EFEA - Experimental Film East Anglia

All Films must be experimental in nature. This can be abstract, narrative, documentary or combinations of various styles. Works of expanded cinema will also be considered, and the festival organisers will liaise with. artists to accommodate their work.

Films should be no longer than 15 minutes.

Films must have been completed after January 2019

Submission fees are non-refundable. You may submit for multiple categories, but each
Submission requires an entry fee. EFEA operates as a charity and thus must charge a submission fee to cover administrative and event costs.

Final screening copies should be received by us within 4 weeks of notification.
Previous Festival history for the Film does not influence the submission selection. Neither Films displayed in multiple festivals or World premieres are given priority.

Submissions cannot be withdrawn once selected. Selected filmmakers will be notified of their selection at least 4 weeks before the event to enable planning.

Submitters for the Best East Anglian Film (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Essex) must hail from, or the film must have been produced from within the region. Applicants for this category must state their relationship to the region in their cover letter, or directly to the organisers, or risk being disqualified, at EFEA’s discretion.

If you feel your submission doesn’t fit our category structure, please contact EFEA directly for advice and we will do our best to help you.

EFEA is holding 5 additional awards, separate from the screenings, for submitting filmmakers wishing to be recognised for a specific aspect of their craft. These categories are ONLY applicable for filmmakers submitting to one or more of the seven main categories.

FILMMAKERS WHO SUBMIT TO THE ADDITIONAL AWARDS WITHOUT SUBMITTING TO ONE OF THE SEVEN MAIN EVENTS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

Films must be in English language or be subtitled in English. All films with dialogue are asked to provide a subtitle file. If you believe subtitles to be unnecessary for your film, please explain why in your cover letter.

Films must be downloadable via FilmFreeway. If your film is password protected, please send the password to the festival director, include in your cover letter, or email directly to: info@efea.co.uk

Submissions must be the intellectual property of the submitter, and/or their team. No proxy submissions are allowed. By submitting to EFEA, you confirm that you hold the rights to (or are authorized to use) all audio and video in your film.

Celluloid category
The accepted projection formats are 8mm, 16mm and digital. For our celluloid category, preference will be given to the films with available analogue prints, though digital versions will be considered.

EFEA’s projection equipment will be fully serviced before the screenings to ensure they are in full working order. In the unlikely event that we feel it is unsafe for films to be projected, as well as for judging purposes, we ask that filmmakers send us a digital copy of their film prior to the event.

EFEA will pay for secure shipping of filmmakers prints, from the UK. Filmmakers outside of the UK must provide their own insured shipping. The festival is not responsible for any damage in transit and the filmmaker must take responsibility for insurance of their prints.

The festival will quality check each print and send a QC report and will then take every effort to return the print in the condition described. EFEA will make every attempt to avoid any damage to your film but cannot provide any guarantee.

EFEA reserves the right, at any point during the competition, in its sole and unfettered discretion, to disqualify and remove any film that potentially or actually infringes any third party’s copyright(s).

If selected for the festival the applicant acknowledges and agrees that the film will be displayed in front of a live audience, paying entry fees. Should the pandemic cause an issue, we will work out the details for online screenings of the selected films individually.

As a charity, EFEA requests filmmakers’ permission to use their work for non-commercial use. By submitting, the filmmaker authorizes EFEA to use all promotional materials presented, including, but not limited to, still-frames, descriptions, director’s biography, and film screening history in all forms of media for the express purpose of promoting and advertising the festival. This will extend to cover the period used to promote the next festival as well.

The films will not in any way be sold or exchanged for services or goods.

The name of the authors and copyright will always be associated with their films and the artist will retain full rights of their work.

Should the festival wish to use clips from the filmmaker's film for promotion, EFEA shall limit the footage to under 30 seconds and only use material supplied by the filmmaker.

All decisions made in selections, screenings,awards, and the entire Festival by the Festival Appointed “Selection Committee” and the Jury will be final.

In case of any disputes, the decision of the Festival Director will be final.

On behalf of the team at EFEA, we thank you for considering our festival and look forward to watching and discussing your work.