1) WHEN ARE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINES AND WHAT ARE THE FEES?
SUBMISSION OPENS:
April 1, 2021
NO ENTRY FEE
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
June 5, 2021
These are the dates that films must be submitted on FilmFreeway.com. We handle all submissions identically, regardless of which deadline you choose. We encourage you to submit as early as possible!
Any Scripted, animation or documentary film of the Southern California Region (San Luis Obispo to San Diego) with a running time of 25 minutes or less. In order to qualify attendees must be enrolled in a school from January of 2018 to present. Short Films must have a total running time of 25 minutes or less, including credits.
2) WHAT ARE THE FESTIVAL PROGRAM CATEGORIES AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH?
The Fine Cut Festival of Films is comprised of three Competition program categories, listed in separate sections below. Please be aware that these may vary from year to year, so the information listed below is subject to change at any time.
Attendees must be enrolled or have been enrolled in a Southern California School January 2018 to present.
At the core of our Festival program are our competition categories. Films that are selected to be in one of these three program categories are eligible for Awards in their respective sections:
ANIMATION, DOCUMENTARY or SCRIPTED
All short films selected will be part of one of four one-hour broadcast episodes will become finalists and eligible for awards in the Competition. Short Films must have a total running time of 25 minutes or less, including credits. There are no premiere or prior screening restrictions for short films. All finalist films will be part of the broadcast pending they comply with all Public Media FCC guidelines.
The winning film in each category (Animation, Documentary and Scripted) will be matched with an industry professional mentor and receive a prize package to be determined.
JACK LARSON SPOTLIGHT AWARD
All finalist films in the Animation, Documentary and Scripted categories will compete against one another for the Jack Larson Southern California Student Filmmaker Award. Prize TBD.
3) WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED FORMAT FOR SUBMISSION?
All films must be submitted via FilmFreeway
4) DO YOU ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS ON VHS OR ANY OTHER FORMAT?
No. Films must be submitted via the FilmFreeway Secure Online Screener system, https://filmfreeway.com/festival/FineCut.
5) WHY DON’T YOU ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS ON BLU-RAY?
Although we have accepted both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats in the past, it has proven to be more efficient to use to one standardized format for viewing submitted films.
6) IF MY FILM INCLUDES NON-ENGLISH DIALOGUE, DO YOU REQUIRE ENGLISH SUBTITLES?
We require that all films that contain significant non-English dialogue include on-screen English subtitles, and not captions supplied by a video streaming service such as Vimeo. A translated list of dialogue on paper is not sufficient. If your film is mostly in English and you intend to intentionally leave out subtitles for any non-English dialogue included in the film, you do not need to provide subtitles for those particular sections.
7) WHAT SHOULD I INCLUDE WITH MY SUBMISSION?
After you have completed the online application, we need from you is a single copy of your film and a digital file of a 30 second trailer for promotional purposes. In an effort to cut down on waste, we ask that you do not send printed press or promotional materials to us.
9) HOW OLD CAN MY FILM BE AND STILL QUALIFY FOR SUBMISSION?
Any film submitted for 2021 Festival consideration must have been completed in either 2019 or 2020. If your film was completed prior to 2019, it is no longer eligible for submission. If your film's production took place prior to 2019 but your final cut was not completed until 2019 or 2020, your film is still eligible.
10) MY FILM WAS NOT ACCEPTED IN THE PAST. CAN I RE-SUBMIT?
No, you may not re-submit.
11) CAN I SUBMIT A NEWER CUT OF MY FILM AFTER I'VE ALREADY SUBMITTED AN EARLIER VERSION?
Sending in replacement cuts after you have already submitted a prior version of the film can cause a great deal of confusion throughout the screening process and it is also not fair to those who sent in a cut prior to their selected submission deadline. We reserve the right to disqualify by sending in a replacement cut of their film after their selected deadline has passed. If you log into your FilmFreeway account and your film has not been marked as received, please contact us at finecut@pmgsocal.org before you send another copy.
WE WILL ONLY VIEW THE FIRST CUT OF YOUR FILM THAT WE RECEIVE!
12) DO I REALLY HAVE TO REGISTER MY FILM ONLINE?
All submissions must be issued a unique Tracking Number in order to be recognized by our system. The only way to get a Tracking Number is to fill out the online application at FilmFreeway, https://filmfreeway.com/festival/FineCut. Unregistered submissions will not be viewed. If you are having trouble with the online form, please e-mail us at finecut@pmgsocal.org and we will be glad to help guide you through the process.
13) AM I REQUIRED TO OBTAIN RIGHTS CLEARANCE FOR MUSIC OR OTHER COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL INCLUDED IN MY FILM?
From a legal standpoint, you must clear all copyrighted, or trademarked material included in your film before you can publicly screen it. However, PMGSC does not check to ensure that you have obtained clearance for these materials at any point during the application process, nor will we be held responsible for any inclusion of un-cleared materials in your film. It is the sole responsibility of the entity submitting the project to secure permission from the copyright or trademark holder of the material in question, whether it is music, stock footage, or any other elements that could violate an existing copyright or trademark. Applicants of films that are accepted into the Festival must sign a waiver stating that materials used in the film do not violate any existing copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights. Quite often, rights holders offer reduced rates for festival films, so you should contact them directly to avoid any possible rights infringements.
14) DO I NEED TO MEET A MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT IN ORDER TO SUBMIT A FILM?
You must be 18 or older to submit a film to Fine Cut.
15) HOW MANY FILMS MAY I SUBMIT?
You may submit only one film. If you submit more than one film we will only look at the first one based on the timestamp of the submission.
16) WHAT IF MY CONTACT INFORMATION OR ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT MY SUBMISSION
CHANGES AFTER I'VE FILLED OUT THE APPLICATION?
You may log into your account at FilmFreeway at any time to update or revise your application. We will use the public contact information from your application to contact you regarding problems with your submission and to notify you of your acceptance status, so please ensure that this information is always kept up-to-date.
17) WHEN WILL I FIND OUT IF MY FILM WAS SELECTED?
We will contact you via e-mail August 1, 2021. Please make sure that the e-mail address you provided on your application will be operational at that time. If your e-mail address changes after you’ve filled out the application, please log into your account and update it. We will not be held responsible for any failed delivery of notification! If you haven’t heard from us by August 10th, please contact us at finecut@pmgsocal.org for an official notification.
18) IF MY FILM IS ACCEPTED, WHAT PROJECTION FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT?
Media Based Material
XDcam Mpeg HD422 (50Mbps or 35Mbps), Frame rate 59.94i, Aspect 1920x1080, Audio 24bit 48kHz, 2ch stereo or 2ch dual mono, and Drop Frame timecode.
HDcam Frame rate 59.94i, Aspect 1920x1080, Audio 24bit 48kHz, 2ch stereo or 2ch dual mono, and Drop Frame timecode.
File Based Material
Our file based system uses the Avid Codec. (Final Cut Pro users should download the free Avid QuickTime Codecs from Avid.com)
Acceptable Avid Codecs are: Avid MPEG2 50mbit, Avid DNxHD145, Avid HD DV50.
Frame rate 59.94i, Aspect 1920x1080, Audio 24bit 48kHz, 2ch stereo or 2ch dual mono, NTSC, and Drop Frame timecode.
Avid Meridien 2:1 is acceptable only for anamorphic material.
Broadcast ready still images will by 1920x1080, 72dpi, RGB. Acceptable formats are PSD, TIFF, TARGA, and JPG.
File based delivery can be either on a PC formatted hard drive, PC formatted USB drive, DVD, client provided Dropbox, or the KCET FTP.
19) YOU DON’T ACTUALLY WATCH ALL OF THESE SUBMISSIONS, RIGHT?
We depend on new talent and new filmmakers to uphold our mission as a Festival. If we didn’t watch the films submitted to us, we would miss out on so many new works of independent film. If your film is received in time and there are no playability issues, your film will be treated exactly the same as all other films submitted to us for consideration.
20) IF MY FILM IS NOT CHOSEN, MAY I SPEAK WITH A PROGRAMMER FOR NOTES OR FEEDBACK?
Unfortunately, no. With a multitude of film submissions expected, it simply isn't viable for us to correspond with each applicant individually. Don't be discouraged if your film isn't accepted-- we view far more worthy films each year than we have room to play.
21) WHEN DOES THE 2021 FINE CUT FESTIVAL OF FILMS TAKE PLACE?
The event will take place prior to the series launch in September of 2021, dates TBD. We hope to see you there
