Rules & Terms
RULES
By entering our Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival, you agree to follow its rules and guidelines.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- We consider films in any language, from anywhere in the world. If your film is not in English, make sure it has English subtitles where necessary.
- We consider films regardless of their premiere status. Even if your film has already premiered at another festival, whether it screened at a physical venue or online, it's still eligible for consideration.
- We consider films regardless of their completion date. You can submit any film no matter when it was made.
- Features previously self-distributed by the filmmakers online are eligible for consideration in Feature categories.
- There's no additional eligibility criteria for short films. All shorts are eligible!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- All screeners must be uploaded by the appropriate deadline.
- We will contact entrants if there's anything wrong with the submission. If this occurs, you will need to fix the submission issue by the the requested deadline, otherwise we can't guarantee that your film will be watched in time.
- We don't provide refunds for festival entries.
HOW WE PROGRAM and VOTE
- Submissions will be reviewed by members of the Programming Team.
- Deliberating programmers determine a festival selection through discussion and voting. Each participating programmer has an equal vote.
- Our programmers read submission cover letters and other supporting materials, so we encourage you to submit them in case they want to learn more about you and your work.
-The Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival programmer's decisions are final.
IF ACCEPTED
- Accepted filmmakers will be notified via email, phone or text. Filmmakers must confirm their participation by the given deadline, otherwise they might lose their spot in the line-up.
- Accepted filmmakers must be the authors of their submitted work and be ready to sign an agreement stating that they own all rights to their film and its components ahead of screening at the Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival.
- If accepted, filmmakers are expected to attend the festival.
- We don't cover filmmakers' travel expenses.
- We don't cover filmmakers' shipping expenses for screening copies and other materials.
- We don't provide screening fees.
- The Festival does not accept content via email or from links that require download.
CONTENT DELIVERY:
If selected for an in person screening, filmmaker will have no more than 7 business days to deliver the film in DVD, Blu Ray or flash drive to the festival.
Screener & Exhibition Formats
Filmmakers will be notified if their work is selected for festival screening by September 1, 2025. FilmFreeway Secure Online Screeners, Youtube or Vimeo Links are OK for submissions. No hard copy screeners will be accepted. If made an official selection of FBIFF 2025, please be ready to provide the film on DVD, Blu Ray or flash drive within 7 business days of notification the film was accepted in the festival.
Copyright & Exhibition Material
- Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival (FBIFF) is not responsible for the origin of video and music content submitted by filmmakers. Legal responsibility and any copyright infringement due to questionable origin of content belongs exclusively to the submitter/filmmaker. Submitting work that does not meet legal ownership of the filmmaker can result in immediate, non-refundable disqualification from consideration.
- Films may not promote the agendas of hate speech, hate crimes, prejudice or xenophobic ideology, nor be comprised of material deemed obscene in nature. Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival (FBIFF) does not offer parental guidance according to criteria and standards of Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. Parental guidance disclosure is not mandatory and is the responsibility of submitters/filmmakers. Content and trigger warnings for accepted works shall be provided live to attending audiences prior to screenings.
