S.O.F.A (Shout Out For Animals) Film Festival (3)

Festival start: 03 September 2020      Festival end: 04 October 2020

The S.O.F.A (Shout Out For Animals) Film Festival, Cyprus showcases online (and live throughout the year) local and international films relating to animals, animal welfare, conservation and the environment as part of the ELAFI Animal Welfare Awards annual events.

We also collaborate with producers and production companies to help promote films that deserve to be seen and, where possible, push their Kickstarter Fundraising initiative with the agreement that we are allowed to screen the film when it is finished.

This unique festival runs an online 2 day festival plus chooses films submitted for live screenings throughout the year. The live screenings are used for fundraisers for local rescue, animal welfare and environment projects and the recipient organisation is chosen depending on the subject of the film.

After the festival screenings film viewers will be able to vote for their favourite film/s via SurveyMonkey. The winner will receive an official certificate from the ELAFI Animal Welfare Awards and be mentioned in the following year's official program with a photograph, bio and film poster as well as a permanent link to their social media on the award and festival website.

The Certificate Categories for 2019 are: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Overall Film.

Unfortunately the Festival and Awards are not able to fund, at this time, any film-makers wishing to attend the Awards ceremony to collect their certificate. We hope to be able to do this in future years.

ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for consideration:
1. Entrants must fully comply with these Entry Rules & Regulations, including all deadlines, entry material and other requirements.

2. Films may only be submitted online - no hard copy, DVD or Blu-Ray submissions will be accepted (unless requested by the festival for live screenings).

3. Films should have either English or Greek subtitles if the main language is not English.

4. Submitted films should be original creations fully owned by the filmmaker or filmmakers. Filmmakers are responsible for securing clearances or legal permission for the use of any copyrighted musical, cinematic, or literary materials. By submitting your film, you confirm that you own 100% of the rights to the work. If the work's copyright is held by more than one person, the submitter must have the written consent of all other owners prior to submitting.

5. No works in progress will be accepted unless agreed in writing beforehand or the project is invited by the Festival.

6. S.O.F.A. Film Festival has no premiere requirements; films submitted to other festivals are still eligible for submission. If you do wish us to hold a premiere screening, please write to us PRIOR to submitting your film to: elafianimalwelfareawards@gmail.com

7. Filmmakers may submit more than one project. However, a separate entry fee is required for each submission.


TERMS OF USE
By submitting your project via Festhome.com to S.O.F.A. Film Festival you hereby agree to be legally bound by the following Terms and Conditions:

1. S.O.F.A. Film Festival is not responsible for the streaming quality of online submissions uploaded through Festhome. If your entry is unable to be watched by our administrators due to issues with your upload, your film will be disqualified and no refund will be made. You are free to include an additional private link through Vimeo or YouTube where your film can be viewed by emailing us at elafianimalwelfareawards@gmail.com .

2. Films must have been completed no earlier than January 1, 2009.

3. S.O.F.A. Film Festival does not, under any circumstances, pay screening fees. By submitting your film, you are agreeing to screen your film online without a screening fee or any other compensation if selected. The same applies if your film is chosen to have a live screening.

4. Live screenings will be held at a separate date to the online festival screenings. Details will be discussed by e-mail with the entrant.

5. Entry fees must be paid in EUROs as required by Festhome and are non-refundable unless the Festival is cancelled. Please not that we do NOT waive entry fees. We understand the costs involved in film making and that you are hopefully submitting to many festivals so we have kept our fees as low as possible.

6. All entries will be acknowledged by email or through the Festhome communication system.

7. If for some reason the Festival determines that a submission no longer meets all of the criteria listed after acceptance, the submission will be designated ineligible and no refund will be issued.

8. Selection of an entry to S.O.F.A. Film Festival grants the Festival the right to screen your trailer and use your name, poster (with our screening date added) and likeness for promotional purposes without compensation. Filmmakers are responsible for securing clearances or legal permission for the use of any copyrighted musical, cinematic, or literary materials.

9. Submission of an entry to the Festival does not guarantee that a work will be shown. S.O.F.A. Film Festival reserves the right to refuse to screen any film online or live.

10. All rights to the submitted material remain with the entrant. The Festival administrators DO NOT claim any rights to the material submitted to the competition.

11. The entrant will promote S.O.F.A Film Festival and their screening on their social media and websites and tag the Festival using the #shoutoutforanimals. If their entry wins an ELAFI Certificate they agree to post a photo with the certificate once it has been received.

12. All entrants agree to be included in the public voting for the best film in each category and understand that the administrators cannot and will not influence the final outcome in any way. The voting forms will be handled on the SurveyMonkey platform.

ENTRY MATERIALS
1. All entries must be submitted online via Festhome. Filmmakers must complete the online registration form in full prior to submission.

2. Once your film has been accepted by S.O.F.A Film Festival a trailer of your film and a poster must be sent to the administrator within 3 days. Details will be given in the acceptance communication on August 31st 2019.

3. We shall only be replying to entries that have been accepted to the current year's Festival.

MULTIPLE ENTRIES
Each entered film must be submitted separately and pay a separate submission fee.

SELECTED FILMS
1. Selected films will be notified via email using the information provided on the submitted entry form. Changes in the entrant’s contact information may be made by contacting the festival at elafianimalwelfareawards@gmail.com .

2. Selected films wishing to be screened on our website must provide S.O.F.A with a link or embed code from YouTube or Vimeo (or similar reliable video presentation platform).

3. Entrant must be 18 years of age or older. (Entrants between the ages of 13 to 18 may enter with a written letter of consent from a legal guardian.)