The North Bellarine Film Festival (NBFF) is held at various times and venues throughout the year. The main festival is held in mid-November at the Potato Shed in Drysdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, about a 90-minute drive southwest of Melbourne.

Smaller events are held throughout the year at venues such as local wineries.

Films may be selected for screening at the main festival or at any other festival events. All selected films will receive a laurel confirming that they are an official selection of the North Bellarine Film Festival.

The festival also presents the Emerging Filmmaker Award, a jury-selected prize presented to a filmmaker who resides or has resided in Victoria (Australia) and is no older than 25 years of age. Submitted films must be no longer than 15 minutes and can be of any genre. The award is presented at the main festival in November.

Filmmakers are invited to submit films in the following categories:

- Short films- Submission fee: US$10/US$8 for Gold members
- Emerging Filmmaker Award- Submission fee: US$5/US$4 for Gold members

Please refer to the 'Rules and Terms' for information on each category.

Victorian Emerging Filmmaker Award: $AU 500 and a trophy.

Laurels will be provided to selected films.

EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARD

The award is limited to filmmakers aged 25 years or under at the time that they submit their film.

The person making the submission must reside or have resided in the State of Victoria (Australia). Finalists will be required to verify their age and residency in Victoria.

The film must have been completed no more than two years before submitting.

Entries must be no longer than 15 minutes including the opening and credits.

Entry fee: US$5/$4 FilmFreeway Gold Members

Deadline: Submissions must be received no later than 31 August 2023.

All genres of film are eligible.

SHORT FILMS

Short films must not exceed 20 minutes in length including the opening and credits.

Entry fee: US$10/$8 FilmFreeway Gold Members

Deadline: Submissions must be received no later than 31 August 2023.

All genres of film are eligible.

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS (APPLIES TO ALL CATEGORIES)

All genres of film are eligible.

Entries must be submitted by the specified deadline. Late entries will not be accepted.

Submissions must comply with all entry requirements specified in this document. By submitting your film to the festival, you agree to these rules and terms.

Submissions must be made through FilmFreeway. Watermarks are not permitted.

Only the director or producer of a film may submit it to the festival. The person making the submission must have sole and exclusive rights, and absolute authority, and have clearances including but not limited to all creative, copyright, branding, design, legal, image and sound related aspects of the film, to submit the film to the North Bellarine Film Festival.

The film must not infringe Australian copyright or defamation law.

Entrant’s email addresses will be added to the festival’s contacts database. This database is not shared with third parties and entrants may remove their contact details any time by contacting the festival committee.

No compensation, additional fees, or any other payment outside of this arrangement unless specifically stated prior will be paid if a film is selected for screening.

The submitter assigns all rights for the North Bellarine Film Festival to screen the film and for the film’s trailer and poster to be used for promotional activities of the festival including, but not limited to, social, print and broadcast media. Any use of this material by the North Bellarine Film Festival will be exclusively for the purposes of promoting the festival.

Laurels will be provided for selected films on request.

Entrants may withdraw their submission through FilmFreeway at any time.

Submissions cannot be changed. Changes to the film will require that the submission be withdrawn and re-entered.

The entry must not have been released theatrically or commercially or aired on commercial television or by streaming in Australia prior to its submission.

Entries must be in English or have English subtitles at the time they are submitted. Subtitles must be burned in.

Entrants agree to supply at the request of the North Bellarine Film Festival any supporting documents relating to their entry including but not limited to proof of copyright for music or other materials used in its production, actor’s release forms and or proof of age or place of residence.

Film ownership remains with the filmmaker. The North Bellarine Film Festival, however, reserves the rights to screen submitted films to an audience at any time during the festival. The person making the submission will have no say, influence or otherwise in the decision of the screening of the film with regards to the screening date and time, venue, or method and formatting of screening activities.

Films rated or likely to be rated X 18+ or RC will not be accepted. The North Bellarine Film Festival reserves the right to make its own assessment of unrated films. The North Bellarine Film Festival will not accept material which can be understood as rough cuts, music videoclips, TVCs, corporate or trainings, pornographic, home video, and or a work in progress.

Entries will be selected/judged by a panel established by the North Bellarine Film Festival. All decisions by the panel and the North Bellarine Film Festival are final and cannot be appealed. No feedback will be provided on individual submissions.

The North Bellarine Film Festival reserves the right not to grant the award or screen any films or to remove a film for consideration for the award for any reason.

Entrants agree to indemnify the North Bellarine Film Festival and hold it harmless from any damages, liabilities, losses, costs, expenses, obligations or claims arising out of a breach of their agreements, obligations, presentations and warranties under these rules. By submitting a film to the festival, you agree to waive all legal action, including third party claim, against the festival, its organisers, venue, associates, stakeholders and affiliates.

The person submitting the film will hold the North Bellarine Film Festival harmless for any negative public reviews of the film in relation to those associated with the festival or otherwise associated as mentioned above.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • William Cattell

    Communication was excellent, and when I got there the organisers could not have been more welcoming and friendly. It was a classy show and the films presented were selected for a discerning audience. Thanks Bill, Jessie, and all the staff.

    November 2022
  • Bill, Jessie and everyone involved have been super welcoming and engaging. The passion of the festival is abundantly clear. The support for young filmmakers is fantastic; it's really a terrific event and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it this year

    November 2022
  • Zak Marrinan

    Bill was a lovely host and the committee put on a great selection of local and international films. Thank you again for selecting Animal Work to be part of this grassroots festival.

    March 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Zak, it was great meeting you and thank you for letting us include 'Animal Work' in our program. Animal Work is a terrific film and we hope to see more of your work in the future.

  • Sam Sungmin Lee

    NBFF, thank you! It was an honour having my short "Coffee Lover" screened at the Potato Shed theatre. Spending my Saturday watching 28 beautiful short films, I left inspired by every short and encouraged, especially from our work being seen by a live crowd. It was also our 1 year of anniversary of filming "Coffee Lover", making it all the more meaningful. Thank you Bill, Jim, Ivan and everyone else involved. I will be attending NBFF again in the future without a doubt. Thank you :D

    March 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks Sam, this is the first year that we invited filmmakers to the festival and it was fantastic having you and the 'Coffee Lover' crew come down. Please keep us up yo date on your work as we would love to have you back!

  • Thanks to Pearl and the team at North Bellarine for a fantastic experience. It was a shame the festival couldn't go ahead in-person (because of COVID) but the online platform via Vimeo worked a treat - a testament to the festival's passion. Very friendly and supportive of filmmakers.

    November 2020
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks very much Joseph. Moving from an in theatre to an online festival took a huge amount of work and we learned a lot. Hopefully we'll be back at the Potato Shed Theatre next year but we have learned some great skills just in case we are still online. I loved Duke- we have an old blind dog and it is very sad. Hopefully we won't have to do what happened to old Duke! Regards, Bill