Film Submission - general
Who can submit a film? This is an open contest for residents of the state of Utah. Professional filmmakers, actors, or other film-industry professionals are allowed but will be placed in a separate category. If too few professionals enter, there may not be prizes for those categories, but they will still be shown. Contestants must be at least 14 years old as of November 9, 2024, and residents of Utah. If you are under 18, you must also submit a permission form signed by a legal guardian. Submission is free.
Basic film requirements. All genres of films are accepted. Films may be up to 20 minutes long, no longer. Any submissions longer than 20 minutes will be automatically disqualified. Films must be family-friendly to be shown in the regular showing. Any sensitive content may either be disqualified from the festival or shown separately from the main set of films. After submission, festival staff will classify films according to festival categories.
Film rights. You must own the rights to your film in order to submit it. All music, images, titles, footage, and other copyrighted material used in your submission MUST be properly licensed. You must have written permission and/or the proper rights to all content submitted.
Categories of submission. Our screeners will separate film submissions into categories (such as skill level, age, etc.) after submissions are collected.
Film submissions are due Friday, October 18, 2024, at 1:00 PM MDT.
Technical Guidelines
Please check your audio levels multiple times and confirm that your audio is not limited to one channel (ie: right or left).
Subtitles. Any film that includes dialogue that is not English must be submitted with English subtitles packaged into the submitted video file. Standalone .srt files are not sufficient. If your film has subtitles please make sure they are "Title Safe". For a detailed explanation of "Title Safe" please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EvRNUcJN6s&ab_channel=ToddWolfe
Please submit your film through Film Freeway. Only films submitted through Film Freeway will be accepted.
FILM SELECTION PROCESS
Once you submit your project, it will be reviewed by our screener team. Films that pass the screening will be part of the Official Selection will receive a message through Film Freeway notifying the film’s presentation at the festival. Non-selected films will also receive an message through Film Freeway on or by the notification date. The notification date is Friday, November 1, 2024 (date subject to change).
During the screening process, the Daybreak Film Festival reserves the right to remove films from moving to Official selection on the grounds of containing gratuitous violence or abuse, inappropriate sexual behavior, condescension toward children, replicable unsafe behavior, or negativity/prejudice toward any race, gender, culture, religion, or otherwise not deemed appropriate for a general audience.
All Official Selection films will be screened at our event. Separate screenings may be scheduled depending on your film’s content, genre, and the number of submissions. All Official Selection films will be watched and reviewed by our Jury who will select the winners. At the end of the screenings, the winners of each category will be announced.
For your film to be selected and/or shown at the festival, permissions must be provided for us to download it. This can be done on Film Freeway.
Film Showings
When. Official Selection entries will be shown at the Daybreak Film Festival, Saturday, November 9, 2024 (date subject to change - more information can be found on our website - https://www.mydaybreak.com/live/).
Where. Your film may be played in a theater or on a screen in the greater Salt Lake City Area for a public audience of all ages during the Daybreak Film Festival. Proceeds from admissions will go to the Daybreak Film Festival. Your film may be posted (in part or entirety) to our website, Facebook page(s), and other related websites, or shown in future screenings by the Film Festival.
Judging
Judge selection. Our Jury will be selected from professionals within the disciplines of film, live theatre, direction, etc.
Awards
We will email PDF certificates stating participation in the film festival to the primary contact for each film shown at the festival.
Winners are selected from each category and are the top scores within those categories. Winners who choose to attend the film festival in person will receive an award for each winning film. Awards will be available for pickup for five business days after the festival.
Categories will be determined after submission to allow fair comparison that accounts for age and experience.
In each category, the film with the highest score will be the winner. Winners who choose to attend the film festival will receive their award on the day of the festival. Awards will be available for pickup five business days after the festival for those winners who do not attend. Certificates of participation will be emailed to each participant within a week of the end of the festival.
If enough submissions are received, we may also provide certificates or awards for winners within film categories. Screeners select the film’s category after your submission. Potential award categories are Best Animated Film, Best Documentary, Best Music Video, and Best Narrative. Additional categories from 2023 were Best of Show: Best Film Over All, and Best Young Creator. These categories are entirely dependent on submissions received. No accolades are guaranteed.
Q&A with the Director
We may request to post Q&As with the creator(s) of each film on our social media pages. People will submit questions, and the questions and answers will be posted on our social media pages throughout or after the festival. We may also include a Q&A within the festival after awards are received. You will be notified after selection day and confirmation of your attendance.
Financing
This competition is for films made by individuals or groups for no commercial gain. Financing, however sourced, must only be used to cover the direct costs of producing the film, including (but not limited to) transportation, equipment hire, copyright fees, catering, and actual expenses incurred by actors and crew. Paid assistance from professionals, including for production, talent, or postproduction is not permitted. If it is discovered, either before or after receiving any award, that a film has infringed these requirements, the organizers reserve the right to disqualify it, revoke any awards, and reclaim any prizes.
Additional Terms
Films must be fully completed before the date the project is submitted.
The Daybreak Film Festival may use portions of your film (including trailers/teasers/stills/posters) for promotional purposes.
Festival event dates and times may be delayed or changed.
By submitting this film, you DO HEREBY WAIVE, RELEASE, DISCHARGE, AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE VP Daybreak Operations LLC, Daybreak Community Council, LLC., LiveDAYBREAK, Daybreak Community Association, Inc., LTD., Daybreak Village Association, Inc., Capital Consultants Management Corporation, VP Daybreak Devco LLC, VP Daybreak Devco 2, Inc., LHMRE, LLC, Larry H. Miller Real Estate, the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, and their respective owners, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, affiliates, successors, assigns, sponsors, volunteers, representatives, the organizer of the Event (Daybreak Community Council ), and other related parties (collectively, the “Released Parties”) for any accident, harm, bodily injury (up to and including death), illness, and/or loss of or damage to property, and hold harmless 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, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.
For more information, please visit our website: https://www.mydaybreak.com/live/
