Myanmar’s very first film was premiered on 13th October 1920 under British Colonial rules and it has reached 100th year now. From that time onwards, we, Myanmar people, always loving traditions of other people and their films. The Bioscope International Film Festival (BIFF) creates a bridge between Myanmar film audience and filmmakers around the world. Our Bioscope International Film Festival will be conducted every year starting this 2020.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is one of the South-East Asian countries. It is known for its glamorous Golden Stupas (Pagoda), Ancient Temples and Monastic Monks. Total of 135 ethnic tribes is living peacefully in fortresses and dramatic landscapes that range from subtropical plains to steep mountains and valleys. The prevalent thing among diversities is loving “Bioscope”, what Myanmar people used to call “film” in former days. So to get the memories of the movies’ treasures as in their beginning lives, we are going to organize the golden cinema days, our film festival in the golden land of Myanmar, regardless of digitalized technical changes but the Art is the main core all the time.

Bioscope International Film Festival (BIFF) is a quarterly live screening film festival and screenwriting competition with a live Annual Screening & Awards Show Event in the glittering golden land, Myanmar.

The Annual Live Screenings and Events like Awards giving, Panel discussion and Q&A section with the audience will take place in every February starting its first from 18th to 20th Feb 2022 at the venue of Myanmar Motion Picture Organization
16, Wingabar Street, Bahan, Yangon 11201, Myanmar. Phone : +95 943088034

The sole purpose of BIFF is to celebrate the joy of artistic creation regardless of technical development. BIFF showcases an outstanding presentation of independent filmmaking with a strong sense of community around the art of visual storytelling.

BIFF honours films from around the world with a vast array of awards in different categories and genres. Our mission is to discover diverse new voices and to promote real artworks through numerous platforms in Myanmar.

In each edition, Filmmakers can submit their projects to have them judged by award-winning industry professionals against a high standard of merit and compete with other filmmakers across the globe. Every submission can add numerous additional judging categories but MUST submit to the MAIN CATEGORY to be considered for additional consideration. Please include the names being credited in your cover letter.

There is also a special category for short films which feature subjects and stories about Myanmar culture, society and diaspora. This category is a one-time submission with a deadline on 2nd December 2021.

All quarterly winners of the period from January 2021 December 2021 will be automatically nominated for the prestigious Golden Film Awards, the best of the best of the year. On 20th January 2022, we will announce the official selection lists for the prestigious Golden Film Awards competition. The two grand winners will be announced on the last date of the event and will receive the prestigious Statuettes, the official customized design for the grand award winners only.

Awards & Prizes

LAURELS:
Quarterly Semi-finalists and Finalists.

LAURELS & CUSTOMIZED CERTIFICATES:
Quarterly Winners (Main and Additional Categories)

ANNUAL GOLDE FILM STATUETTES:
- Best Film of the Year
- Best Myanmar Short Film

The officially selected projects in the quarterly competition will receive BIFF laurels and certificates. All quarterly Award Winners will receive the laurels and the customised certificates. And they will be rarely rated on their respective IMDb pages (if applicable).

The quarterly result will be announced on our website on the date of the 15th of next month. For example, the result of Quarter 1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) will be announced on 15th of April respectively. The result can be seen on the link: www.bioscopefestival.com

The awards are given in the following categories:
Best Film of the Season (Short or Feature in any Genre)
Best Narrative Feature Film
Best Short Film
Best Documentary Film
Best Short Documentary Film
Best Horror/ Fantasy Film
Best Thriller/ Suspense Film
Best LGBT Film
Best Women’s Film
Best Animated Film
Best Family/ Children Film
Best Film on Disability Issue
Best TV Pilot

Along with those considered in any of the outstanding:
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Sound Designing
Best Film Score/ Sound Track

For screenplay competition, the awards will be as follows:
Best Treatment
Best Feature Screenplay
Best Short Screenplay

Besides the best of the category Awards, there are also Outstanding Achievement Awards, Honourable Mention Awards, which are given in all relevant categories. Each year, we will select the Best of the Best from all Award Winners from all Seasons and the Two Grand Winners (Best Film of the Year and Best Myanmar Short Film) will receive the prestigious Golden Film Statuettes. Other Outstanding Achievement Awards will receive the respective trophies and all are live screening to the audience in the theatre at Yangon. All the Final Winners will have a chance to meet with the audience and participate in the Q&A session after the screening at the annual event.

Besides the prestigious awards, there will be Distribution opportunity for the winners. The most representatives of quarterly award winners’ projects are screened to the potential buyers from various channels of Myanmar. Any project interested by any buyer will be contacted through BIFF for mutual negotiation, but BIFF has no responsibility for those sales agreements also no guarantee for all the award-winning projects to get sales agreement.

Rules & Terms

Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your project into competition in the Bioscope International Film Festival (BIFF), you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of these Rules & Terms.
BIFF is open to any feature or short film completed after January 1, 2018, regardless of content subject, genre or origin. Submitting your film to BIFF is not a guarantee of selection. All the official selections, nominees and the winners will be listed on our website permanently. All the winning films will receive a trophy, award or certificate. Please note that we do not offer application fee waivers. We treat every filmmaker equally.
Films made in languages other than English must have English subtitles otherwise they will be summarily rejected. Films that are fan-made, pornographic, instructional, religious, political propaganda and overly educational are not accepted.
The film submitted to BIFF for a particular quarter competition can be re-submitted at any next quarter competition for a second chance, considering that we have different judges' panels for each competition.
A participant may submit more than one film in a category and more than one category at a time with correspondent fees. Only the Best Myanmar Short Film category is a one-time submission with a deadline on 2nd December 2021.
BIFF is hereby granted the rights to utilise an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival within Myanmar only. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorised to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.
BIFF reserves the right to refuse any entry. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless BIFF, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits and publicity. A nominee will be privately screened for BIFF judging panel, and will not be screened initially to the public.
The submission fee will not be reimbursed if they decide to withdraw their submission. All entry fees are non-refundable. BIFF will not refund any fees if the filmmaker fails to submit the film in the correct category. Films submitted without the correct fees or proper submission media may be deemed ineligible at the discretion of BIFF programming director or executive director. The festival does not cover any of the expenses incurred by the filmmaker.
After a film has been an official selection, the filmmaker will be notified, and eventually, the film will be listed on the festival website under Official Selections. The Official Selection status doesn’t mean that your film will be screened at the festival. It means that your film has been appreciated by our judges of the panel and you can use the festival logo on your poster. We require an official trailer or poster, synopsis and a link to your film. Please select the correct category while submitting to avoid disqualification. We reserve the right to re-assign films to the appropriate category.
BIFF may without advance notice amend these Rules & Terms from time to time. Each and every such amendment shall become effective immediately. It is your responsibility to periodically check for updates of these Rules & Terms.

DISCLAIMER:
All filmmakers understand and accept that if their film is accepted for presentation and screening at the film festival, they grant full and unrestricted permission for BIFF to screen the film/movie at times of the festivals choice and to charge admission fees for the presentation of the digital program. All the presented film/movies do win Golden Film Awards from the festival, BIFF only screens winners.
The Filmmaker understands and accepts that they do not participate in receiving any funds from the Box-office proceeds which are fully retained by the festival to help cover the overall cost of the festival presentation. It should be noted for the record that box-office proceeds never cover the cost of presentation of the Features and Short Film Programs.
The filmmaker releases the festival (BIFF) from any and all liability for damages or destruction of the entered DCP. The Filmmaker understands that the entered DCP will be retained in a secure facility by the festival, and every effort will be taken to protect and control the viewing of this production. The festival assumes no liability whatsoever for theft, copyright violations or piracy of the entry.
The Filmmaker accepts and understands that the festival will do everything possible to present the video in the best possible manner but the festival (BIFF) is not responsible for any and all malfunctions during the presentation of the production at its festival screening.
We use Professional Pioneer International playback systems, all formats, all regions, including Region 0. All entries are carefully pre-screened prior to the public showing to assure that the DCP does perform to industry Standards. The Festival (BIFF) assumes no responsibility for any technical difficulties in the presentation of this video at the actual event.
The Festival (BIFF) reserves the complete right to make changes in the program dates and times and to possibly not screen the movie, despite its being selected for screening. The filmmaker will endeavour to present to The Festival (BIFF) a new and pre-checked Hard disk / DCP for the actual presentation of the video at the festival.