Our festival may be unique for you as we REQUIRE FRENCH SUBTITLES if French is not the only language spoken in the film. We require English subtitles for all films unless English is the only language spoken in the film.
WHY? Well, first of all because we are a festival based in France and many of our team and jury members only speak French. But also, right now the impact of Hollywood has made English the "standard." This means that an immense population of potential audiences will never see films that are not in English. The more languages you can subtitle for your film the larger your potential audience.
THERE ARE NOW APPS THAT CAN HELP YOU TRANSLATE SUBTITLES. Some of them are free. It is a time consuming process, but not terribly difficult. It helps if you have someone fluent in the translated language who can review your subtitles before you finalize them.
Because of our requirement for dual subtitles filmmakers may find it most effective to prepare a video without hard ("burned in") subtitles. Instead, multiple subtitle files can be added to one video to allow viewers to choose the language they require. This is easy to do on Vimeo. Although hard subtitles are convenient, the availability of multiple languages will always be of benefit to your film as it makes your work available to wider international audiences.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT SRT FILES. If you do not have subtitles attached to a single video, then include links to the English and French videos on the submission form.
If we discover a submission is missing the required subtitles we will attempt to email the submitter for an update. The entry will be marked “incomplete” and out of consideration until the required subtitles are added. Failure to provide working subtitles by the final submission deadline will result in disqualification without refund of submission fees.
* WE DO NOT GRANT FEE WAIVERS*
WE DO NOT GRANT FEE WAIVERS FOR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP. We are filmmakers, too. We understand financial challenges. We do not profit from this festival. We have set our fees as low as possible. Thank you for understanding.
**We make an exceptions ONLY for filmmakers who reside in countries (eg, Iran), where international banking is impossible. If that is not your situation then PLEASE DO NOT ASK.
COMPLETION DATE:
There are no requirements regarding dates of completion. We seek to find "invisible" films -- high quality independent works that have not found distribution because they are not financed by the establishment studios or markets. We are looking for great films that have not yet found a route to audiences.
Any director, producer or distributor who has registered a film to be eligible for Rimbaud du Cinéma 2026 accepts:
* that the visual of any winning film will bear the laurels: "Rimbaud du Cinéma 202?"
* that the film, if it receives a Rimbaud, be screened internationally in limited engagements in our partner cinemas
The Rimbaud du Cinéma team is committed to ensuring respect for the dignity of the human person and respect for animal sensitivity. As a result, any film is automatically excluded if it includes:
*pornography
*extreme violence
*a racist or discriminatory ideology based on gender identity or sexual orientation, religion, physical appearance, disability, origin, nationality, social group and any other form to the contrary to human dignity and respect for animal rights.
*the appearance of condoning or encouraging violent, illicit, antisocial, degrading or alienating behavior.
The Rimbaud du Cinéma team reserves the right to reject any film that does not comply with these principles.
Please understand that we rely on entry fees for the operation of the festival. We make no profits from your entry fees. We know the painful realities of funding. That is why we set our fees low.
SCREENING FEES
Les Rimbaud du Cinema DOES NOT PAY SCREENING FEES for submitted films. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that LRDC will not pay to present your work.
*We cannot grant fee waivers* (except to filmmakers in countries where international banking is impossible like Iran. WE DO NOT GRANT FEE WAIVERS FOR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
FILM LENGTH DEFINITION
Features (Long métrage): 60 minutes or longer.
Shorts (Court-métrage): 59 minutes or less
AGREEMENTS:
SCREENERS
All projects must be submitted via secure online screener via FilmFreeway either as a password protected Vimeo or Youtube link attached to your submission or uploaded directly to FilmFreeway.
Online screeners must be available to stream on FilmFreeway, VIMEO OR YOUTUBE ONLY.; we do not accept any films on other platforms or that must be downloaded.
We cannot accept DVD or Blu-Ray screeners. In addition, we cannot accept screener links via email, they MUST be attached to your submission and ONLY via Vimeo, Youtube or directly on FilmFreeway (not Google Drive, etc. )
The submitter is responsible for ensuring that their screener link and password is active through at least through October 2026. In the event of a password or URL change after submitting MAKE SURE TO UPDATE FilmFreeway. You may also want to email us. If we discover an error with the screener we will attempt to email the submitter for an update. Failure to respond by the final submission deadline will result in disqualification without refund of submission fees.
Submission of a work confirms that the Les Rimbaud du Cinema has permission to exhibit it during the Festival and in any Les Rimbaud/Archipelago Les Rimbaud presentations to affiliate cinemas during limited screenings. Submission of a work implies that the Festival can employ moving image excerpts and reproduce stills for exhibition promotion. Les Rimbaud du Cinema also hosts “Les Rimbaud Films” screenings after the main festival in affiliate cinemas around the world.
*Permission will be asked for participation if you are selected.*
PROGRAMMING
The general program and screening schedule are the exclusive responsibility of the Festival Director. Films accepted and included in the program cannot be withdrawn from competition once the entry form has been signed and submitted to the Festival.
PUBLICITY:
Press kits and cover letters are not required. If you wish to submit either, please upload it to FilmFreeway..
Do not send publicity or updates on your film’s festival wins to us in separate emails. While we are happy for your successes we cannot take your wins at other festivals into consideration.
You are responsible to keep your Press Kit on FilmFreeway up to date. If we need information about your film, the director’s statement, or stills from the film we will refer to your Press Kit as submitted to FilmFreeway.
Please be sure to check your spam filters in order to receive our emails and eblasts that will be directed to accepted filmmakers. And most importantly, do not unsubscribe. We cannot add your email back once you've removed it.
TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY:
It is our intention to provide a worry-free environment where people can conduct business and interact with other filmmakers from around the world. Our staff will be happy to provide for you a list of local hotels and information on transportation options upon request. We cannot provide travel expenses to you.
