MovieZone Short Film Festival ()

Festival start: 01 August 2021      Festival end: 31 August 2021

The MovieZone Short Film Festival is a new festival jointly hosted and organized by the MovieZone application and Movie View magazine. It is open to short films of all genres from around the world, aiming to promote original and entertaining short films and make them available to the general public in China.

It will take place online via the MovieZone application, but all the short films will be geo-blocked to allow only Chinese audience to watch them. There is no submission fee to enter films.

The Festival will be divided into two main categories:
The Panorama section will include “Europe-Asia Visions”, “Student Perspectives”, “Best of the Best”, “Signature Collection”, “MovieZone Spotlight”, and will be continuously uploaded during the festival, allowing audiences to watch 100+ acclaimed international short films.

Films in competition will be competing for five money prizes: Best Short Film, Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Creativity and Audience Award. A jury of international and domestic professional filmmakers will award them.

Best Short Film：8000 USD and certificate
Jury Prize: 4000 USD and certificate
Best Director: 1000 USD and certificate
Best Creativity: 1000 USD and certificate
Audience Award: 1000 USD and certificate

*Prize amount is subject to tax regulations of the People’s Republic of China.

ARTICLE 1 | OVERVIEW
MovieZone Short Film Festival is a new film festival organized and hosted by MovieZone group with its two business segments, MovieZone application and Movie View magazine. It is open to short films of all genres from all over the world, aiming to bring original and entertaining short films to the general public in China.

It will take place online via the MovieZone application, but all the short films will be geo-blocked to allow only Chinese audience to watch them.

The Festival will be divided into two main categories：Panorama and Films in Competition. The Competition of the Festival will be held from 1st to 31st August 2021.

ARTICLE 2 | AWARDS
Best Short Film：8000 USD and certificate
Jury Prize: 4000 USD and certificate
Best Director: 1000 USD and certificate
Best Creativity: 1000 USD and certificate
Audience Award: 1000 USD and certificate
*Prize amount is subject to tax regulations of the People’s Republic of China.

ARTICLE 3 | SUBMISSION ELIGIBILITY
Only films that meet the following criteria are eligible for selection:
 All categories: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Experimental;
 Films that do not exceed 40 minutes in length (including ending credits);
 Films that were completed after 1st July 2018;
 Films that have not publicly exhibited or streamed online in China mainland;
 Films including those in English that provide with English or Chinese subtitles.

ARTICLE 4 | SUBMISSION OF FILMS
4.1 In order to be eligible for the selection, the submitters must, no later than 1st June, 2021, 24:00 (UTC+8):
 Complete the online submission on Festhome (www.festhome.com);
 Submit preview screener through a link (formats allowed: MOV or MP4; at least
1920*1080; the file size must not exceed 5GB); or send a copy of the film to the Festival at the address below:

MovieZone Short Film Festival Organizing Committee
Room 206, Buiding A, Maolong Cultural and Creative Park, Chaoyang District,
Beijing 100024, China
Contact: +86 18868814814

 If you submit an online screener, it must be valid (with the same password) until 31th July, 2021;
 If you send a DVD or USB, the cost of sending the package will be paid by the submitter. The Festival reserves the right to refuse any shipments entailing additional costs. DVDs and USBs sent for pre-selection will not be returned. The Festival accepts no responsibility for damage suffered during delivery of the DVD to the Festival. Please send the package with the following customs declaration: “No commercial value, for cultural purposes only”;
 Send a preview screener subtitled in English;
 Send a preview screener in the original version;
 If you want to add a watermark, must be “MovieZone SFF Preview”.

4.2 No Submission Fee is required.

4.3 The Festival has the right to reject any film that does not meet all or part of the above requirements, as well as any film that does not meet China’s laws or related cultural policies.

ARTICLE 5 | SELECTION
5.1 The films for the Competition section will be selected by the festival program team and the preliminary jury.

5.2 The list of selected films will be notified around the middle of July, 2021 on the festival website (https://mzsff.moviezone.com.cn); submitters will be notified individually as well.

5.3 Selected films will receive an Entry form to be duly completed. Receipt of the form by the Festival implies the legal acceptance of the invitation by all concerned and will be considered definitive and irrevocable.

5.4 Selected films will be exclusively available for streaming on the MovieZone application.

5.5 The program team may also select submitted films for the Festival’s Panorama section.

5.6 The Festival will consider for inclusion all eligible films that have been submitted by the above deadline and in accordance with these terms and conditions. The Festival reserves the right to consider for inclusion films received at any time and through any means, channel or process, including means, channels or processes other than those outlined in these terms and conditions.

ARTICLE 6 |SCREENING COPIES
6.1 The screening copies’ specifications:
Video Files: MP4;
Aspect Ratio: 1920*1080;
Video Coding: H264;
Audio Format Settings: Audio Codec: ACC; Sample Rate: 48000HZ; Channels: Stereo
* When the aspect ratio is smaller than 1920*1080 but larger than 1280*720, use black border to make frames fit with 1920*1080; if frame aspect ratio larger than 1920*1080, scale it down to 1920*1080, and use black border to fit into 1920*1080. The aspect ratio of the exported film should always be 1920*1080.

6.2 In case of other screening formats: screening may exceptionally be possible only upon agreement between submitters and the Festival.

6.3 The screening copies can be sent either by digital platforms or delivery (The Festival will not pay for the delivery).

ARTICLE 7 | PUBLICATION AUTHORIZATION
7.1 Selected films’ submitted materials (including synopsis, stills, posters, etc.) can be used for the Festival’s official website, catalogues, publicity, events, ceremonies and programs.

7.2 Excerpts from selected films can be used for the festival publicity. The total duration of the film excerpts (EPK clips) is within 30 seconds.

ARTICLE 8| SCREENING AFTER THE FESTIVAL
The festival has a right to hold additional screenings of the selected films and awarded films only within film events hosted by the Festival. In this case, the Festival will get permission from the copyright holders in advance.

ARTICLE 9 |OTHERS
9.1 Due to force majeure, the festival schedule and screening method may be changed. In this case, the Festival will notify the submitters. If any changes occur after the selection of the competition is confirmed, the Festival shall inform the copyright holders or distributors of the contents for consultation.

9.2 It is assumed that regulations are in force once the copyright holders (directors, film distributors, agents or producers) submit their films and register their films’ information via the online submission platforms. Submitters must clear all copyrights related to the screening and will take full responsibility for any copyright issues that may occur. Also, if a dispute arises with an awarded film due to unresolved copyright issues, the festival has the right to cancel the award.

9.3 The Festival reserves all rights to decide upon matters under the agreement with the submitters which are not discussed in the above regulations pursuant to the relevant laws, regulations and rules.