Email us if you have any questions about anything before you submit!
• Please submit to a single category only!
• IF YOU USE GENERATIVE AI IN ANY PART OF YOUR PROJECT YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED! We want to see the movie magic that YOU and yours made, not what SkyNet vomited onto a timeline.
• All films must be in English OR fully subtitled in English.
• All short films must be *no more than* 30 minutes in length (including opening and closing credits).
• All feature films must be *at least* 60 minutes in length (including opening and closing credits).
• PLEASE FILL OUT YOUR PROJECT INFO ON YOUR FILMFREEWAY PAGE! All entries must be accompanied by a brief synopsis and/or artist statement. Listing the runtime will also go a long way with our programming team! You (and many others) worked hard on this film, take the time to fill out your project page properly. It is rather vexing when your film page has no information, no posters, no trailers, no promo pics. It doesn't make you mysterious or interesting; it just annoys the programmers.
• By submitting to the MystiCon Independent Film Festival, you agree that you own all copyrights and intellectual properties to your work. Any violations of that agreement will result in immediate disqualification from the festival and a cheerfully vulgar GRE word-level rejection letter.
• The MystiCon Independent Film Festival reserves the right to use any part of your submission for promotional purposes regarding the festival itself. This includes Facebook, Twitter, local advertising, promo trailers and other related venues. Don't freak out, films festivals do this all the time. We just might use a clip or still from your work to help promote the festival so we can get more cheeks in more seats to see your awesome flick. This means we dig you.
• Submitting to the MystiCon Independent Film Festival does not guarantee selection. Neither does liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter or Instagram. Cash bribes might work, possibly tacos, but honestly why risk it? We reserve the right to disqualify anyone based on violation of con and/or film festival rules and regulations, objectionable content (although we can handle a lot), rude behavior via email or social media, or poor sound and/or video quality (as in unwatchable).
• All films must be available to festival management for download in the event of selection into the festival.
• No unsolicited waivers will be granted to any submitter for any reason EVER. Please do not e-mail us asking for a waiver code or you will be blocked, permanently disqualified from the festival, and mocked.
• Submission fees are non-refundable and will not be returned for any reason. If a submission is not selected or disqualified, entrants will not receive a fee refund.
• We do not pay screening fees, and we never will. Don't even ask.
• We DO NOT provide feedback for projects not selected. Please do not ask.
• Once more with feeling, the MystiCon Independent Film Festival does not support the use of generative AI in any part of your project. Please do not submit your project to this festival if your film contains generative AI or features promotional material made from generative AI. This includes movie posters. That means no Chat GPT or Midjourney or any of that soulless garbage. SkyNet is bad… Terminator pretty much covered that in the first five minutes. Any films found to have been created using Generative AI will be immediately disqualified without refund of submission fees.
• All selections and award winners are chosen by the MystiCon Independent Film Festival Jury and their decisions are final.
• By submitting to this festival, you are hereby agreeing to the rules and regulations as laid out by the MystiCon Convention Committee as listed on this page and in full on the official website.
• MystiCon reserves the right to reject any film, at any time, for any reason. Finally, you certify that you are fully authorized to share the submitted work with us and acknowledge that in the event of any unauthorized distribution, MystiCon will not be held liable for any civil and/or criminal charges you may face as a result.
• We can't stress enough that if you email us with a waiver request, it will be completely ignored. You'd be surprised how many people don't read these rules and ask us for a waiver. Or they do read these rules, think that they don't apply to them, and then still ask for a waiver. It just boggles the mind.
• Please do not submit your film to multiple genre categories. Film festival submission fees add up and we don’t want you to waste your money. It honestly doesn't give you an extra chance to get accepted. That's just silly. Pick the one category that you feel best suits your film and let us handle the rest. If we like your film, it won't matter what category it gets submitted under. Savvy?
• International films not in English MUST be subtitled or dubbed in English.
Again, if you're not sure about something, please email us before you submit. We'll answer your queries and concerns as quickly as possible. Except for waiver requests. Those go right in the trash.
Happy submitting… we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!
