In Motion Fest ()

Festival start: 24 October 2024      Festival end: 26 October 2024

In Motion Fest has become one of the most important creative industries events in Mexico. It has filled its physical and virtual venues with industry exhibitors, workshops, rallies, exhibitions, and networking events.

Thanks to these factors, the introduction of a short film competition has become a natural progression, which would help to promote the work of enthusiastic young filmmakers from Mexico and around the world.

Audience Award - Animation
Audience Award - Live Action
Best Live Action Short
Best Animated Short
Best Live Action Director
Best Animation Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Voice Acting Performance
Best Live Action Art Design
Best Animation Art Design
Best Live Action Screenplay
Best Animation Screenplay
Best Live Action Cinematography
Best Animation Cinematography
Best Music

• Two categories, with 10 to 13 selected in each category, based on overall quality.

Animated Short
Live Action Short
Guidelines:

Duration Animated: 5 - 10 min.
Duration Live Action: 5 - 10 min.

There will be a jury that will judge the projects based on technical quality, narrative, and ideology, and will assign winners.

The short films will be screened over two days, and the awards will be presented at the end. A schedule with dates and screening times will be provided.

There is no cost to submit the short films, and there is no cost for admission on the screening days.

Any type of animation is welcome.

Any project that combines animation with live action will be considered for the live action category only.

The announcement of the selected films will be made one month before the festival, on April 16, 2024.

By submitting the project, applicants are accepting to be selected, announced, and screened by the festival according to the guidelines.

The selected filmmakers agree to have the poster of their project, provided basic information, and the filmmaker's biography along with an image published on social media and websites.

The festival reserves the right to select the number of submitted short films it deems appropriate for each category. The festival also reserves the right to reject documentary shorts, music videos, pornographic content, or commercial advertisements.

Technical Specifications:

Submissions must be in digital format. They should be in Full HD quality or higher, H.264 compression, MPEG-4 or MP4 formats, and AAC audio codec. Submissions must be made through FestHome. Submissions in languages other than Spanish must be subtitled in Spanish. Any project not spoken in Spanish without subtitles will be discarded.

Limitations:
Only short films completed between January 2021 and April 2024 are eligible. If they were completed before this period, they are not eligible. If they have been previously screened at another festival, on a platform, VOD, TV, or streaming, they are still eligible for the festival as long as the earliest premiere date is not before January 1, 2022.

Copyright:
If the short film contains content created by third parties, such as music, the rights for its use must be included in the submission. If not, the festival will contact the creator, who will have 72 hours to provide the required information. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.

Filmmakers retain 100% ownership of their projects, and the festival acquires no rights other than those mentioned here.

Awards:
The awards ceremony will serve as the closing event, held during the evening of the festival's last day. The winners will be selected by a jury presided over by a president. The jury's decisions are final and cannot be changed under any circumstances.

Awards (16):

Audience Award - Animation
Audience Award - Live Action
Best Live Action Short
Best Animated Short
Best Live Action Director
Best Animation Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Voice Acting Performance
Best Live Action Art Design
Best Animation Art Design
Best Live Action Screenplay
Best Animation Screenplay
Best Live Action Cinematography
Best Animation Cinematography
Best Music
Best Actor and Actress are restricted to the Live Action category. Best Voice Acting Performance is restricted to the Animation category. Best Music is the only category where both categories compete. The rest of the awards are specific to their respective categories.

If winners are unable to attend, they have the option to send a pre-recorded video of their acceptance speech to be screened during the ceremony. If the speech is in a language other than English or Spanish, it must be subtitled in one of these two languages. Alternatively, winners can inform the festival if someone else will receive the award on their behalf. If it's not possible to send someone to collect the award in person, it may be shipped at the participant's expense. After being contacted by the festival to accept an award, the winning participant should refrain from publicly announcing their acceptance until the ceremony to maintain fairness among other participants.

The Audience Award is calculated based on audience voting at the end of each screening. The short film is rated on a scale of 6 to 10. The rating is then weighted by the number of viewers present at that screening, resulting in a final rating based on the rest of the screenings for that short film.

There are no ties in any category, and a single short film can win a maximum of three awards. If a short film wins two or three awards, no other short film can win more than one award. This rule applies to each category (animation, live action).

The winners will have a photoshoot with their award at the end of the ceremony.

The winners will be presented after the awards ceremony.

*Minor logistical changes may occur in the screenings as the festival date approaches.