the Students Competition are accepted films in the categories of:

FICTION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

ANIMATION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

DOCUMENTARY - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

EXPERIMENTAL – Short films up to 20 minutes.

The films can be submitted in only one category in this competition.


4.4. XX Element Competition
Films submitted for consideration in the XX Element Competition must meet the following conditions:

- Films made by mixed teams or men, if they guarantee at least one of the following eligibility conditions:

- Films whose themes are directed toward issues surrounding women and queer identities;

- Films where a woman and/or non-binary identities play a significant role in the work (e.g., co-direction, production, screenwriting, leading roles, cinematography, editing).

Produced after January 1st 2022;

- Not available online;

- Films that are not completed (work in progress) will not be accepted, only their final versions.

In the XX Element Competition are accepted films in the categories of:

FICTION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

ANIMATION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

DOCUMENTARY - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

EXPERIMENTAL – Short films up to 20 minutes.

The films can be submitted in only one category in this competition.


4.5. Thematic Competition
Films that meet the following conditions will be admitted for selection in the Thematic Competition:

- Films addressing the general theme of ‘LESBIAN CINEMA’

- Films made by women and/or non-binary identities, with no age limit or restrictions on the number of works submitted by the director or restrictions by country;

- Produced after January 1st 2020;

- Not available online;

- Films that are not completed (work in progress) will not be accepted, only their final versions.

In the Thematic Competition are accepted films in the categories of:

FICTION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

ANIMATION - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

DOCUMENTARY - Short films (max. 40 minutes) and feature films (min. 40 minutes).

EXPERIMENTAL – Short films up to 20 minutes.

The films can be submitted in only one category in this competition.


4.6. Women’s Struggles and Rights Award
All selected films, regardless of competition, are subject to consideration for the Women's Struggles and Rights Award, which is awarded to the best film dealing with issues surrounding women's rights and gender-based violence. This prize aims to give visibility to the disconcerting themes that revolve around women, calling them to the center of the debate and stimulating reflection.

4.7. The Women’s Voices Award
All selected films from the National Competition are subject to consideration for the "Women’s Voices" award. Regardless of the competition category, this award distinguishes the best national film addressing the affirmation of women’s voices in denouncing discrimination in various aspects of life.
Voices that refuse silence.


5. Selection

- The pre-selection is the responsibility of an internal jury that is part of the Festival's programming team. The final decision on the selected films is made by the artistic team of the Festival's Organizing Committee and other professionals invited by the Organization.

- The Official Selection will be communicated by email to those responsible for the application after February 17th 2025.

- The communication of the selection results will be made via email through submissionsportofemme@gmail.com.

- Unless expressly indicated otherwise, at the time of submission, the people who own the rights of the selected films for the Official Selection authorize the Organization to screen their films in sessions with the brand "PORTO FEMME”.

- The people who own the rights of the selected films for the Official Selection authorize the Organization to project on television or digital media, for the mere purpose of promoting the Festival, excerpts of their films, which should not exceed 10% of its duration.

- The selected films may be the object of acquisition proposals for the Portuguese market.


6. Technical Characteristics

6.1. Physical Exhibition

- Screening copies must be sent by March 1st 2025, otherwise it will not be included in the scheduled competitive sessions, or the copy sent previously for Pre-selection will be displayed. In this case, the responsibility for the quality of the exhibited copy is of the producer/director.

- Screening copies should be sent to submissionsportofemme@gmail.com, via wetransfer (up to 2GB), myairbridge (up to 20GB) or other services.

- For physical viewing, the film’s DCP (2K or 4K, flat or scope, 2.0 or 5.1 audio) is required, with subtitling in English, as well as Video Files in .avi, .mov, .mp4 formats, up to 3GB, in H.264/H.265.

- The translation and subtitling of the selected short and feature films will be ensured by the person responsible for the registration of the film, and must guarantee at least the subtitling in English. Otherwise, the films will be removed from the competition.

- The films must be subtitled in English and the .srt file with the English subtitles with timecode.

- In case there are also subtitles in Portuguese (in case the film is not spoken in Portuguese), we also thank you for sending them.


7. Jury
There will be an international and national jury composed of invited reputable professionals.

These juries decide without appeal, according to their own criteria, reserving the right not to award some or all prizes available to them.

None of the members of the different juries may be associated in any way with the production of the films presented.


8. Awards
A prize will be awarded for the best work in each category for each competition, and there may be Special Mentions. The Women’s Rights and Struggles Award will also be given to a film from the entire official selection; the Women’s Voices Award will distinguish the best national film—regardless of the competition category it belongs to. This will be the third time the award will be given in partnership between MIRA Galleries and Porto Femme.

The cloud storage and transfer platform MyAirBridge offers the festival’s winning films a free annual PRO Plan that includes:

- Storage Capacity: 200 GB
- Single upload transfer limit: 50 GB
- Superior upload/download speed
- Presentation of your brand


9. Final Considerations
The submission of films in PORTO FEMME 2025 constitutes full and unreserved acceptance of the terms of these Regulations.

Any questions and omissions regarding this Regulation will be resolved by the Organization according to rules of equity and common sense.