General Competition Regulations
1. General provisions:
1.1. SHORT WAVES FESTIVAL 2021 is organised by Fundacja Edukacji Kulturalnej Ad Arte (Ad Arte Foundation of Cultural Education), herinafter referred to as the Organiser, based at Hawelańska 1 Street, 61-625 Poznań, Poland.
1.2. SHORT WAVES FESTIVAL 2021, hereinafter referred to as the Festival, will take place between 14 - 20 June 2021 in Poznań.
1.3. For for International Competition, Urban View Competition and Dances with Camera Competition film submissions will be open from 1st October 2020 until 14th March 2021. For Polish Competition and Polish Experimental Film Competition film submissions will be open from 1st October 2020 until 4th April 2021.
1.4. Entrance fee should be paid upon one’s entering the Competition (section 5
of the Rules).
1.5. Films will be selected by the Organiser.
1.6. The participants of films qualified for the Competition will be informed by phone or e-mail until 30th of April the latest.
1.7. The authors of films qualified for the Competition will be asked by the Organiser to send the screening copy of the film via post, courier, or by electronic means within two weeks after receiving selection notification.
1.8. If the Submitter fails to meet the due date of sending the copy, the Organiser
has the right to refuse accepting the film and select another participant of the Competition.
1.9. The winners of the Competition will receive prize money (section 7 of the Rules).
1.10. Information about the awarded films will be announced on the Festival’s website, social media and will be passed on directly to the winners (in person, by phone or by e-mail).
2. Formal requirements:
2.1. Short film forms that were made no sooner than on 1st October 2019 may be submitted to International Competition, Polish Competition and Polish Experimental Film Competition. Short film forms that were made no sooner than on 1st January 2019 may be submitted to Dances with Camera Competition and Urban View Competition.
2.2. Maximum length of the film is 30 minutes.
2.3. The form of the film and its topic are not subject to any regulations.
2.4. Films may be submitted to the Competition only by means of FilmFreeway
(https://filmfreeway.com/festival/ShortWavesFestival).
2.5. In order to submit the film one should create an account on FilmFreeway website and follow directions provided on the portal.
2.6. Films taking part in the Festival may be submitted by natural or legal persons and groups of people submitting as one participant (group participant) that are producers who have the right to dispose of the submitted film, or who have received permission from the producer owning those rights.
2.7. The participant submitting a film to the Festival must possess copyright laws,
which include music used in the film's soundtrack. In any other case the participant
is obliged to attach a statement defining the legal situation of the film.
2.8. The Organiser reserves the right not to accept the film for the Competition when the requirements described in sections 2.1-2.7 are not met.
3. Technical requirements:
3.1. When submitting the film one should:
- fill in the online entry form (all the information required by FilmFreeway should
be provided as well as such details as the English title of the film, its original title, available dialogue lists, release date and the place of the film premiere),
attach preview copy of the film with English subtitles, if the movie is not English-speaking,
attach a Vimeo link.
3.2. Submitters whose films have been selected to participate in the Competition
are required to send the Organiser:
- Screening copy of the film in ProRes (mov format) or H264 (mp4/mov format) codec, with original aspect ratio and one audio track with audio mix (Stereo or 5.1). Screening copies shouldn't contain hardcoded subtitles. Screening copies may be sent by electronic means, for example wetransfer.com, or the Organiser’s Dropbox server (data required to send the film will be provided via e-mail to participants whose films have been qualified for the Competition)
- or screening copy of unencrypted DCP. The DCP must be tested in a theater beforehand.
- dialogue lists in English with time codes in the .SRT file (no hardcoded subtitles),
- synopsis in English (max. 300 characters with spaces),
- 3 movie stills (300dpi),
- director’s picture (200dpi),
- director’s bio (300dpi)
3.3. The Organiser has the right to refuse to accept the film when its technical quality is faulty.
4. Shipping, insurance and return:
4.1. Unless authorized by the Festival, the film print/data-disks must be made available for the whole festival period. The Festival must receive the screening copy of the film within two weeks after receiving selection notification.
The Festival will contact whoever is designated on the entry form as the primary contact about the shipment and the exact shipping address.
4.2. The costs of transport of all data-disks and film prints (both from the EU as well as from outside the EU) to the festival office are the responsibility of the applicant. The Organizer covers the costs of returning/forwarding screening copies.
All deliveries from outside the European Union must be marked with the phrase “no commercial value - for cultural purposes only” and mark “no value”, or “not more than 10 Euro / US$”.
4.3. Participants are entirely responsible for insurance concerning the shipment of films/data-disks to and from Poland.
4.4. The Organiser takes out insurance for the DCP competition film copies (HDD/SSD drives) against any damage, theft or third-party liability during the time they are in the Organizer's possession. The Organiser is responsible for the security of competition film copies from the moment of receiving them from a transport company until their re-submission to the transport company. The Organiser's responsibility for damage or loss of competition copies is limited to the cost of making a new copy at the applicable laboratory rates in Poland (a standard copy). The Organiser is required to return the copy within 4 weeks after the Festival’s ending.
4.5. Damage of the competition copy must be reported to the Festival Office in writing within one month from the date of its return and before the next screening at another Festival. Failure to report damage within the period specified in the preceding sentence results in excluding the responsibility of the Organiser for the competition copy.
5. Participation fee:
5.1. The participant of the Competition is required to pay an initial fee via FilmFreeway.
5.2. 5.2. In International Competition:
from 1st October 2020 until 14th December 2020 Earlybird fee is 7 EUR, from 15th December 2020 until 22nd February 2021 it is a regular fee of 12 EUR, from 23d February until 14th March 2021 the late deadline fee is 16 EUR.
In Polish Competition:
from 1st October 2020 until 14th December 2020 Earlybird fee is EUR 4, from 15th December 2020 until 22nd February 2021 it is a regular fee of 7 EUR, from 23d February until 14th March 2021 the late deadline fee is 10 EUR and from 15th March until 4th April 2021 the extended deadline fee is 12 EUR.
In Polish Experimental Film Competition:
from 1st October 2020 until 13th December 2020 Earlybird fee is EUR 2, from 14th December 2020 until 22nd February 2021 it is a regular fee of 3 EUR, from 23d February until 14th March 2021 the late deadline fee is 4 EUR and from 15th March until 4th April 2021 the extended deadline fee is 5 EUR.
Dances with Camera Competition:
from 1st October 2020 until 14th December 2020 Earlybird fee is 7 EUR, from 15th December 2020 until 1st February 2021 it is a regular fee of 10 EUR, from 23d February until 14th March 2021 the late deadline fee is 12 EUR.
Urban View Competition:
from 1st October 2020 until 14th December 2020 Earlybird fee is 5 EUR, from 15th December 2020 until 1st February 2021 it is a regular fee of 7 EUR, from 23d February until 14th March 2021 the late deadline fee is 12 EUR.
5.3. Participation fee can be made only by online payment system PayPal.
6. Liability:
6.1. Upon submitting the film the submitter consents that the film will be screened free of charge four times during the Festival.
6.2. Upon submitting the film the submitter whose film has been selected to the Competition, consents that the film will be screened free of charge for nine months since the Festival ends to promote short films as well as the festival. The Organiser is required to inform the submitter about each forthcoming screening.
6.3. The submitter undertakes to cover expenses if they decide to withdraw the film from the Festival without any reason.
6.4. Submitting a film to the Competition is equal to giving the Organiser the right to use promotional data, stills and film fragments (a trailer or a max. 2 minute-long fragment of the film) free of charge in any promotional actions linked to the organization of the Festival.
6.5. The Organiser reserves the right to prepare dialogue lists in languages other than English.
6.6. Selected films will be made available during and at least 3 weeks after the festival in the Video Library. The library of the Festival is shared with the European Short Film Network (Short Waves Festival, Go Short, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Vienna Shorts) and the films will be available in the shared library. The library is accessible only for registered professionals that are accredited to one or more of the four festivals.
6.7 If the Festival decides to screen films on the online platform, the Organiser is obliged to contact the Submitter and ask for permission after presenting them the conditions of the screening.
7. Awards and special mentions:
7.1. The decision to grant the Competition award is made by the jury chosen
by the Organiser.
7.2. The jury may also grant special mentions.
7.3. The Organiser reserves the right to change the amount of prize money and the way it is divided.
7.4. The monetary value of the award will be decreased by flat-rate income tax which is equal to 10% of the sum of money and will be paid by the Organiser on behalf of the awarded winner.
8. Personal Data
8.1. The Submitter, by joining the Competition, consents to his/her personal data being processed as referred to in paragraph 2 below. Personal data in the Competition are controlled by the Organizer.
8.2. The processing includes data listed on the entry form. In the form, the Submitter provides, in addition to his/her data, information on the film's director, author, music producer and distributor. The Submitter represents that he/she obtained the consent of the above persons to provide the said data, and informed them of the purpose for which the data is to be used and who the data controller is. The processing of personal data includes the following:
name and surname/business name,
address,
e-mail address,
telephone number.
8.3. The Organizer may process personal data in order to qualify the film for the Competition, screen the film, identify the winners and award prizes and to transmit information about the next editions of the Competition and other activities undertaken in the framework of the Short Waves Festival. This information is not of commercial nature.
8.4. Providing personal data is voluntary, and the Submitter is entitled to inspect his/her data and correct them.
9. Final provisions:
9.1. Submitting a film to the Festival is tantamount to accepting these Rules.
9.2. The rules are prepared in two language versions: Polish and English. In case of doubt regarding any of the resolutions of these rules, the Polish version shall prevail.
9.3. Unless otherwise provided by the applicable law, a complete legal relation between the participant of the Competition and the Organizer shall be governed by the laws of the Republic of Poland.
9.4. The Organiser reserves the right to change the date and the duration of both
the Festival and the Competition without stating causes if it does not affect the acquired rights of the participants of the Festival.
9.5. All matters not stated in these regulations are decided on by the Festival's Organiser represented by the Director of the Festival.