Norwich Film Festival (0)

Festival start: 07 November 2018      Festival end: 19 November 2018

The Norwich Film Festival was recently chosen by The Metro as one of "the top UK film festivals you need to know about", and in 2017 became a BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) qualifying short film festival.

We have been running since 2009 and over the years we have hosted over 75 events and screened over 500 films to the public.

The Norwich Film Festival has an amazing array of celebrity patrons including Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Olivia Colman, Julian Jarrold, Brian Cox & John Collee. We also work hard to recruit industry judges (see below) who are all eager to watch our nominated films.

Our 2018 film judges will only view the NOMINATED Films selected and the Norwich Film Festival will then allocate which film categories that judges will watch.

The 2018 film judges are (subject to work commitments):

- Alfred Molina (World Famous Actor)
- Denise Parkinson (Director of Entertainment at the Telegraph)
- Gavin Humphries (BAFTA nominated and Cannes winning shorts producer)
- Andrea Gibb (BAFTA Nominated Screenwriter)
- Matt Wilkinson (Award Nominated Producer)
- Emma Freud (Script Editor & Associate Producer)
- Eddy Joseph (Two time BAFTA winning Sound Editor)
- Mark Everson (Award winning Editor)
- Ferne Pearlstein (Award winning Director, Cinematography & Producer)
- Andrew Deane (Emmy Winning Producer and Managing Partner at Industry Entertainment)
- Steven Hall (DOP and BAFTA Judge)

As well as screening the selected films to the public, the winning films will also receive an award, a certificate, a cash prize, and a selection of other industry related prizes.
Our social media gained well over 2 million impressions on Twitter alone last year, and we will promote your film to a global audience.

Thanks to the huge success of our 2017 festival, in no small part down to the generous support of the Norwich audiences and filmmakers around the world, we are thrilled to announce that we are in a fortunate position to increase our cash prizes! We aim to reinvest as much as we can back into the festival to help support those who have supported us, and that means that this year we have QUADRUPLED our prize fund!

Best Short Film - £1000
Best Animated Film - £1000
Best Student Film - £1000
Best Documentary Film - £1000
Best East Anglian Film - £1000

We also have a great selection of filmmaking software and industry perks which will be awarded to our short filmmaking winning category. This list of prizes includes:

- A copy of Final Draft 9 (worth £162)
- A Freelancer premium membership for one year with Production Base (worth £174)
- A copy of Vegas Pro (worth £449)
- A VideoMic Pro+ donated by Rode Microphones (worth £224)
- One Year Subscription to MUBI (worth £78)
- A one year subscription to iPitch.TV (Worth £220)
- A copy of Lightworks Pro (worth £249) This prize will be awarded to our Best Documentary Winner.

Please read the following guidelines carefully. Due to the volume of entries we receive, it is essential that films be submitted in the format specified below.

Festival Dates
7-19 November 2018 (TBC)

Submission Deadlines
Submissions will be accepted from 15 Jan 2018. Best prices will be offered to those submitting before our early-bird submission deadline of 11 Feb 2018. The very latest we will accept submissions is 23:59 on 15 July 2018 - this does come with a higher submission fee.
• Early-bird - (15 Jan – 11 Feb)
• Regular - (12 Feb – 24 June)
• Late - (25 June – 8 July)
• Extended - (9 July – 18 July)

Categories
Awards will be given to the best film in each of these categories:
• Short Film
• Animated Film
• Student Film
• Documentary Film
• East Anglian Film (additional rules apply)
(All of the above must be 25 minutes or less)
• One Minute Movie (exactly 60 seconds long, including titles and credits)

Submission Format
• Films will be accepted via our online portals of Festhome.com. It uses Secure Online Screeners, and this is our only method of submission.
• No postal submissions will be accepted.
• Refunds will not be offered if you fail to adhere to these rules.

Press and Publicity
Should your film be accepted we will require digital images and other press/publicity materials to help us promote your film and the festival at large. Please do not, however, send hard copies as we will be unable to store them at the Festival office due to the high volume of submissions we receive. Any hard copies sent prior to acceptance will be recycled.
Both online portals allow digital press packs to be uploaded with submission, and we strongly recommend you do this to avoid missing out later. We recommend you include at least the following:
• Your film,
• A trailer,
• A poster (300dpi),
• A 100 word synopsis of your film,
• At least 3 stills from the film (at least 800px wide and 300dpi),
• A director’s statement (max 500 words),
• At least 5 photos of the director/crew/behind the scenes (at least 800px wide and 300dpi).
The more (digital) information you include with your submission, the more we can promote your film once accepted into the festival.

Submission Eligibility
• Films preferably would not have been released in the UK in any format, including online, or shown on UK television prior to the Festival dates. This does not include other festival screenings.
• Films completed after January 2016 are eligible for submission.
• All foreign language films must be subtitled in English (the costs of which are to be covered by the applicant).
• All rights, permissions and clearances must be obtained prior to submission and applicants must ensure that they have the right to submit the work with regards to third parties connected to the production of the film in question. By entering your work, you agree to this and the responsibilities involved. The Norwich Film Festival assumes no responsibility for violation of copyright law.
Please note that submission fees will not be refunded if your film does not meet these conditions.

Submission Fees
The Norwich Film Festival runs on an extremely limited budget. We regret that, owing to the large number of submissions we receive, we must charge a small fee to cover our administrative costs, as well as the costs of running the festival each year:
• Early bird
For films received as per the dates above, the entry fee for early bird submissions is £20/$25. Student entries will be charged at £10/$15 (proof required).
• Regular
For films received as per the dates above, the entry fee for regular submissions is £30/$40. Student entries will be charged at £20/$30 (proof required).
• Late
For films received as per the dates above, the entry fee for late submissions is £45/$60. Student entries will be charged at £30/$45 (proof required).
• Extended Deadline
For films received as per the dates above, the entry fee is £55/$75. Student entries will be charged at £40/$60 (proof required).
We are pleased to say that these fees have not been raised from last year.

There is a discount for those films that are eligible for the Best East Anglian Film (those films made in Norfolk, Suffolk, or Cambridgeshire). These films will cost only £10/$15 during the Early-bird deadline, and £15/$25 for the remainder of the submissions window.
Valid proof of status will be required for student submissions and East Anglian submissions in order to be moved from pending to in consideration.
We are unable to waive fees under any circumstances so please do not contact us to request that we make an exception, as we won’t be able to help you.

Methods of Payment
Entries must be made through Festhome. If, for some reason, you are unable to pay through these sites, we may accept Paypal payments, made to sales@norwichfilmfestival.co.uk.
Please note, if you intend to pay online, Paypal charges 3.4% per transaction, so please add a £1.50 transaction fee to any submissions sent via this method.
Submissions will not be considered until payment is received in full.

Shipping
If requested, any publicity materials should be sent to:
NFF Submissions Team
17 Barbastelle Crescent
Hethersett
Norwich
NR9 3FR

The entrant must pay all shipping and postage costs incurred in submitting work to us. The Festival will not accept Cash on Delivery shipments and will not absorb any fees incurred in customs. Submission packages from outside the UK must be labelled 'No commercial value - for cultural purposes only' on any customs label and for customs purposes must be given a value of no more than US$10, £10 Sterling or 10 euro.
Please remember to put the tracking/submission number on the envelope.

Receipt of Submission
Once you have submitted your film online, please check your account to find out if the Festival has received your submission.

Selection
Selection will be carried out by the Norwich Film Festival team. No correspondence will be entered into regarding the selection process and the decision of the Festival Directors are final. We aim to inform successful applicants by the beginning of September at the latest. Unfortunately, due to the volume of entries, we will be unable to offer individual feedback or enter into any discussion about your work. We simply don’t have the time.
Successful submissions will be listed on our website (www.norwichfilmfestival.co.uk) and social media platforms, and successful applicants will be notified by email or over the phone. Please therefore make sure that we can reach you in the months of August and September so that we can confirm your film's inclusion in the Festival programme.
Please note that only successful applicants will be notified personally. If we are unable to contact you during this period your film may be removed from the Festival line up.

Festival Screenings and Scheduling
All screenings during the Festival period will take place at the discretion of the Festival. We reserve the right to make changes to the advertised schedule at any time for any reason and will not accept liability for any costs incurred as a result of such changes.
No film may be withdrawn from the Norwich Film Festival programme by its submitter after its selection / participation has been confirmed.
The Festival is not able to cover the costs of any format transfers or subtitling. Digital screening copies of selected titles (if requested) must be received by the Festival by 9 September 2018. Please use the following format only:
• H264, 1920 x 1080, 48 kHz 24-bit audio, .mov wrapper.
• Export using square pixels.
• Files should not exceed 4GB.
• Dropbox is our preferred delivery method as it minimises failed downloads. Please send to submissions@norwichfilmfestival.co.uk.

Copyrights and clearances
All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity. If the film contains any material or elements that are not owned by the entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to the submission of the film, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit use and exploitation of the film by Norwich Film Festival in the manner set forth in the official rules without additional compensation, including, without limitation, location releases for footage shot at any location; name, voice and likeness releases for any person whose name, voice and/or likeness appears in the film (other than entrant); releases for the use of any props, set dressings and other materials used in the film; releases from any individuals participating in the production of the film and releases for any other audio and/or audio-visual materials not wholly owned by entrant, which, in each case, are used in the film (collectively the “Clearances”). If any person(s) appearing in any film is (are) under the age of majority in their place of residence, the signature of a parent of legal guardian is required with each release. All signatures must be original.

Our rights
Norwich Film Festival reserves the right, at any point during the competition, in its sole and unfettered discretion, to disqualify and remove any film that potentially or actually infringes any third party’s copyright(s).
At any time during the Competition, Norwich Film Festival reserves the right, in its sole and unfettered discretion, to disqualify and remove any film that it believes does not fall within the entry requirements in these official rules.
Norwich Film Festival reserves the right, in its sole and unfettered discretion, to verify at anytime during the Competition that all necessary Clearances relating to any film have been obtained. If we believe, in our sole and unfettered discretion, that an entrant has failed to obtain any of the necessary Clearances relating to the entrant’s film, the entrant’s film will be disqualified and removed.
By participating in this Competition, entrants agree that during the Competition Period, Norwich Film Festival and its sponsors and partners are authorized to display the films on the Norwich Film Festival website and on any and all other media in connection with the Competition. By participating in the Competition, entrants grant permission to Norwich Film Festival to use their names, likenesses, photographs, voices, sounds and/or biographical information and films in connection with the Competition and for any and all advertising, publicity and promotional purposes relating to the Competition without additional compensation, unless prohibited bylaw. This will extend to cover the period used to promote the next festival as well.
As a condition of entering the Festival, each entrant grants Norwich Film Festival: i) the right to display their film, in whole or in part, on the Norwich Film Festival website and/or on any websites owned or operated by or on behalf of Norwich Film Festival or any of its related or affiliated companies, and on any website owned or operated by or on behalf of Norwich Film Festival; ii) the right to use their film to create trailers, either for individual films or as a collection of films; and/or (iii) the right, if his/her film is selected, to display the film on any website owned or operated by or on behalf of Norwich Film Festival following completion of the Competition Period. Entrants will be fully credited where possible, and retain sole ownership of their work

Limitation of Liability
By entering into this Contest, entrants hereby release and discharge Norwich Film Festival and its respective affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents, representatives, independent contractors, officers, employees and directors from and against any and all claims, liabilities, costs, damages and expenses of any kind arising out of or relating to their participation in this Contest, their use or acceptance of any prize, the use by Norwich Film Festival of any films submitted by entrants and/or any actions or decisions of Norwich Film Festival in connection with the conduct and administration of this Contest. Entrants hereby waive any right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in connection with any claim against Norwich Film Festival, any of the Co-Sponsors, or any of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents, representatives, independent contractors, officers, employees and directors.

Please be aware that, due to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to enter into personal correspondence about individual submissions.

Thank you for your interest in submitting to the Norwich Film