Nooga Underground Film Fest

***PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR A WAIVER***

We strongly encourage you to review the following carefully. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to all of the following rules and terms.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Each submission must be accompanied by a submission fee paid in full and a working screener in order to be considered. Once we have all necessary materials, the submission will be marked “In Consideration”. It is the submitter’s responsibility to make sure that all submission requirements are met. If your submission is marked “Incomplete” and you’re unsure why, please email info@noogafest.com

Press kits and cover letters are not required but are appreciated. If you wish to submit either, please attach it to your submission. DO NOT send hard copies to our office; they will be recycled.

Any submissions that are incomplete by our final deadline will be disqualified without refund of submission fees. Reasons a submission will be considered incomplete include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Screener is missing
- Screener has been deleted or password has been changed
- Screener is missing subtitles (if in a foreign language), audio, image, or any feature that prevents us from properly judging it

SCREENERS

All projects must be submitted via secure online screener - either as a password protected Vimeo link attached to your submission or uploaded directly to FilmFreeway. Online screeners must be available to stream; we do not accept any films that must be downloaded (ex: Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc.).

We DO NOT accept DVD or Blu-Ray screeners. In addition, we cannot accept screener links via email, they MUST be attached to your submission.

The submitter is responsible for ensuring that their screener link and password are active throughout the entire submissions cycle. In the event of a password or URL change after submitting, email us immediately. If we discover an error with the screener before our final deadline, 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. If we discover that a screener is incomplete after our final deadline, it may be directly disqualified without refund of submission fees.

SUBTITLES

All foreign-language films must be submitted with English subtitles. If we discover a foreign-language submission is missing subtitles, we will attempt to email the submitter for an update. If the submitter fails to provide working subtitles by the final submission deadline, the project will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified without refund of submission fees.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES

Categories are defined by film format rather than genre. We accept a variety of genres and film themes in every category, including but not limited to comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi, puppetry films, food films, kid friendly films, and more. If you have questions about any of our submission categories, please email info@noogafest.com.

To be considered Local you must meet BOTH of the following terms:

Project was at least partially filmed in Chattanooga TN
Director currently resides in the state of Tennessee

COMPLETION DATE

Any project that was completed on or after October 14, 2022 will be eligible for consideration at the 2023 Nooga Underground Film Festival.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Works-in-progress are accepted with the following stipulations:

Incomplete projects must be clearly listed as such. Films should be marked as either a “Rough Cut” or “Work In Progress/WIP”. All incomplete materials or changes to be made should be clearly indicated (ex: temporary score, missing VFX, no color-correction) both in your cover letter and the film cut itself (ideally as a title card at the start of the film).

The submitter may update their screener up until the final deadline, as long as the link and password for the submission remains the same. However, NUFF is only responsible for considering the project as it exists at the time of review. We are under no obligation to revisit updated cuts once a screener has been seen. Therefore, you should not submit your project if it is not complete enough to adequately represent the final product.

Updated cuts must be accessible via your FilmFreeway account. We cannot accept updated cuts via email.

No updated cuts will be accepted after the final submission deadline.

PREMIERE STATUS

We do not require a World Premiere in any category, but premiere status is taken into consideration when making final selections.

Films should not have publicly screened in the Chattanooga area prior to the 2023 Nooga Underground Film Festival, and we strongly prefer to program works that have not yet screened in the state of Tennessee. Feature films that have acquired US distribution of any kind prior to selection at NUFF are not eligible for competition.

Feature films that have been (or will be) publicly released online, on VOD, or DVD prior to the 2023 Nooga Underground Film Festival are not eligible to screen. Short films that are available online are programmed on a case by case basis, but we typically prioritize films that have not yet been released to the public.

NOTE: This clause only applies to films that are PUBLICLY available to screen. Films that have screened online as part of a virtual festival presentation are still eligible for screening at NUFF.

It is the submitter’s responsibility to notify NUFF of any updates in premiere status as they occur, especially if the film is selected for another festival in the state of Tennessee.

DEADLINES

You can find a full list of deadlines under the “Dates & Deadlines” section of our FilmFreeway listing.

ACCEPTED FILMS

All works selected must have the final version available by August 14th 2023 for inclusion in the festival.

Upon acceptance into the 2023 Nooga Underground Film Festival, you grant NUFF the right to utilize an excerpt from your film for promotional purposes.

All accepted films will screen at least once during the festival, with the possibility of an encore screening for select films/shorts blocks when appropriate. All scheduling, screening venues, digital platforms, and time slots are at the discretion of the NUFF staff and are subject to change.

Invitations may be extended to films for virtual only presentation, in-person only presentation, or both.

NUFF only pays for return shipments of prints. Flash drives will only be returned upon request, and local drives are pick-up only. We cannot return international flash drives, so we highly recommended sending them online. Flash drives left after a year will be recycled.

DCP capability is limited and dependent on the screening venue. DCP must be approved by the Print Traffic department after the schedule has been finalized. NUFF is not responsible for any shipping expenses of unapproved print formats.

Any kind of film exhibition (16/35/70mm) is rare and solely at the discretion of the programming team, venue capabilities, and schedule allowances. It is not a format that can be guaranteed at the time of acceptance. If you choose to submit, it is best to assume that (if selected) a digital version would most likely be chosen for exhibition.

Schedule and screening venues are decided solely at the discretion of the programming staff, and NUFF cannot guarantee that any film will play in a DCP-capable theater. Please be prepared to have an alternate print format available. If approved for DCP, you must provide a backup format (such as Blu-ray or a digital file).

SCREENING FEES

The Nooga Underground Film Festival DOES NOT PAY SCREENING FEES for submitted films. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that NUFF will not pay to present your work.

THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE

NUFF regularly uses private, secure third party software to organize, track, and review submissions. By submitting to our festival, you are authorizing us to include your film in those third party softwares.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Please be advised that the Nooga Underground Film Festival has instituted a code of conduct by which all attendees of the festival are expected to follow. Those who fail to follow the terms of this code of conduct will face possible dismissal from the festival. Possible grounds for dismissal may include, but are not limited to, the following: gross misconduct or insubordination, theft of property or misuse of agency materials, abuse or mistreatment of clients, guests, staff or other volunteers, failure to abide by agency policies and procedures, any form of harassment or assault.

REFUNDS & DISQUALIFICATION

Once a project is listed “In Consideration” on FilmFreeway, we are unable to offer refunds for any reason, including (but not limited to):
- Submission to the wrong category
- Change in premiere status or distribution
- Duplicate submissions
- Failure to pay the full submission fee by the final deadline
- Failure to provide a working screener by the final deadline
- Project’s failure to comply with submission Rules & Terms
- Improper use of a discount code or waiver
- Rejection from the festival
- Withdrawing your submission for any reason (including changes of heart)

NUFF reserves the right to disqualify any submission without refund, even after a film has been invited or final programming has been announced, at the sole discretion of NUFF staff.

NUFF reserves the right to decline any submission for consideration for any reason.

If you have any questions please email us at info@noogafest.com. We are unable to address inquiries via phone.