Film Festival Submission Rules and Terms of Agreement
EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS (ECA)
The film festival works under the Cinematography Awards Foundation, an association of film festivals which highlight excellence in cinematography. It is legally established and is managed by film industry professionals.
A body supervising the foundation: The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
SUBMISSIONS
1. Monthly submissions for the 4th edition of European Cinematography Awards (ECA) is open to short films, feature films and videos of any genre.
2. All films must be presented in their original language with English subtitle.
3. Films must have been completed after 1 January 2017. Premiere status is not required.
4. Films submitted for consideration in the previous ECA editions are eligible for re-submission only if there are significant rework done to the films.
5. Short film entries must not exceed a running time of 30 minutes.
6. Student films and videos must present proper documentations from their academic institution, example: academic ID of the director/producer or a letter of recommendation from an academic adviser or institution. Any films submitted as student film without proper identification will be disqualified in the category.
7. Student films must be submitted no later than one year after graduation.
8. All submitted films and/or videos must pay the necessary entry fee. Student entries are eligible for discounted fees.
9. Entry fees are non-refundable in case of any submission withdrawal.
10. All submission deadlines and important dates regarding festival screenings, award ceremoniesand its venues are announced on the ECA official website.
11. Any changes to the rules will be at ECA’s discretion.
HOW TO SUBMIT
1. All entries must be submitted online via FilmFreeway.
2. Complete the submission form.
3. The films must be uploaded to the submission portal as required or send ECA a link to your film or video preview upon submission.
4. Requested in the online entry form are available press kits which includes a synopsis in English, the director’s statement and biography, a full list of cast and crew and additional publicity materials such as trailers, film posters and stills.
5. Payment of entry fee.
SELECTION PROCESS
1. All submissions are screened and evaluated by the ECA Selection Committee.
2. Criteria for judging is based on creativity of visual images, production quality without prejudice to the cost of production, originality of storytelling and entertainment value.
3. Selections will be in stages namely Preliminary, Semifinalist and Finalist. This is to ensure that submissions are correctly verified of their eligibility and judged only in their respected categories.
4. We are choosing the Winner of the category, only if submited films/scripts/song to this category, meet enough high level. The ECA makes sure it assesses filmmakers to their highest standard. Only valuable films can recive the Winner certificate in the competition.
5. All monthly winners in each category will be announced at ECA website and social media platforms.
AWARDS
1. Monthly winners for each categories will receive an ECA certificate with an online verification and a digital copy of the official ECA laurel.
2. "Best Film of the Month" is automatically chosen as “OFFICIAL SELECTION” to the 5th Edition of European Cinematography Awards screening and awarding ceremony to be held in Amsterdam.
3. All monthly winners vie for the most prestigious awards of the film festival — The Cinematographer of the Year and The Best Film of the Year awards.
4. The winners of the main award prizes will be chosen by a Jury of film industry professionals especially selected by ECA Executive committee for this edition.
5. Winners of both awards will be handed ECA’s official statuette called the “Golden Eagle” during the awarding ceremony.
6. In case of the recipients’ absence during the award ceremony, ECA will send the statuette to them via post.
7. Other additional award prizes may be given during the ceremony.
SCREENING
1. All official selections are included in the festival programme for exhibition.
2. ECA reserves the right to chose other shortlisted films to be screened in the film festival.
3. All films and videos for screening during the festival will be announced at ECA official websiteand social media platforms.
4. The filmmakers and/or production companies must provide ECA a copy of their films forscreening at least 14 working days prior to festival. This is to make sure the festival have enough time to check for any technical concerns that may occur and resolve them prior to the screening.
5. The sender is requested to inform ECA on the means of dispatch and the date of shipment. Postage or shipment costs are the responsibility of the sender. No collect costs are accepted unless authorised by the ECA.
6. Send to the Cinematography Awards Foundation: FUNDACJA NAGRODY KINEMATOGRAFII, Michalowskiego 8, 02-438 Warszawa, Poland
7. Presentation formats and video systems or delivery through any other type of disk, formatting or licenses requires the authorization of the Festival. Without authorization, the Festival retains the right to exclude a film from the programme.
8. All screening formats can be returned upon the request of the participants after the festival screening. Please provide ECA a return address. In case of non confirmation of any return address after two weeks, ECA will return the screener to the address indicated in the original submission entry.
9. ECA is not liable to any loss of screening materials after they have been posted or shipped to the recipient.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR EXHIBITION
1. All films must be of standard cinema aspect ratio and resolution (Square Pixels 1.0) 24fps or 25fps
2. All film screening formats must be subtitled in English.
3. Provide ECA with a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) if applicable. The DCP should be delivered on a EXT2/3 formatted CRU dataport Sata drive. If the package is encrypted, a DKDM should be provided. Sending in a separate DKDM’s is not accepted.
4. Provide ECA with an HD quality digital copy of the film in Quicktime (Pro Res 422) if applicable.
OTHER AGREEMENTS
1. ECA does not download nor make your full preview screener available publicly online.
2. The ECA is hereby granted the rights to utilise an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. The individual or production studio submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorised to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.
3. In the event of any film being withdrawn from the festival screening for reasons beyond the festival’s control, for example copyrights impingements, ECA must not be held liable and the filmmakers or production company agree to accept such liabilities if any.
4. The filmmakers and/or the production company allow ECA to use their film’s Press Kit for promotional purposes.
5. The submission of any films to the festival means that the filmmakers and/or the production company agree without any reservation to all the rules and regulations of ECA.
6. The Festival operates within and under the law of European Union.
FAQs
How long is a short/feature film?
Films under 30 minutes are considered short films & over are features.
How are the films selected for the festival?
Films submitted to the festival are reviewed by our selection team, which evaluates each film, looking for the best thematic and well-produced films.
When you accept submissions?
We are accepting submissions year round with monthly deadlines. Please read our submission guidelines carefully before submitting.