Mostra Internacional de Cinema Documental ‘Mares da Fin do Mundo’ - Documentary Film Festival

CALL FOR ENTRIES / RULES AND REGULATIONS

The Cultural Association MARES DA FIN DO MUNDO organizes the VI Mostra Internacional de Cinema Documental ‘Mares da Fin do Mundo’ - Documentary Film Festival, which will take place in Outes (A Coruña, Spain) from 1 to 5 November 2023. The main venues of the festival will be Casa de Cultura (Serra de Outes), Centro Náutico Municipal (O Freixo) and Estaleiro Ciprián (Broña). MDFDM is the only international documentary film festival in Galicia which focuses on the topics of sustainable fishing practices and the preservation of the marine environment. It is an event of contrasts, locally rooted but with a wide international reach, aiming at promoting traditional trades from a global and modern perspective. It is a festival committed to the protection of the marine environment and the fishing sector, which seeks to raise awareness about the need to take care of one of our most valuable natural resources: the sea.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

The Mostra is open to international participants and entry free.
Documentary films completed after 1 January 2022 may be submitted to take part in the Official Competition of the VI Mostra MDFDM.
The maximum length of the films submitted will be 59 minutes (including credits).
Film authors or producers may submit a maximum of three films. Works shown in previous editions of the Mostra and those films produced by people who take part in the festival’s Organization will not be accepted. Likewise, films with touristic or commercial content are also excluded.
The criteria will take into account the connection with the main topics of the Mostra (sustainable fishing, marine environment, climate change, etc), the relevance of the questions addressed, the technical quality and the aesthetic sense, the innovation and its approach, as well as its social and scientific relevance.

FILM ENTRY

Films can be submitted through the MoviBeta, FilmFreeway or Festhome platforms or via email to: info@maresdafindomundo.gal. The deadline for film submissions is 15 August 2023 at 23h59 (CET).

For the selection stage, films can be submitted in any language, but those made in different languages from Galician or Spanish must be subtitled, preferably in one of the aforementioned two languages (or at least in English).

The works may be submitted through a private link, a file transfer service, or through the aforementioned platforms. In any case, the films must be uploaded in the following formats for preselection:

— Format: MPEG-4 AVC (H.264 decoder)
— Maximum bitrate: 3000 kbps
— Minimum resolution: 640x480
— Audio: AAC
— Embedded subtitles or .srt file
— Files must not be greater than 2 Gb

The Festival undertakes to use these copies for exclusively cultural, non-commercial purposes, always under request and following permission of the film owner.

SELECTION

The Mostra MDFDM will constitute a selection committee that will evaluate the submitted films. This committee will be responsible for deciding which ones will become part of the Mostra's Official Competition (or the parallel sections, if applicable). At the end of the selection process, the Organization of the Mostra will communicate its decision to the people responsible for the selected films. The screening schedule will be decided by the Organization.

The selected films (in and out of competition) shortlisted will be made public on the Mostra website (www.maresdafindomundo.gal) approximately one month before the start of the Festival. Once the film is included in the festival catalogue, its unilateral withdrawal will not be permitted.

A screening copy –preferably high definition digital copy– of the selected films must be sent in the following format:

Format: .mov or .mp4 (H.264 decoder)
Maximum bitrate: 50000 kbps
Minimum resolution: 1920 × 1080 o 1280 × 720
Audio: AAC

The Mostra MDFDM will not accept copies that do not meet the minimum conditions of screening. Screening copies should be received no later than 1 October 2023. Screening copies must be clean, unless they are subtitled in Galician or Spanish. Screening copies with embedded subtitles in languages other than Galician or Spanish will not be accepted. All works in a language other than Galician will be screened with Galician subtitles.

The screening copy must be submitted together with all technical information and some promotional materials: “press kit”, a minimum of three digital images, a poster, a trailer, and other relevant materials for advertising. Original works submitted for screening must be exactly the same as the copy originally sent for selection. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in the submission being disqualified.

JURY

The Official Jury will be composed of professionals from the film, audiovisual and cultural fields, selected by the Organization of MDFDM. The Jury will be responsible for giving the MDFDM Award to the Best Film in the Official Competition, reserving the right to award an extra special mention (without a cash prize). The vote of the jury will be secret while the process of selecting the awards takes place. Decisions will be made by an absolute majority of votes. The Festival organizers may attend the deliberations, but will not participate in the voting. Any person who may have a professional interest in any of the films, in terms of production or commercialization, will be unfit to be part of the jury.

AWARDS

The films selected in the Official Competition will vie for the:

MDFDM Award for Best Film at the VI Mostra Mares da Fin do Mundo, consisting of €2,000.00, the trophy “O Faro” and a diploma.
Audience Award, consisting of €1,000.00, the trophy “O Sancosmeiro” and a diploma.

The MDFDM Award winner will be selected by the Official Jury of the VI Mostra MDFDM. Ex aequo awards are not allowed.

The Audience Award winner will be selected based on the votes by the public of the VI Mostra MDFDM. If there is a tie between two films (award ex aequo), the monetary amount of the award will be divided between the two winners.

Financial awards are subject to current legislation. The amounts expressed in these regulations are gross, and the pertinent tax withholdings will apply.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS

The person responsible for entering the film into the Festival must be authorized to lend a copy of the film by the production company and will accept the festival rules and regulations.

For promotional purposes of the event, the Organization is authorized to make public use in the media of film footage of up to three minutes of the selected films.

The person submitting the work will be responsible for the authorship and originality of each film submitted. The Organization is exempt from any responsibility regarding the film content. The acceptance of the selection and the award will require the inclusion of this information in later advertising of the film.

The Organization reserves the right to change, modify or suspend the programme of the VI Mostra Mares da Fin do Mundo.

The submission of a film implies the acceptance of the conditions established in the Rules and Regulations, whose interpretation and application are the responsibility of the Organization.

The Rules and Regulations are published in Galician, Spanish, and English. The reference version for any problem concerning its interpretation will be the Galician version.

Contact: info@maresdafindomundo.gal