REGULATIONS – 11th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL PEQUENO CINEASTA
1. OBJECTIVES
The International Festival PEQUENO CINEASTA– FIPC presents an overview of audiovisual productions made by children and young people from all over the world. The main objective of FIPC is to encourage child and youth protagonism, value authorship of thought, and guarantee the right to expression and opinion of children and adolescents.
Aimed at children, young people, teachers, educators, and other professionals who think about and work with childhood, the Festival invites reflection on the universe of childhood within the cultural diversity presented through the productions of young filmmakers and their perspectives on the world. The 11th edition of the event is scheduled to take place in October 2026 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2. REQUIREMENTS
a. Films participating in FIPC must be made by children and young people aged between 8 and 17 years old.<
b. The actors in the films do not necessarily have to be children or young people, but the films must reflect the opinions and thoughts of the children and young people involved in their creation.
c. Young people of different ages may work together on a film, provided that all group members are between 8 and 17 years old. In this case, the category in
which the film will compete will be determined by the age of the oldest participant.
d. Educators, teachers, and instructors may guide young people on matters related to technical support, such as editing, equipment operation, production, etc., provided there is no interference in the creative process.
e. The participation of children who are members of, or have relatives composing, the jury and/or other FIPC teams is prohibited.
f. Films not spoken in Portuguese must be subtitled in Portuguese (Brazil) or accompanied by a dialogue list in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.
g. Films must be submitted as a digital file in .mov or .mp4 format, with a minimum resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels (HD), H.264 video encoding, horizontal (landscape) aspect ratio, and audio synchronized with the video.
h. Films must have a minimum duration of 1 minute and a maximum of 10 minutes, including title and end credits, and may be fiction, documentary, experimental, or animation.
i. The film’s year of production must be 2024 or later.
j. All music synchronized in the films must be royalty-free, meaning original compositions, works in the public domain, or music from licensed libraries, according to the type of Creative Commons license attributed to the work.
k. Films whose soundtracks include music licensed under CC - Creative Commons (CC) or already in the public domain must also include the song title and author in the end credits.
l. If the film’s soundtrack contains music without appropriate Creative Commons licenses, the legal representative* of the work must possess formal authorization for synchronization and free use of the soundtrack in the film, signed by the music’s author.
k) Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Its licenses are free and easy to use, providing a simple and standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — under conditions of your choice. Learn more about CC at https://br.creativecommons.org
l) We provide on our website a template for the formal authorization, which must be submitted at the time of registration along with a scanned copy of the soundtrack author’s identification document.
3. REGISTRTION
a. Submissions will open on April 1 and close on May 30, 2026. b. Registration is free of charge.
c. Submissions must be made through the electronic form available on our website at www.pequenocineasta.com.br.
d. Videos may be submitted via electronic transfer platforms such as Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, etc.
e. The following items must be attached to the form: download link for the short film, two still images from the film (minimum 300 dpi), and two behind-the-scenes photos.
f. The film title entered in the registration form must be identical to the title shown in the film’s credits.
g. Confirmation of receipt of the submission will be sent to the email address provided in the registration form.
h. Applicants must inform FIPC of any changes to their contact information.
i. The Festival Organizing Committee may reject submissions that contain messages violating human rights or democratic constitutional values.
4. SELECTION
The selection committee for the competing films will be composed of a group of 5 to 7 invited professionals active in the fields of cinema and education, who will evaluate the works together with the coordination team of the 11th International Festival Pequeno Cineasta.
a. Films will be evaluated according to creativity, relevance of the theme, audiovisual language, and local representativeness.
b. The selection results will be sent to the email addresses of those responsible
for the short films and will also be published on the @pequenocineasta social media channels starting in August 2026.
c. By submitting the registration form, the responsible parties authorize FIPC to screen the short films in free sessions held by the Festival, as well as to use the works, in whole or in part, for promotional purposes, in any available format, printed or electronic, with the aim of promoting the objectives described in item 1 of these regulations;
d. The rights to use image and voice, music or any trademarks and patents used in the films are the sole responsibility of the participant;
e. The program will consist of sessions of up to 50 minutes, divided into the following categories:
- National Children's Competitive Showcase – films made by children (8 to 12 years old)
- National Youth Competitive Showcase – films made by young people (13 to 17 years old)
- International Children's Competitive Showcase – films made by children (8 to 12 years old)
- International Youth Competitive Showcase – films made by young people (13 to 17 years old)
- Sustain Your Story Showcase – national and international films addressing environmental themes (non-competitive showcase of films made by young people aged 8 to 17)
- Pequeno Cineasta Showcase – films produced by project Pequeno Cineasta in 2024 and 2025 (non-competitive showcase of films made by young people aged 8 to 17)
5. JURY
The jury will be divided into age groups corresponding to the categories being evaluated:
Children's Category — selected members will be between 8 and 12 years old and will evaluate short films from the national and international competitive screenings in this category.
Youth Category — selected members will be between 13 and 17 years old and will evaluate short films from the national and international competitive screenings in this category.
a. The Official Jury will be composed of children and young people with profiles representative of different social classes and regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro, who have already had experience in audiovisual production.
b. The Official Jury will analyze the films shown in the competitive screenings according to criteria of originality, relevance and technical quality.
c. The process of analysis and evaluation of the films will be mediated by a professional from the audiovisual market and by the artistic and pedagogical coordination of FIPC.
d. The Popular Jury will be composed of all children and young people between 8 and 17 years old who attend the 11th edition of the FIPC in person. Voting slips will be distributed at each session.
6. AWARDS
The results will be announced at the closing ceremony of the 11th edition of FIPC and subsequently on our social media channels;
7. GENERAL PROVISION
a. Each filmmaker, upon registration, declares that all elements or any type of work used or included in the submitted short film do not violate any image rights or intellectual property rights of third parties, agreeing to assume exclusive legal responsibility for any claim, lawsuit, or litigation, whether directly or indirectly, arising from the exhibition or use of the works.
b. Failure to comply with any of the rules of these regulations will result in the participant's disqualification.
c. Any omissions in these rules will be resolved by the festival organization. d. Questions should be sent to the email: contato@pequenocineasta.com.br
ATTENTION: Submitting a film to the Pequeno Cineasta International Film Festival signifies full agreement with these regulations.
