Festival start: 14 January 2018
Festival end: 04 March 2018
Join us for the Eighth Annual Green Bay Film Festival.
GBFF festival takes place over several weeks starting mid-January and wrapping up March of 2018. Specially selected films have an opportunity to be played in the festival segment called "Films Around Town" (playing in various venues around town) leading up to a weekend event March 1-4, 2018 at St. Norbert College.
This year the festival is focusing on more networking opportunities for filmmakers over the March 1-4 weekend! More events, engagements and seminars all within walking distance of the St. Norbert college venues. We also provide the filmmaker “Green Room” where your conversation and networking continues throughout the weekend!
GBFF has a multitude of categories! We have specific category types so your film has a better opportunity to get selected. So, if you find your film fits in Animation, Children & Family, Cultural, Thriller/Horror or is a Wisconsin made film, you’ll want to be sure to select that option! GBFF always has a Short film segments, documentaries and features playing during their weekend sessions. Plus, be sure to consider submitting to GBFF's ever popular Saturday Night THRILLER & HORROR segment. This year our special Thursday night choice will be chosen from the topic “Storytelling”. Something most of your films Do!
This Year's Categories Are:
ANIMATION • CULTURAL FILMS • CHILDREN & FAMILY • DOCUMENTARIES • FEATURES • SHORTS • THRILLER & HORROR • WISCONSIN’S OWN
We hope you will attend and help us create an experience that goes beyond "watching a movie"! We connect filmmakers and audiences in a community setting! We include “talkbacks” following the films between our filmmakers and audiences and for those hot topic’s, we bring in specialists from various fields.
We delight in giving our Filmmakers extraordinary welcomes in traditional Midwest fashion. Make your Name and Film headlines to a community thirsty for talent with a thriving knowledgeable film base.
As one filmmaker said, “Green Bay is the perfect place to host a film festival. The talent is real and everyone’s doors are open.” We couldn’t agree more.
Films will compete in noted categories and be awarded a memorable trophy:
"Jury's Choice for Best Documentary" Award Trophy.
This award is shared with Documentary films in the categories of Documentaries, Children, Cultural, and Wisconsin.
"Jury's Choice for Best Short" Award Trophy.
This award is shared with short films in the categories of Children, Cultural, Shorts, Thriller/Horror & Wisconsin.
"Jury's Choice for Best Feature" Award Trophy.
This award is shared with narrative feature films in the categories of Children, Cultural, Feature, Thriller/Horror & Wisconsin
Animation Favorite of the Festival
The "Animation Favorite of the Festival" Award Trophy will be chosen based on the Audience Choice and Jury's Selection.
“Wisconsin’s Own Best of the Fest "
A Juried and Audience Choice selection for Best Wisconsin Film for Wisconsin Made film.
"Audience Choice: Favorite Documentary Film" Trophy
This award is shared with Documentary films in the categories of Cultural & Documentary.
"Audience Choice: Favorite Short Film" Trophy
This award is shared with short films in the categories of Cultural, Shorts, & Thriller/Horror.
"Audience Choice: Favorite Feature Film" Trophy
This award is shared with narrative feature films in the categories of Cultural, Feature & Thriller/Horror Films.
COMPLETE CATEGORY RULES / SUBMISSION DETAILS
PLEASE READ THE FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR MORE DETAILS
Submission Information
1.) Submissions in all categories must be received by the end of the day on September 16, 2017. Absolutely no late submissions will be considered after this date. All submissions must be received through Withoutabox, FilmFreeway, FFLive or FestHome.
2.) We must receive your entry fee prior to accepting your film for submission. Please make your payment online or you may send a check to the address below. Your fee is non-refundable.
Green Bay Film Festival
Attention: Submissions
P.O. Box 28526
Green Bay, WI 54324-8526
3.) Please be sure your Upload works successfully. We will offer a notification with an opportunity to remedy, but it will affect our screeners. If we don’t hear from you within a reasonable period of time your film will be disqualified.
4.) You may submit as many films as you like. Each film can only be submitted into one category. We do not offer reduced rates for multiple submissions. Please upload each film separately.
5.) IF MY FILM INCLUDES NON‐ENGLISH DIALOGUE, DO YOU REQUIRE ENGLISH SUBTITLES?
We ask that if your film includes non-English dialogue that you provide either English subtitles or an English dubbed version.
Notification
1.) Films selected for screening at the Festival will be notified no later than November 20, 2017. We will begin contacting filmmakers starting October 20th to verify eligibility. Should we not hear from you within one week of the notification, your film may be replaced on the schedule.
2.) Should your contact information change, please log into your account platform in which you submitted and make the changes as soon as possible. We like to follow up with filmmakers and inform them of their status. We often find that submitters use an email address that they don’t frequently use, thus it is difficult to reach them when we notify acceptances. Please use an email address that we can contact you and receive a response from you quickly.
Acceptance
1.) All attending filmmakers will be provided with two all-access passes to the 2018 GBFF, good for all screenings from January thru March and includes all seminars, events and parties.
2.) The festival will be presenting films beginning January 14th, once a week for 6 weeks at various locations. The festival ends with a final weekend March 1-4, 2018. Your film will play at least once if not twice during the festival. If it is played more than once, the first screening will be during one of the 6 weeks prior to the last weekend.
3.) CAN YOU BE PRESENT AT THE FESTIVAL?
We offer a variety of opportunities for networking, interaction and education for everyone who attends. We hope you will consider attending and we will ask if you can attend prior to committing your film to a special segment. We will be looking for films that can provide a representative at the festival. This includes the writer, producer, director, and/or cast members from the production.
4.) TALKBACKS, SEMINARS, & MARKETING
We have set up the festival to be filmmaker friendly with plenty of press, interfacing with other filmmakers, seminars, and audience interaction. We offer seminars to learn about what is going on in the industry today, to connect, network and learn. We would like to provide our audience with the opportunity to learn more about a variety of film types and filmmaking. We are including question and answer periods after the showings as well as opportunities for our viewers and sponsors to interact with filmmakers.
5.) ELIGIBILITY & FORMAT
The GBFF reserves the right to determine eligibility of any work submitted. All films submitted must have a completion date after January 1, 2016. Our jury will review your screener upload film online. Your upload type will be dependent on the platform you choose. Our exhibition format is based on the projection equipment we use. If you are selected to screen we will send you the specific requirements.
BY SUBMITTING YOUR FILM, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Terms and Conditions:
Definitions: I (or my) represents the (Filmmaker)
Film Green Bay/ Green Bay Film Festival may also be represented by (Festival, FGB/GBFF).
1. I have read, understood and complied with all eligibility requirements of the categories for which I would like this film to be considered.
2. To the best of my knowledge, all of the statements in this document are true.
FILM SUBMISSION/EXHIBITION
3. This film is not subject to litigation nor is threatened by any litigation.
4. I must clear all copyrighted material included in my film before I can publicly screen it. The Green Bay Film Festival does not check to make sure that I have cleared these materials at any point during the application process, nor will GBFF/ FGB be held responsible for showing your film with materials in my film that may infringe on copy-written materials. It is the sole responsibility of the entity submitting the film (the filmmaker or film representative) to ensure that the film has secured permission(s) from the copyright holder for any material(s) in question, whether it is music, stock footage, or any other elements that could violate an existing copyright. Quite often, rights holders offer reduced rates for festival films, so I should contact them directly to avoid any possible rights infringements.
5. I am duly authorized to submit this film to the Festival and its Competition and understand that if accepted, the Festival holds the right to screen my film for all Festival screenings, this includes the Festival’s Films Around Town (at various locations) during the 6 weeks in the latter half of January and February and the Thursday through Sunday weekend at St. Norbert College the beginning of March. If accepted my film may be shown once or twice during this Festival period from January thru March of the current Festival year.
ACCEPTANCE
6. Acceptance letters will go approximately October 22nd by email. Filmmakers are expected to verify their acceptance within 15 days (November 6th), send their press kits by November 14th and films uploaded by November 20th.
7. Once accepted, filmmakers will have a period of no more than 15 days to decline inclusion in the Festival or any and all associated promotional materials. Should the filmmaker not decline within 15 days, nor a film uploaded within the 30-day period allowed by the Festival, FGB/GBFF reserves the right to play the screening copy at the Festival.
8. Should my film be selected, I will notify GBFF of all screenings and distribution that will be taking place prior to my film playing at the Festival. I understand that should the Festival determine that those screenings and distribution interfere with the Festival’s ability to draw an audience, the GBFF may request that my film will be withdrawn.
9. The Festival does not ask a printed disc of my film. I understand that should I send GBFF/ FGB a disc, they are not responsible for any type of damage to or loss of the print during screenings, at any other time during the course of the Festival, while the film is in the Festival's possession or while en route to or from the Festival, and I release GBFF/ FGB from any and all liabilities regarding damage to or loss of the print while en route to/from the Festival or while it is in their possession.
10. I understand that should I send a disc to the Festival that the Festival will not return my film to me.
PROMOTIONAL
11. Should my film be accepted, a trailer will be requested for non-commercial promotional purposes. The Festival may extract clips from my film or use submitted images for Festival promotional purposes only, during the sales and promotional period in which the Festival plays my film.
12. I am aware Festival may provide critics an opportunity to review films prior to the Festival.
ATTENDANCE & AWARDS
13. The Festival highly recommends your attendance at the Festival. Should the Festival release any information (such as nominations or winners) prior to the festival, and/or you are contacted with regard to this information, you will be required to provide information of who will be accepting this award.
14. In the event the designated party (named above) is unable to attend the awards ceremony; I understand that the director and/or producer of the film as listed in the credits of the film may accept any and all awards in their stead.
15. If at the Festival, there is not a representative to accept the award, the Festival reserves the right to retain any trophy, plaque or award item that incurs cost to the Festival for delivery to the Filmmaker or Film representative. The Film or Filmmaker will receive the appropriate laurels for the award which can be emailed at no cost.
Animation
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
A lively or excited quality. A way of making a movie by using a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of objects (such as puppets or models) that are slightly different from one another and that when viewed quickly one after another create the appearance of movement. We love this definition!
*This Category competes for the Juried & Audience Choice combined Animation Favorite of the Festival Award.
Children/Family
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
We offer a special opportunity for families to introduce their children to independent films. If your story is directed to entertain Children, then this category is perfect for you. Please be sure that the material is PG appropriate. Films can be any length but should engage the attention span of children.
*This Category competes in Juried selection- Best Short, Best Narrative Feature or Best Documentary Award depending on the length and subject matter of the film.
Documentaries
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
A "creative treatment of actuality". A nonfictional film intended to document some aspect of reality, to instruction or maintain a historical record. Documentaries can be any length and originate from any country. If your documentary tells a story about a specific “culture” please submit under “Cultural Films” for a better opportunity to be selected.
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice - Best Documentary Award.
Narrative Features
Short and Feature Films >45'
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
We are accepting feature films for consideration with a running time of 45 minutes or longer from any country. We will be playing a variety of features and hope to give our audiences a well-rounded selection! Features will be playing throughout the festival with one selection kicking off on opening night. If your film is a Children & Family PG oriented film, Animation, Wisconsin made, Documentary, Cultural or Thriller/Horror, please be sure to submit in that category for a better opportunity for selection.
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice - Best Narrative Feature.
Cultural Films
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
GBFF supports and encourages films that share stories about different cultures. Our previous Native American category has now expanded to include all cultures. Please consider entering into this category. Our viewers love the opportunity to see that extraordinary view into the lives outside our own. Your film should be a real depiction about the lives and situations within another culture.
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice - Best Short, Best Narrative Feature or Best Documentary Award depending on the length and subject matter of the film.
Shorts
Short Films >1' 44'<
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
We are accepting short films of all genres for consideration with a running time of no more than 45 minutes. Films can be from any country. Shorts will be playing throughout the festival. If your short is a Children & Family PG oriented film, Animation, Wisconsin made, Documentary, Cultural, or Thriller/Horror, please be sure to submit in the suitable category.
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice - Best Short Award.
Thriller & Horror
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
Our Saturday night Thriller /Horror films have become a traditional event. If your film fits in this category be sure to sign up here!
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice - Best Short, Best Narrative Feature Award depending on the length of the film.
Wisconsin’s Own
Short and Feature Films
Fee-8%
Early12$11.04$
30 Jun 17
Standard15$13.8$
13 Aug 17
Late25$23$
02 Sep 17
Extended35$32.2$
16 Sep 17
Submissions deadline
16 Sep 17
Save up
1.2$
Submit
As part of our mission to encourage & support local filmmakers, we are looking for films made in Wisconsin and/or films made by Wisconsin filmmakers. These can be features or shorts of any genre. If you don’t put your film under this category, we won’t be able to give you the special consideration we like to offer Wisconsin’s talent! If your film is a Thriller or Horror film, we ask that you submit in the Thriller/Horror category for our special Saturday night event.
*This Category competes in Juried and Audience Choice -– Wisconsin’s Own Best of the Fest Award.
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