Capa

Founded in 2017, the Festival de Santa Cruz has been taking place annually, in physical locations and online during the Covid-19 quarantine. Aiming to bring the best independent films to the heart of the brazilian capital, FDSC accepts submissions of all genres and from all walks of life. Among our top priorities is to encourage young aspiring filmmakers to follow their dream. Therefore, we have opened several affordable categories only applicable to students.
We always host our Festivals in local cinemas and multicultural spaces, supporting the city's historical venues while creating events that are accessible to all. Our screening categories span a wide range including shorts and feature films, documentaries, animations and music videos.

Welcome to our sixth edition, submit your film.

Awards & Prizes

Starcatcher Muse is the main prize award at the Festival de Santa Cruz
Our trophy reflects the filmmakers precious dreams of achieving greatness.

CATEGORIES

FEATURE
Best Feature Film

SHORT
Best Short Film

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Best Feature Documentary

SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Best Short Documentary

EXPERIMENTAL
Best Experimental Film

ANIMATED
Best Animated Film

GOLD CAMERA
Best Director Award

EMPOWERED TALENT AWARD
Best Social Film

STUDENT FILM
Best Student Film

MUSIC VIDEO
Best Music Video

LONGA-METRAGEM BRASILEIRO
Melhor Longa-Metragem Brasileiro

CURTA-METRAGEM BRASILEIRO
Melhor Curta-Metragem Brasileiro

Rules & Terms

✓ All films must be submitted in Portuguese or with Portuguese subtitles (if in a different language).

✓ All films must have been made in or after 2022.

✓ Short films must not exceed 45 minutes.

✓ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✓ By submitting to us, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience, and, under special circumstances, online screening.

✓ Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official Selection: These are all the nominated films selected for screening, which will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.

Award Winners: Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

✓ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✓ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.

✓ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✓ We do not accept partial screeners, trailers, or screener links that require access other than password protected links.

✓ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✓ We cannot provide refunds.

✓ If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to the current edition.

✓ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✓ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.