Festival Internacional del Cortometraje Manuel Trujillo Durán MTD (17)

Festival start: 30 April 2024      Festival end: 04 May 2024

Backed by the prestigious University of Zulia, we are the longest-running short film festival in Venezuela, organised by the Cine Club Universitario de Maracaibo since 1981, in turn the first to be established in the country, in 1962, prior to the creation of the National Film Archive of Venezuela (1966).

The name of the festival was chosen because of the historical importance of the pioneer Manuel Trujillo Durán for the development of the production and diffusion of cinema in Venezuela, who only 13 months after the projections made by the Lumière brothers in Paris in December 1895, made possible the exhibition on 28 January 1897 at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo, of two of his films, an event recognised as the first cinematographic projections in the country.

HISTORY:
The origins of the FMTFD date back to the project drawn up by the professors of the University of Zulia: Gabriel Arriechi, Fernando Perdomo and Ricardo Ball, who with the unconditional support of Sergio Antillano, Rosa María Salom and Rafael Araujo organised the first edition, which took place from 28 to 31 January 1981 in various cultural spaces in Maracaibo.

TODAY:
Since its 15th edition in 2020, the festival has opened its doors to works and filmmakers from all over the world.

The Festival will grant the following Main Prizes by means of a statuette and diploma: Best Fiction Short Film; Best Documentary Short Film; Best Animated Short Film; Best Opera Prima, Best Foreign Short Film, Best Ecological Short Film.

The Festival will also award, by means of recognition diplomas, prizes in the following areas, both in the National Competition and in the International Competition: Best Script; Best Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Sound; Best Editing; Best Music; Best Actor; Best Actress; Best Art Direction; Best Camera; Best Special Effects; Best Human Rights Short Film; Best Student Short Film.

Regulations of the 17th International Short Film Festival "Manuel Trujillo Durán" Maracaibo. Venezuela

1. The 17th edition of the FMTD will be held in the city of Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela, from April 30th to May 4th, 2024. It is a biennial competitive event aimed at the promotion and valorisation of fiction, documentary, animation or hybrid short films, produced in any format or medium, with a maximum duration of 20 minutes and which have been completed after January 2022. Works submitted in previous editions of the Festival will not be considered.

2. The Festival will have two Competitive Sections, the National Competition, only available for Venezuelan short films or works made in co-production with Venezuela; and the International Competition, open to filmmakers and works from all over the world.

3. For the purposes of the Festival, national short films are considered to be those works which, fulfilling the conditions established in the first provision of these Rules, have been totally or partially shot in Venezuela, with Venezuelan Director and Scriptwriter or legal residents in the country. Likewise, for the purposes of the Festival, national short films are those which have been shot entirely outside Venezuela, provided that the Director and Scriptwriter are of Venezuelan nationality.

4. Short films with dialogue in a language other than Spanish must have Spanish subtitles in order to be considered by the selection committee, otherwise they will be disqualified from consideration. In case of being admitted to the Competition, short films with dialogue in a language other than Spanish must submit a screening file with embedded Spanish subtitles.

5. Each author may enter a maximum of 2 works.

6. The Selection Committee will choose among all the short films submitted those that will be part of the competitive sections. The results will be communicated to the applicants by the Festival and announced on the Festival website and through the media and social networks no later than April 10th, 2024.

7. The Festival will contact all those selected to request the delivery of the screening file, which must comply with the following characteristics: FORMAT: .mp4. CODEC: H264. RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 (minimum). Total file weight: 3.5 GB (maximum). In the case of films spoken in a language other than Spanish, the screening file must have embedded Spanish subtitles. The deadline for submitting screening files to the Festival is 5 April 2024.

8. The Festival may use fragments of the selected works (maximum 1 minute) to promote the festival and the selected short films.

9. Entries can be submitted from January 18th to March 18th 2024. Entries can only be submitted online through the platform www.festhome.com. The entry fee for the Festival will be US $ 8 until February 18 and US $ 12 until March 18. Short films by Venezuelan directors will not pay an entry fee.

10. Applicants must include a link to the screener of the film (complying with the conditions established in clause 4 of these rules), synopsis, technical and artistic information, poster of the short film, at least two (2) stills and two (2) photographs of the director as part of the materials available on the submission platform.

11. Entering the Festival will give the right to obtain a digital certificate issued by the Festival certifying the inclusion of the film in the official selection of the FMTD, in case it is selected.

12. The decisions of the jury will be final and its deliberations confidential. A written record of the decisions will be provided and signed by all members of the jury. The verdict will be announced exclusively at the prize-giving ceremony.

13. The presentation of the films admitted to the Festival will be in accordance with the official programme prepared by the Festival.

14. For the purposes of the screening of the selected films by the MTD Festival, the authorisation of the authors or their representatives is implicit, without there being any contractual obligation on the part of the organisation of the MTD Festival with the author, material or intellectual of the work, or any other representative company of any kind.

15. The Festival will award the following Main prizes by means of a statuette and diploma: Best Fiction Short Film; Best Documentary Short Film; Best Animated Short Film; Best Opera Prima, Best Foreign Short Film, Best Ecological Short Film.

16. The Festival will also award, by means of recognition diplomas, prizes in the following areas, both in the National Competition and in the International Competition: Best Script; Best Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Sound; Best Editing; Best Music; Best Actor; Best Actress; Best Art Direction; Best Camera; Best Special Effects; Best Human Rights Short Film; Best Student Short Film.

17. The films awarded by the Jury will include in the initial or closing credits, the reference of the prize or special mention obtained from the Festival.

18. The copies of the films awarded by the jury will become the patrimony of the Universidad del Zulia, and the author's rights will be protected.

19. The authors, scriptwriter, director, will not participate if for any reason they belong to the team and/or Organising Committee of the Festival, or if they are members of the working, administrative or directive staff of the Audiovisual Department of the Culture Department of Universidad del Zulia (Zulia University), the organism where this Festival was created from its origin.

20. The entry to the Festival implies the full acceptance of these Rules.