WHO CAN ENTER?
The NCCC Film & Animation Festival is an international festival that is open to students, amateurs, and professionals.
HOW DO I ENTER?
In order to be considered for judging, films must be submitted through FilmFreeway and uploaded to FilmFreeway or Vimeo. It is important that you include correct and complete contact information with your submission. Films entered in the contest must be accompanied by payment of the $10 entry fee to be considered.
On the submission form, entrants must provide the following information: name, age, title of the film, running time of the film, brief description of the film, school (if a currently enrolled high school or college student), street address, e-mail address, and a contact phone number.
Additionally, entrants must provide a brief biographical statement.
Entrants who are under the age of 18 must also provide the name and contact information of a parent or legal guardian.
IF YOUR FILM IS SELECTED, AND YOU WOULD LIKE IT TO BE SCREENED AT THE FESTIVAL, YOU MUST MAKE THE FILM AVAILABLE FOR US TO DOWNLOAD ON FilmFreeway OR VIMEO. OTHER OPTIONS INCLUDE DROPBOX AND GOOGLE DRIVE.
By entering the NCCC Film & Animation Festival, entrants agree to grant NCCC permission to screen their productions at the NCCC Film & Animation Festival, which takes place on the college’s Sanborn campus. Entrants also agree to allow NCCC to use brief excerpts from their videos for promotional, informational, and educational use related to the festival.
Prize winners additionally agree to allow NCCC to feature an excerpt or web link to their video on the NCCC Film & Animation Festival Website or Facebook page to promote the NCCC festival.
HOW MANY FILMS MAY I ENTER?
Entrants may submit up to two films in each of the seven competition categories. These include: documentary, comedy, drama, music video, experimental, animation, horror. Entrants must indicate on the submission form the category in which they want their film to be judged.
A submission form, along with an entry fee of $10 (payable at the time of submission), must accompany each film submitted to the competition. Entries may be disqualified if not complete for any reason.
All films must be original productions and must have been produced within the past three years. By submitting their work to the NCCC Festival, entrants confirm that they possess the legal rights to any and all copyrighted works (i.e. images, video clips, music, etc.) used in the film as well as releases from all persons who appear in or whose voices are used in the production.
Entrants are responsible for ensuring that their films are in compliance with all legal and copyright requirements. NCCC does not assume responsibility for phone, technical, network, electronic, computer, hardware or software failure of any kind, stolen, incomplete, garbled, or delayed internet/e-mail computer transmission, or lost, late, misdirected, damaged, illegible, stolen, incomplete, misaddressed entries incorrectly transmitted entries, or any other entry which does not otherwise meet the contest requirements.
WHAT LENGTH CAN THE FILMS BE?
Films submitted to the competition should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length. If a submitted film is longer than 20 minutes, judging will be based on the first 20 minutes of the film only. If the film is selected as a finalist for screening at the festival, only the first 20 minutes of the film will be shown. Filmmakers also have the option to submit a trailer of the film for screening at the festival.
WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?
The NCCC Film & Animation Festival will award a First Place prize of $200 in each of the festival’s seven main categories. Winners in the "716" category each receive a prize of $100.
Prizes are non-transferable. There will be no substitution of prizes and no election of cash in lieu of prizes, except at the sole discretion of Niagara County Community College.
If not present on the day of the festival awards ceremony, winners should allow two months for delivery of their prize after notification of winning. Prize winners are responsible for all applicable taxes.
WHO JUDGES THE FILMS?
Judges for each category are experienced filmmakers, animators, and entertainment industry professionals. Films are judged on the basis of creativity, originality, production aesthetics (visual and sound elements), and overall quality. Judging takes place prior to the NCCC Film & Animation Festival event. The judges' decisions are final.
WHEN AND WHERE ARE THE FILMS SHOWN?
Finalists' films in each of the competition categories are screened on the day of the festival. Brief excerpts from winning films also are shown during the festival awards ceremony. The festival has five category-based screening rooms that run selected films all day long on a continuous basis.
Q. Can you re-submit a film to future NCCC Film & Animation Festivals if it previously was a festival winner?
A. No. If you are a previous year’s winner, submission of the same film to any future NCCC festival is prohibited.