LA Film & Documentary Award

Language Requirements.

Films that are not in the English language must include English subtitles. Failure to provide English subtitles may result in disqualification.

Accepted Production Date.
Only films produced after January 1, 2022, are eligible for submission.

All entry fees are non-refundable.
Submission fees will not be refunded under any circumstances, including disqualification, withdrawal, or non-selection.

Multiple entries are permitted.
Applicants may submit multiple projects. Each project must be submitted separately and accompanied by a separate entry fee.

Final decision.
The decision of the festival selection committee and jury is final and not subject to appeal.

Original work and copyright compliance.
All submitted projects must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe upon any copyrights, trademarks, moral rights, or other rights of any third party.
The entrant confirms that they have obtained all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions for music, sound, images, performances, and any other copyrighted material included in the submission.

Liability.
The festival organizers are not responsible for any copyright violations or legal claims arising from submitted projects. All legal responsibility rests solely with the entrant.

Online screening consent.
By submitting a film, the entrant expressly agrees that, if officially selected, the film may be screened online as part of the festival program.

Geo-blocking.
All officially selected films will be geo-blocked and made available for online screening exclusively within the territory of the United States (USA). The festival is not responsible for unauthorized access attempts outside this territory.

Online screening rights confirmation.
By submitting a film, the entrant confirms that they hold all necessary rights and permissions required for digital exhibition and online screening within the United States.

Eligibility.
Submissions are open to production companies, film studios, sales agents, registered independent filmmakers, screenwriters, and film schools. Each entrant must have the legal authority to submit the project.

Promotional rights.
By submitting, the entrant grants the festival a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use trailers, still images, excerpts (up to 2 minutes), titles, and names for promotional purposes on the festival website, social media platforms, press releases, and other marketing materials.

Disqualification.
The festival reserves the right to disqualify any submission that does not comply with these rules or contains illegal, defamatory, or otherwise inappropriate material.

Rule changes.
The organizers reserve the right to update or modify these rules at any time.

Acceptance of rules.
Submission to the festival constitutes full acceptance of all the rules and regulations stated above.

Screenplay Submission
We accept this submissions only in PDF

SCREENPLAY CATEGORIES

All writers of submitted material must be 18 years of age or older
• Entries must be in English
• Submissions via PDF file only
• Resubmits/changes incur additional fee
• Produced/optioned or otherwise encumbered scripts are ineligible
• All submitted materials must be the original work of the author(s)
• Adaptations of prior works must give source material credit
• Decisions of judges are final as per industry criteria
• Pages should be numbered.
• Full-Length Feature Scripts: 160 pages or under
• Short Film Scripts: 40 pages or under
• TV Pilots: 130 pages or under
• All written or verbal coverage, critique, criticism, or analysis of submitted material is provided subjectively based upon objective standards as they are applied to the writing submitted and under consideration.
• No warranties are expressed or implied as to the utility, value, or accuracy of statements written or spoken by our reader-analysts with regard to material submitted to us by writers, customers, or contest entrants.
• Comments provided by judges, readers, administrators, or other writers are based upon personal opinion only and do not reflect the opinions of management; management assumes no responsibility the academic, creative, professional, economic, or emotional impact or consequences of the opinions we provide.
• Submitting writers agree to hold harmless against claims of any and every kind, each and every employee, independent contractor, reader, analyst, system administrator, or officers of the company in perpetuity.
• Material submitted to the competition is solely at the risk of the individual registering, entering, or offering written material for scoring, analysis, judgment, or commentary.
• Once submitted material has been read, reviewed, analyzed, critiqued, scored, or commented upon by agents, employees, representatives, or management of the company, no refund of entry fee will be made.