Fine Cut - Southern California Schools Only

1) WHEN ARE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINES AND WHAT ARE THE FEES?
SUBMISSION OPENS:

March 6, 2023
NO ENTRY FEE

SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
May 26, 2023

These are the dates that Films and Trailers (ad defined below) for the submitted Film must be submitted on FilmFreeway.com. We encourage you to submit as early as possible!

The filmmaker of the submitted Film and Trailer must be enrolled or have been enrolled in a Southern California College or University as of January 2021 to present.

The total running time of Any Film submitted into Fine Cut for consideration must not to exceed 25 minutes (00:25:00) inclusive of any Film credits.

Each submitted Film must be also include a trailer for the submitted Film (“Trailer”), must be in a digital file, and must not exceed a total running time of a thirty seconds (00:00:30).

2) WHAT ARE THE FESTIVAL PROGRAM CATEGORIES AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH?
There are three (3) film categories for Fine Cut; Animation, Documentary, and Scripted.
All Films selected as a category finalist into Fine Cuts will be included as part of one (1) of six (6) one-hour broadcast episodes. All Films selected as a category finalist in Fine Cut will be eligible for awards in the Competition. There are no premiere or prior screening restrictions for short films. All Films selected as a category finalist will be part of the broadcast pending they comply with all PMGSC’s FCC guidelines.
The winning Film in each Category (i.e., Animation, Documentary and Scripted) will receive a prize package to be determined.
Films that are selected to be in one of these three (3) program categories are eligible for Awards in their respective sections:

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 and Trailers must be submitted via FilmFreeway located at https://filmfreeway.com/festival/FineCut.
4) DO YOU ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS ON VHS OR ANY OTHER FORMAT?
No. All Films and Trailers must be submitted via the secure online screener system, FilmFreeway located at 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 and/or TRAILER INCLUDES NON-ENGLISH DIALOGUE, DO YOU REQUIRE ENGLISH SUBTITLES?
We require that all Films and Trailers 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 and/or Trailer, you do not need to provide subtitles for those particular sections.
7) WHAT SHOULD I INCLUDE WITH MY SUBMISSION?
After you have completed the Fine Cut profile, submit a single copy of your Film and for promotional purposes only the Trailer. 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 2023 Festival consideration must have been completed in either 2021 or 2022. If your Film was completed prior to 2021, it is not eligible for submission. If your Film's production took place prior to 2021 but your final cut was not completed until 2021 or 2022, your Film is 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?
In the event that the filmmaker remits an updated version of the Film to PMGSC after having submitted a previous version of the Film to PMGSC during the same calendar year, PMGSC is under no obligation to view any or all of the updated version. 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 complete the online Fine Cut profile at FilmFreeway, https://filmfreeway.com/festival/FineCut. Unregistered submissions will not be viewed. If you are having trouble with the online Fine Cut profile, 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 and/or Trailer. It is the sole responsibility of the entity submitting the Film and the accompanying Trailer 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 and the accompanying 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 third party 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 (1) Film into Fine Cut. If you submit more than one (1) Film we will only look at the first Film submitted based on the timestamp of the Film submission.
16) WHAT IF MY CONTACT INFORMATION OR ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT MY SUBMISSION
CHANGES AFTER I'VE COMPLETED THE FINE CUT PROFILE?
You may log into your account at FilmFreeway at any time to update or revise your Fine Cut profile. We will use the public contact information from your Fine Cut profile to contact you regarding problems with your film submission and to notify you of your acceptance status, so please ensure that this information is up-to-date.
17) WHEN WILL I FIND OUT IF MY FILM WAS SELECTED?
We will contact you via e-mail August 1, 2023, using the contact information provided in your Fine Cut profile. Please make sure that the e-mail address you provided on your Fine Cut profile is current, correct, and operational. If your e-mail address changes after you’ve completed your Fine Cut profile, 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 prior to the expiration of the submission period (i.e., June 3, 2023) 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 2023 FINE CUT FESTIVAL OF FILMS TAKE PLACE?
The event will take place prior to the series launch in September of 2023, dates TBD. We hope to see you there!