Hundreds of great films are created each year by talented and visionary filmmakers. They are made on tight budgets, without rosters of celebrity names, with no advance contracts for distribution and no guarantee of monetary reward. These films have impressive content, not impressive labels. The trouble is: once the festival season passes most of these films fade away for lack of distribution. They become “invisible.”

We at Les Rimbaud du Cinema are independent filmmakers, too. We know the daunting challenges of funding film production and of working without a financial “safety net.” We celebrate and value the visions, the hard work, the commitment of independent filmmakers. This is why we established Les Rimbaud du Cinema.

The poet Arthur Rimbaud forever changed the landscape of poetry. During his life he rejected living within the confines of polite society. His creative voice and private life was free from societal constraints.

Les Rimbaud du Cinema honors the words of Rimbaud:
“What can I say ? - in a terrible way I insist on worshipping free freedom.”

We invite independent films from all countries.

Les Rimbaud has two goals.

First, we want your film to be visible to the world. We have assembled the “Les Rimbaud Jury” composed of professionals drawn from the world of culture and counter-culture — literature , music, architecture, dance, sculpture, etc.— who share our love of independent cinema. Also, your film will be available for viewing by film buffs around the world who are registered members of “The Archipelago of Les Rimbaud du Cinema” who will vote for their favorite films. This audience of viewers forms our “Public Jury.”

Second: The Les Rimbaud du Cinema awards have been established to recognize excellence in independent cinematic achievements. The winning films will be awarded at our gala awards ceremony at the close of the festival. We hope these awards will serve not only to honor your work and commitment, but will serve as a celebration to energize the audiences of the world to seek beyond the commercial "popcorn cinema" they find in their local megaplexes.

Winning films may be screened in our partner cinemas in France and internationally.

In the event that two films are tied in the same category each one will be awarded a Rimbaud.

* WE ARE AN IMDb QUALIFIED FESTIVAL *

FOR 2024 OUR FOCUS COUNTRY IS 🇵🇸PALESTINE
In addition to the dozens of countries represented in every edition of our festival, each year we celebrate a specific country. If you have a film from, or about, Palestine we hope you will submit it.
🇵🇸 WE WAIVE ENTRY FEES FOR FILMS SUBMITTED FROM PALESTINE. 🇵🇸

Awards & Prizes

RIMBAUDS are awarded for:
» Feature Film
» Short Film
» Documentary
» Animated Film
» Actor/Actress
» Screenplay
» Music Soundtrack
» Coup de Coeur (Jury award)

We differ from most festivals by awarding Rimbaud Awards without using the term “Best.” The terms "Best," "Foreign," "Female," or "Male" will not appear in any of the Rimbaud du Cinéma's awards. Why? Because a painting by Pablo Picasso is no better than a painting by Frida Kahlo, a film by Paolo Pasolini is no better than a film by Liliana Cavani and none of the works of these filmmakers or painters can be described as ”best,”"foreign" "male" or "female." The rock paintings of the Lascaux caves are not French because they were produced on French territory, but are universal because they were designed by anonymous artists whose gender is unknown and whose only homeland was humanity. The Rimbaud du Cinema proclaims the equality and universality of cinematographic works even as each one of us has the right to prefer some films over others

Rules & Terms

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.

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 2024 accepts:

* that the visual of any winning film will bear the laurels: "Rimbaud du Cinéma 2022"

* 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 September 1, 2024. 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.

12 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Rafael Escolar

    It has been an honor to be part of its fourth edition with the feature film "Dia 1" and to receive the award for the soundtrack. Les Rimbaud is a festival that, without a doubt, sees and understands independent cinema as an artistic and cultural discipline that goes beyond the canons established by the entertainment industry. I wish there were more festivals like Les Rimbaud where each film is conceived as poetry in motion. Thanks to all the Les Rimbaud team for making it possible year after year.

    January 2023
    Helpful
  • Lothar Herzog

    Amazing festival. Very nice and welcoming organizers, very good communication and a great spirit and love for cinema. The location of the closing ceremony in Paris is very good. I'd love to come back.

    January 2023
    Helpful
  • Xavier Diskeuve

    Quelle soirée inoubliable, cette soirée de remise des Rimbaud ! Etant de Namur (sur la Meuse) j'étais très attiré par ce festival mosan lui-aussi, mais je ne pensait pas les séduire avec une simple comédie. Je savais que le prix du meilleur court me serais remis mais je ne savais pas qu'on projetterait en plus mon film en entier "Le Petit prodige" ! Je suis reparti avec des éloges et des marques d'amitié plein les oreilles. On se dit que tous ces efforts que nécessite de faire un film même de 22 minutes, l'énergie et (dans mon cas) les sous de ma poche que j'y mets, tout ça valait largement la peine.

    January 2023
    Helpful
  • Kamyar Mohsenin

    It was a unique experience, working with our new friends at Les Rimbaud du Cinema, presenting three titles in the event and winning two awards there for the film, MAMAN.

    January 2023
    Helpful
  • Hui-Ling CHEN

    C'était un grand honneur pour moi de revoir le prix du meilleur documentaire 2021. "Les Rimbaud du cinéma" est un festival qui lutte pour favoriser les films avec une exigence sur la création cinématographique et les points de vue originaux. C'est un grand soutient pour les cinéastes. Je vous remercie du fond du coeur. Hui-Ling CHEN

    November 2021
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Merci Ling. Votre soutien et vos encouragements nous donnent de l'énergie. Votre recherche de la beauté et de la vérité humaine alliées à votre sincérité et votre talent ont touché le coeur du jury 2021 . Félicitations à vous et à tous ceux et toutes celles qui ont permis de faire naître votre film.