Buried Alive Film Festival

READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY

Note following the guidelines, rules, and regulations of our competition and/or not meeting eligibility requirements may be cause for disqualification.

Criteria: Each film & screenplay will be judged solely on its own merits.

Category Submission: Submitting to a category only makes things easier for our selection committee. If you submit to a category please know you will be considered for all categories. i.e., Submit for music video you could be up for an award like best director.

At this time, we do not accept films that rely on AI-generated content. AI may be used only as a supporting tool, not to create characters, performances, scripts, visuals, or audio that replace human creative work. Submissions containing obvious AI-generated imagery, voices, or writing will be disqualified.

**Films supported by major studios, currently screening in theaters (selling tickets to the public), streaming publically, or already under distribution are not eligible for Buried Alive Film Festival programming. We do not pay screening fees unless separately negotiated.

Entry fees are non-refundable.

If your film secures distribution after submission, congratulations! But it will become ineligible for competition. If your film is selected and later receives distribution before the festival, we will be unable to screen it. In that case, you will receive an Honorable Mention in lieu of a festival screening.

We do not pay for travel but will offer discounts on hotels and flight with our BAFF partners.

I M P O R T A N T !

-- DCPs are required for your film. If you are selected we will reach out to collect a DCP of your film first before asking for permission to download your film from FilmFreeway. In some cases we will download the file as a backup only.

-- I understand that all films are thoroughly tested, and I cannot request a screener to preview or test my film in the theater.

-- Please do not include color bars or countdown leaders or any other video within your print besides the final exhibition copy of the film to be screened.

-- Please send the dimensions as is (no black bars, only image). **Subtitles for non-English films must be burned in.

We recommend that you send your film as one of the following formats:

OPTION 1:
Digital Cinema Package (Is Required to screen at The Plaza Theatre)
Please email to the address printtraffic@buriedalivefilmfest.com

OPTION 2:
Digital File

*** Certification of Entrant ***

I, the undersigned, acknowledge and agree:

1 . I have read, understated and fully comply with all submission eligibility information, Submission Guidelines, Terms and Conditions of Entry and Entry Eligibility requirements.

2 . To the best of my knowledge, all of the statements in this document are true;

3 . This film or video is not subject to any litigation nor is threatened by any litigation;

4 . I am duly authorized to submit this film to the festival;

5 . I hold the Film Festival harmless from any damage to the print(s) or tape(s) en route or otherwise during the course of the festival’s possession of the film;

6 . I hold the Film Festival, its owners, management, juries, subsidiaries, agents, sponsors, affiliates, and etc. harmless from any and all claims of liability resulting from my entry.

7 . I certify that I have full rights to the use of the music in the entered work.

8 . I give permission for the Film Festival to use stills, titles, copy, posters, trailers, and/or information from the film for ALL promotional purposes including news and podcasting media.

9 . I give permission for the Film Festival to screen the film at the Festival as well as any Festival presentations, programs, and/or events.

*** Screenplay Deliverables ***

1. PDF of script in industry script formatting

2. Scripts should have no identifying information on the title page (no writer names, no phone number, no address, no email).

3. The title, page count, log-line, and tag-line should be the only information on the title page.

4. Poster for Script

5. Summary for script

6. Pitch deck if available