Heroes International Film Festival

Heroes IFF will be held from 22nd to 24th of November 2023 in Rome, Italy.

For the festival’s stories competition, only pieces created since 1st January 2022 will be considered for the official selection. Pieces submitted must never have been projected by television networks or online broadcasters and must have a maximum duration of 30 minutes.

Selection of pieces for the competition (which must fall under science-fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, action, adventure, or cross-over) will be carried out according to the undisputable judgment of the festival organization, which will also determine the order of presentation as well as the program within the event schedule.

Pieces that wish to participate in the selection must be registered by 8th October 2023, and no later, via FilmFreeway.
Every participant can enroll a maximum of 2 pieces.
The registration of each piece must remain absolutely confidential until the festival announces the program, upon penalty of exclusion from the selection, and constitutes a commitment to provide the film for two free public screenings and not to withdraw the film from the competition once the invitation has been accepted.
Every piece submitted for selection should be presented in the original language with English subtitles (except for pieces in Italian, which do not require subtitles).
To register, it is mandatory to upload the short films downloadable according to the technical specifications listed in these regulations, indicating the category for which it is competing (the International Short Films Competition or the International Graduation Films Competition), the genre (science-fiction, fantasy, action, adventure, or cross-over), the original title and English language title for the piece, duration, country and date of production, language, subtitles, a short synopsis in English (except for pieces in Italian, for which both English and Italian are requested), producer(s), production house, director, and author(s).
Finalists will be subsequently contacted for additional material as required for the Heroes information material and the promotion of the film (artistic and technical cast, biography and filmography of the director, b/w and color photographs of the director, actors, and film scenes, comments from the film director), all of which must be provided via the online registration form no later than 8th October 2023.

Technical specifications
The shorts sent must comply with one of the following technical specifications:
- h264 codec mp4 container, 1080p resolution bitrate between 5 and 8 mbps;
- h264 codec mp4 container, 720p resolution bitrate between 4 and 6 mpbs.
The characteristics indicated above must be verified before sending the materials. In the event that the materials, for whatever reason, do not conform to the specifications indicated above, or are incomplete, damaged, or unreadable, the work will not be registered and therefore not submitted in the competition.

The selected finalists will be notified by 27th October 2023 via email to the registered parties.

Conditions for participation and disclaimer

At the time of online registration, the registering participant declares that the association "La Citta’ Dell’animazione E Dei Contenuti Digitali" is exempt from verifying the legitimacy of the film entry and is exempt from any responsibility. Online registration requires the full and unconditional acceptance of this regulation and the registering participant’s full and unconditional acceptance of the organization's decisions regarding the selection of the piece itself, its screening, and its insertion in the event program. If, after selection, the conditions for the admission of the film provided for in this regulation are no longer met, for any reason, the association "La Citta’ Dell’animazione e dei Contenuti Digitali" reserves the right to exclude the film from the event program and, if already inserted, to not proceed with its projection. Each participant acknowledges that accredited television and other media partners will be present at the festival for the purpose of recording television and radio broadcasts. By agreeing to participate in the festival and by subscribing to this regulation, each participant recognizes the right of these media partners to perform any kind of recording, even in the presence of sponsor brands, and freely gives them broadcasting rights for any recordings made, allowing said media partners to use them as needed and potentially pass them on to third parties. The winning participant will also undertake to include the official logo, prepared and provided by the organization, on all promotional material that accompanies the diffusion of the winning piece (posters, press books, trailers, opening credits, official websites, official press) as well as on copies presented and circulated at the festival. The winning films must also recognize the obtained award in all supporting promotional materials that accompany the film’s release, according to the official graphics prepared and supplied by the organization. The definitive and complete graphics for these supporting materials must be sent for verification and approval by the organization.

Disputes

The Italian text of this regulation will have final authority in the event of disputes.
The present regulation and the relevant online registration are exclusive to the selection for the Heroes International Film Festival.