The Foyle Film Festival, now in its 32nd year, delivers a year round programme of feature films, workshops, short films, competition screenings, outreach and special events.

The 2019 Foyle Film Festival will take place from 15-24 November in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Over the last 32 years, the Foyle Film Festival has become renowned for attracting top industry professionals to Derry-Londonderry. Past guests have included Richard E Grant, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Christie, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Wim Wenders, Stephen Frears to name but a few.

Foyle Film Festival is one of only a handful of International festivals with Oscar® affiliation, BAFTA and BIFA recognition. The festival offers filmmakers, animators and artists a unique platform to screen their films, network with industry professionals and gain access to the international market.

The prestigious Light In Motion (LIM) competition, sponsored by City of Derry Crystal, will reopen to filmmakers and animators across the world on 1st April 2019.

The three competition categories under LIM 2019 are:

· Best Irish Short

· Best International Short

· Best Animated Short

Recipients of the LIM Awards qualify for consideration in the Live Action and Animated Short Film categories of the Academy Awards® without needing the standard theatrical run. Foyle Film Festival is also an IMDb Qualifying Festival, granting all eligible film submissions a fast-tracked title page on IMDb.com.

Previous Foyle Film Festival winners and competitors who have proceeded to win the Oscar® include: Terry George for The Shore (2012), Martin McDonagh for Six Shooter (2006), Andrea Arnold for Wasp (2004), Adam Elliot for Harvie Krumpet (2003), and Eric Armstrong for Chubbchubbs (2002).

The success continues with 2018 Oscar nominations for LIM Award finalist The Silent Child directed by Chris Overton and 2018 BAFTA award in Short Animation for LIM Award finalist Poles Apart directed by Paloma Baeza and Ser En Low.

Funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen, by Derry City and Strabane District Council and Tourism NI, Foyle Film Festival delivers a comprehensive programme of documentaries, short films and feature films from all over the world; a full programme of educational events for schools, youth, and adults and a variety of industry networking events and panel discussions.

The Festival is the flagship project of the Nerve Centre, Northern Ireland’s leading creative media arts centre which delivers a diverse range of cutting edge projects, training and production opportunities, state of the art production facilities and creative learning centres in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.

Awards & Prizes

Award Plaque & accreditation laurels for Oscar and BAFTA qualifying category winners.

Rules & Terms

Rule 1: SHORT FILM DEFINITION:
All films submitted for competition must be completed after 1 July 2018 and have a running time of 40 minutes or less including credits.

Rule 2: SUBMISSION DATES:
Foyle Film Festival is open for competition submissions from Monday 1st April 2019.
Regular Deadline: Monday 5th August 2019.
Late Deadline: Monday 2nd September 2019
Extended Deadline: Monday 23rd September 2019.

Rule 3: PREMIERE STATUS:
Due to limited space available in all competition categories, the Festival will prioritise programming short films and animations that are Northern Ireland premieres.

Rule 4: MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS:
Competitors should only enter their submission in one category. If you are a film collective or distributor entering more than one film please pay a separate fee for each film and list them in the appropriate category, providing a separate Online Screener for each film. Group discounts may be applicable in some cases but please note that Foyle Film Festival DOES NOT PAY ANY SCREENING FEES FOR SUBMITTED FILMS.
For further information on group submissions contact the Competition Manager directly: e.king@nervecentre.org

Rule 5: FORM & CATEGORY DESIGNATION:
The Festival reserves the right to place films into alternative categories if it feels it is to the benefit of the filmmaker. This will be discussed with the filmmaker before any decision is made.

Rule 6: ONLINE EXHIBITION & PROMOTIONAL TRAILERS:
Foyle Film Festival does not accept films freely available to view in full online. If your film is available to view publicly in full on YouTube, etc. then it will be automatically withdrawn from the competition. Excerpts of your film, in the form of a promotional trailer totalling no more than 10% of its running time are exempt from this rule.

Rule 7: SUBTITLES:
The significant dialogue or narration of all films must be in English, or the entry must have English-language subtitles. Exceptions can be made for films that contain little or no dialogue.

Rule 8: SUBMISSION FORMAT:
For submission purposes, Foyle Film Festival will accept films via online platform FilmFreeway. We do not accept submissions other than via this platform.

ONLY SEND THE FINAL COMPLETED VERSION OF YOUR FILM. WE DO NOT ACCEPT RE-EDITS OR WORKS IN PROGRESS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ESPECIALLY AFTER FILMS ARE SUBMITTED INTO COMPETITION.

Rule 9: SUBMISSION COSTS & DEADLINES:
Regular Deadline: Monday 5th August 2019. Regular Deadline Fee: USD $45
Late Deadline: Monday 2nd September 2019 Late Deadline Fee: USD $55
Extended Deadline: Monday 23rd September 2019. Extended Deadline Fee: USD $65

All fees must be paid. FFF takes failure to pay the relevant and correct fee very seriously. An email from the CM will be sent to the entrant in this event. After a warning, failure to pay will result in disqualification.

WAIVERS are not granted to submitters in any circumstances, as a policy. PLEASE DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED EMAILS REQUESTING WAIVERS. ALL REQUESTS OF THIS NATURE ARE DECLINED.
The exception to this policy is filmmakers who have been invited to screen at the Festival or who may have had previous work screened at the festival, this is only done so at the discretion of the Competition Manager and Festival Director.

Rule 10: FILM ACCREDITATIONS & CATEGORY DEFINITION:
The categories of Best International Short, Best Irish Short and Best Animation are Academy Award and BAFTA affiliated.

Winners of each competition categories at Foyle Film Festival are eligible to qualify for Oscar consideration without the standard theatrical run. For more information on Academy Award eligibility visit: www.oscars.org

For BAFTA consideration, British short films and animations which screen as part of the LIM Awards at Foyle film Festival are eligible for consideration in the Short Film Awards at BAFTA. For more information on BAFTA eligibility visit: www.bafta.org

International Short: Foyle Film Festival accepts live action short films under 40 minutes in duration which have been produced after 1 July 2018. In keeping with Academy rules, we do not accept documentary short subjects in this category.

Irish Short: Foyle Film Festival accepts live action short films less than 40 minutes in duration, which have been produced after 1 July 2018. In keeping with Academy rules, we do not accept documentary short subjects in this category. An Irish short film should be creatively led and produced by teams from the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland and produced by an ROI/NI registered production company.

Short Animation: Foyle Film Festival accepts animated shorts for this category less than 40 minutes in duration, which have been produced after 1 July 2018. Animation must figure in no less than 75 % of the picture's running time.

Rule 11: PUBLICITY
The Festival reserves the right to use extracts from submissions for TV, online and radio coverage or any other publicity that is used in the promotion of the Festival.
We do not require a full press kit at time of entry. If successful, we will ask for a press kit and a short promotional clip for marketing use if/when your film is accepted.

Rule 12: EXHIBITION FORMAT:
Films selected for screening during the Festival should be in digital format such as Pro Res or High Res MOV or AVI encoded MPEG-4 video or H.264/H.265; 4k/8k UHD reduced to 1080 x 2048 resolution. Please note Foyle Film Festival does not accept DCPs.

The audio should ideally be 5.1 channels for exhibition and the minimum for a non-mono configuration of the audio shall be three channels left, centre, right ideally.

If your film is selected for screening, please note that we accept all regions and aspects for Blu-Ray exhibition also (NTSC, PAL and SECAM). We would prefer regions 0, 1 (USA) or 2 (UK). Please see the category technical requirements for a complete list of acceptable regions. Please make sure that your exhibition copy plays in a DVD/Blu-Ray player before sending it to us. The film festival is not responsible for fixing badly transferred data.

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOUR FILM WINS AT FOYLE FILM FESTIVAL AND SUBSEQUENTLY QUALIFIES FOR ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION, IT MUST BE AVAILABLE ON 35MM or 70MM FILM OR IN A DCP FORMAT ACCORDING TO THE DIGITAL QUALIFICATION STANDARDS IN PARAGRAPH III.A.1 IN THE RULES & ELIGIBILITY TERMS OF THE ACADEMY SHORT FILM AWARDS AND THE BAFTA SHORT FILM & ANIMATION AWARDS. THE PRINT OR DCP OF THR SHORT FILM SUBMITTED MUST BE IDENTICAL IN CONTENT AND LENGTH TO THE QUALIFYING FORMAT.

For further information on rules, eligibility and technical specification please visit:
http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility
http://awards.bafta.org/entry

Shipping Instructions for Blu-Ray Exhibition Copy:
Exhibition will be on Blu-Ray DVD. Once accepted, if you do wish to send an exhibition DVD, it must reach the FFF office at the time stated by CM. This date must be respected. Beyond this deadline the film's participation in the Festival cannot be guaranteed. Notification of dispatch of the DVD to the Festival should be sent in advance.

The shipping cost of the DVD (Submission/Exhibition) to the Festival plus the customs and fees is the responsibility of the sender and the sender alone (this includes customs fees incurred at either end). MARK ON YOUR SHIPMENT "FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY TEMPORARY IMPORT" and of low/no value. If you want to pay for insurance, this is done solely at your own discretion.

PLEASE NOTE: THE FOYLE FILM FESTIVAL WILL NOT PAY ANY COSTS RELATING TO ANY COURIER/POSTAGE - INCLUDING FEDEX - THAT FILMMAKERS CHOOSE TO SEND THEIR ENTRIES WITH. THE FILMMAKER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COST OF GETTING THE FINAL EXHIBITION COPY OF THE FILM ON DVD TO THE FESTIVAL. ALL COSTS AND DUTIES, ETC., ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FILMMAKERS. FURTHER, IF ANY FILMMAKER USES A COURIER AND TRANSFERS THE COST TO FOYLE FILM FESTIVAL, THEN THIS ENTRY WILL BE DISQUALIFIED WITHOUT ENTERING INTO ANY DISCUSSION.

Use of packaging:
If at all possible please avoid using padded envelopes. We cannot recycle them. If your DVD arrives broken through postage we will allow you to send another copy without paying an extra fee. If this happens at a much later stage we may be unable to allow for time to post and screen. The CM has discretion in all matters.

Returns:
We regret that we cannot return any exhibition DVDs unless the filmmaker sends a pre-paid mailer along with their exhibition copy by registered post. Please contact the festival to confirm receipt of your registered DVD and return envelope by emailing the CM.

Rule 13: FESTIVAL SELECTION PROCESS:
Successful Submitters will be notified of the final selection for festival inclusion by Friday 4th October 2019.

Special juries nominated by the Festival management select the films for the Festival programme. The Festival management may invite films for the competition and main festival programme. Films go through several rounds of selection by panel. Please do not assume that provisional shortlisting guarantees you a place on the final shortlist. All successful applicants will be informed via email by 4th October 2019. The selection committee's decision is final.

Unfortunately, emails can be mislaid occasionally, so please assume if you have not heard from us by the specified notification deadline of Friday 4th October 2019 that you have been unsuccessful at this time. All qualifying films will be announced on the Foyle Film Festival website in late October when the full Festival programme is launched. Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of submissions, the Festival cannot offer individual feedback on films that are not selected for the programme.

The category winners will be announced at the closing evening LIM Awards Ceremony, Sunday 24th November 2019. Absent winning filmmakers will be contacted by telephone or email. Winners in all categories will receive a Light In Motion (LIIM) Award Plaque and certificate. If you cannot be present at the ceremony, your LIM Award will be mailed to you.
Competition Contact:

Ms. Eavan King
Competition Manager
Foyle Film Festival
Nerve Centre
7-8 Magazine Street
Derry-Londonderry
BT48 6HJ

T: 028 71373456
E: e.king@nervecentre.org