Film Festival Submission Rules and Terms of Agreement
LOS ANGLES CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS (LACA)
The film festival works under the Cinematography Awards Foundation, an association of film festivals which highlight excellence in cinematography. It is legally established nonprofit and is managed by film industry professionals.
A body supervising the foundation: The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
BEFORE YOU SUBMIT
1. Monthly submission for the 1st edition of Los Angeles Cinematography Awards is open to short films, feature films and videos of any genre beginning August 2019.
2. All films must be presented in their original language with English subtitle.
3. Films must have been completed after 1 January 2018. Premiere status is not required.
4. Films submitted in other Cinematography Awards editions are eligible for re-submission on LACA provided they did not win any other annual CA festival main award.
5. Short film entries must not exceed a running time of 50 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 two years 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. All submission deadlines and important dates regarding festival screenings, award ceremonies and its venues are announced on the LACA official website.
10. Any changes to the rules will be at LACA’s discretion.
HOW TO SUBMIT
All entries must be submitted online via FilmFreeway.
1. Complete the submission form.
2. The films must be uploaded to the submission portal as required or direct LACA to a link of your film or video preview upon submission.
3. Complete the outline press kit in the submission form. This 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.
4. Pay the entry fee.
AFTER YOU SUBMIT
1. All submissions are screened and evaluated by the LACA Selection Committee.
2. Criteria for judging is based on creativity of visual images, production quality (without irrespective of the cost of production), originality of storytelling and entertainment value.
3. Monthly selections will include Semi-finalist and Finalist stages.
4. Submissions will be checked for their eligibility and judged only in their appropriate categories.
5. All monthly finalists and the chosen winners in each category will be announced at LACA website and CA social media platforms and will be notified through email.
AWARDS
1. Monthly semi-finalists, finalists and winners for each categories will receive an LACA digital certificate with verification and a digital copy of the official LACA laurel.
2. Winners of the Best Picture of the Month and Best Cinematographer of the Month are chosen from the monthly winners of any film and cinematography categories.
3. “Best Picture of the Month” is automatically chosen as “OFFICIAL SELECTION” to the 1st edition of Los Angeles Cinematography Awards screening and awarding ceremony to be held in Los Angeles, California.
4. All Official Entries vie for the most prestigious awards of the film festival — Best Cinematographer of the Year and Best Picture of the Year awards.
5. Winners of both awards will be handed CA’s official statuette called the “Golden Eagle” during the awarding ceremony.
6. The Golden Eagle will also be awarded to the Best American Film of the Year.
7. During LACA awarding ceremony, we will also give awards for the Excellence in Cinematography and Motion Picture - our highest recognition chosen from among the annual best film and cinematographer winners of CA’s film festivals - ECA, ACA, NYCA and LACA.
8. Winners will be chosen by Juries composed of film industry professionals especially invited by LACA festival director for this edition.
9. In case of the recipients’ absence during the award ceremony, LACA will send the statuette to them via post.
10. The winners of LACA will get the chance to be screened at the European and Asian Cinematography Awards.
11. Other additional award prizes may be given during the ceremony.
SCREENING
1. All official selections are included in the festival programme for exhibition.
2. LACA 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 LACA official website and social media platforms.
4. The filmmakers and/or production companies must provide LACA a copy of their films for screening at least 30 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. If sending DCPs, the sender is requested to inform LACA 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 LACA. Materials should be sent to Cinematography Awards Foundation:
FUNDACJA NAGRODY KINEMATOGRAFII,
Michalowskiego 8, 02-438 Warszawa, Poland
6. Other exhibition/screening formats and video systems or delivery through any other type of disc require the authorization of the Festival to be uploaded on the Cinematography Awards database. Details on how to do that will be forwarded to the sender. Without authorization, the Festival retains the right to exclude a film from the programme.
7. All screening formats can be returned upon the request of the participants after the festival screening. Please provide LACA with a return address. In case of non confirmation of any return address after two weeks, LACA will return the screener to the address indicated in the original submission entry.
8. LACA 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). Flat:1.85:1 2K (1998x1080) or 4K (3996x2160) Scope: 2.39:1
2K (2048×858) or 4K (4096x1716)
2. All film screening formats must be subtitled in English.
3. Provide LACA 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 LACA with an HD quality digital copy of the film in Quicktime (Pro Res 422) if applicable.
5. H264 files can be accepted provided the images are of great quality.
OTHER AGREEMENTS
1. LACA does not download or make your full preview screener available publicly online.
2. The LACA 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 copyright infringement, LACA 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 LACA 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 LACA.