ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival

****ENTRY RULES, TERMS & GUIDELINES****
*ALL FILMS* + *DOCS* + SCREENPLAYS*
*MUST BE A PREMIERE*

This Includes Feedback Festivals, Online Festivals and Award Only Festivals.

Any Film or Screenplay that has been Selected, Awarded, Nominated, Been Given Feedback, Played Online, Seen By Judges and/or in a Live Or Online Screening in and around the Province of Ontario or Quebec and/or has received a Nomination and/or Award BEFORE JULY 2024 will be DISQUALIFIED.

Your FILM CANNOT Play or be Judged by any Contest In ONTARIO or QUEBEC CANADA PRIOR TO JULY 2024. No Feedback. No Awards. No Round Placements. Nothing!

Any Film or Screenplay that has been Selected, Awarded, Nominated, Been Given Feedback, Played Online, Seen By Judges and/or in a Live Or Online Screening in and around the Province of Ontario or Quebec and/or has received a Nomination and/or Award BEFORE MAY 2024 will be DISQUALIFIED.

Your FILM CANNOT Play or be Judged by any Contest In ONTARIO or QUEBEC CANADA PRIOR TO JULY 2024. No Feedback. No Awards. No Round Placements. Nothing!

>>>>If Your Film is Viewable To The Public and Selected for TBFF, We REQUIRE Your Film be Dark Online From Notification In May until July 15, 2024 in Order To Compete For Awards<<<

>>>Screenwriters - Please Read<<<
Any Screenplay of any kind that has been given a Live Script Read, Nominated For an Award or any Sort of Feedback in and around Toronto and /or the Province of Ontario will be automatically pulled from the current year Competition. No Refunds. No Exceptions.

>If your Screenplay is an Official Selection - You 'MAY' not receive your Coverage until Festival Week is Over. While you may have beaten out many other screenplays to get into the Top 3, your script will not be perfect and it will have notes about Formatting and Other issues that will be suggested to you for a re-write.

>If your Screenplay is NOT an Official Selection - You WILL receive your Coverage BEFORE Festival Week. This happens usually around the end of April for about 1 month via email.

Films in a language other than English must be Subtitled.
All Films must NOT have Public Viewing Links on any Platform.

**IMPORTANT NOTE TO SUBMITTING FILMMAKERS + SCREENWRITERS**

-WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER- PROMOTE YOUR OFFICIAL SELECTION!!!

You can promote your film whether you live 10 minutes or 10,000 miles from ReelHeART. The Internet makes it all possible. Embrace Social Media.

NO one is going to know about you unless YOU Promote Yourself!
Be Proud of your Product. Be Proud you Got Into ReelHeART. PROMOTE!!

Any Filmmaker, Screenwriter who does not Reply to Emails and Updates, or Promote his/her screening or Live Script from the moment of ReelHeART Official Notification up to and including to the end of Festival Week will automatically be pulled from the Program and Competition for simply being blasé about your acceptance..

We’re not asking you to spend extra money, we’re asking you to be passionate about your film and spend energy promoting and marketing your film from the moment of your acceptance notification. Many FREE options are available to you: (Print, Free Community Papers, Radio, TV, Internet: including Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, Blogs, etc)

-RUNNING TIME-
The TOTAL running time of your film MUST INCLUDE the end credit role to the end. We do not program on time, we program on content. BUT, we need ACCURATE RUN TIMES, to keep our screenings on schedule at the theaters-

-SENDING YOUR FILM-
Send Nothing to Us.
We will download your film file (2-4 GIGS MAX) When if It becomes an 'Official Selection'
We require online Access to your Film with a Password for the Screening and Scoring Rounds. The link must point to FilmFreeway, Vimeo, YouTube or your own Website.

*If Accepted, we will ask for either a High Resolution Download or a DCP File depending on IF/When We go back To Screening In Person In A Cinema and what the screening exhibition system requires.

PLEASE DO NOT MAIL YOUR SCREENPLAY-
Feature Screenplays 125 Pages MAX
Short Screenplays 30 Pages MAX
Only PDF Files Please. Or a full, professionally formatted screenplay in MS Word

You Title Page should only include:
Screenplay Title
Your Name
***NO Contact Information

1) Completion Date
Any Date Is Fine

2) International Films
All International Language films must have English subtitles.

3) Publicly Screened
If you are submitting a film that has already been publicly screened you must disclose this information including date, city, country, theater etc. along with your entry form

3a) Premiere Status
We NEED a Premiere! (i.e. in the least an Ontario Premiere).

ReelHeART must have a Premiere of Some Kind in order to keep your film In Competition.

As well, you must be able to assure us that only 5% or less of your film in its entirety exists on the Internet. Failure to do so will disqualify the film. This also applies to Music Videos.

Submissions may NOT be withdrawn from ReelHeART once they have been entered, except at the sole discretion of ReelHeART.

If after Accepting their 'Official Selection" a Filmmaker demands withdrawal, there will be a monetary fine payable to ReelHeART of $250.00 USD. This fine must be paid by the Filmmaker immediately upon receipt of notification from ReelHeART.

If you accepted screening in Toronto and have kept it quiet from us, your film will be immediately pulled from the final program.

4) Student Films
If you are submitting a student film or as a student, you can either be currently be enrolled in a recognized film program or have graduated. You must disclose school information including graduation date, city, country, school name and program enrolled in, school web site address etc. along with your entry form. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.

5) Selection Process
The festival programmers/reviewers will determine which films will be selected for programming. Their picks along with their scorecards for each film will be turned over to the ReelHeART Master Programmer, who makes the final programming decisions on what films will ultimately screen during the ReelHeART International Film Festival.

5a) Selection Process Final Decision
In the event of a disagreement with a program choice or a substitution, the festival director will determine all final selections for screening.

6) Sending Your Film Checkpoints

You must submit your Entry Fee in the form of PayPal Payment along with your entry if you submit directly via the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival web site within any of the deadlines.
You must email your screenplay if there is no upload link
You must include your full contact information and tracking number or discount code-

7) Exhibition Media Submission Deadline
Deadline for receipt of Exhibition copies (download) is 6 Weeks Before Festival Week.
NO EXCEPTIONS. This is especially important in the case of requiring a DCP File

8) Selection: If Your Film or Screenplay Is Selected
You will be notified via HIGH PRIORITY EMAIL if your film has been selected approximately 6-9 weeks prior to ReelHeART by the Submissions Team.

9) If Your Film or Screenplay Is NOT Selected
You will NOT be notified via EMAIL if your film has been NOT been selected.
We DO update the submission status and judging status at FilmFreeway if you submit through FilmFreeway.

ReelHeART does notify some but not all submitters. Please check your FilmFreeway account for any notes from the ReelHeART Submissions Team- If submitting directly at ReelHeART, check your spam folders and deleted folders for emails from us.

9a) If Your Film Is Shortlisted but Not Immediately Selected

We may notify if your film was slightly edged out for screening and still is ON HOLD until we complete our Master Program. This happens to about 1-3 films each season. It could happen to your film.

Depending on the score of your film and suitability, there is the possibility for a film to move up from shortlist to a Venue Screening or, from Venue to Main Program-

You are certainly welcome to email us about the status of your film but not until AFTER Our Notification Date

10) Additional Support Materials
If your film has been selected, you must submit additional support materials [if requested], clean exhibition media and signed releases no later than 4 weeks prior to the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival.

10a) Additional Support Materials
You will be asked to supply a high resolution image, synopsis, social media links, trailer links, for the Official ReelHeART Online Program and/or Print.

11) Copyright Materials Releases
If your film has been selected, you must submit additional signed releases regarding your use of 3rd party copyright material no later than 8 weeks prior to the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival

11a) Copyright Materials Releases
In the alternative, you will be provided with our standard release voiding us of any responsibility with respect to the Exhibition of your project should it contain 3rd party copyright material unknown to any and all parties connected to the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival.

12)
ReelHeART “as policy’ does NOT Record Any “Live Script Reads in their Entirety, nor Publish any Recordings as part of any Screenplay Winners' prize.”
ReelHeART however, may record and may publish Screenplay Live Read ‘Snippets’ (Content) for use as Marketing, Promotional, Learning Tools for Screenwriters, Students and/or for use by the contracted Cast Members for their Social Media or Portfolio as per our Artists' Agreement.

13) Any Filmmaker or Screenwriter who pulls their Entry after Official Notification will be charged a $500 Administration Fee.