This festival features documentaries that deal with paranormal, metaphysical, supernatural and the unexplained. It is divided into 3 topic areas; ghosts / spirits / hauntings, UFO's / USO's / EBE's / Aliens etc. and lastly misc. topics such as crop circles, past life regression, cattle mutilations and anything odd or mysterious.
Each of those categories will be separated into short and feature length videos.
The top videos in each category will be shown at the Palos Paranormal Conference in Palos Hills, IL Oct. 15 & 16, 2016.
There will be trophies awarded in each of the three categories and the short and feature length divisions. There will also be a stipend awarded to all the category winners. 1st is $125, 2nd is $80 and 3rd is $40.
The following are the rules and regulations for submitting documentaries to be considered for awards and recognition by the Richard T Crowe documentary film fest.
The documentary film fest is specifically designed to give recognition to documentary filmmakers whose subject matter deals and the paranormal. The fast breaks down the documentaries into one of three categories;
• UFO’s / USO’s / EBE’s and other unidentified flying or submerged objects of an unidentified nature.
• ghosts and spirits-this category includes anything of an evidentiary nature indicating the existence of non-corporeal intelligent beings, or the remnants of intelligent beings through activity portraying human actions or presenting human form.
• Miscellaneous phenomenological events and or life forms not covered by the previous two topics.
Each of the categories will accept submissions in either long or short forms (the definition of long and short forms will be handled in a later paragraph). Each category and each form will have awards of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. An additional award a festival grand champion will be chosen from among the category winners. The submissions will be judged by a panel of judges comprised of no less than two people that are familiar with the topic and two additional professionals from the film industry.
All submissions are to be made in digital format and uploaded to a private Vimeo site. Submissions can only be made once the competition fee is paid. Each submission must be accompanied by a competition fee. There are no discounts for multiple submissions. Upon receipt of the submission fee the submitter will be given the URL and password by which they may upload their project.
On September 1, 2016, the top five finalist each category will be announced. It is our expectation that this will give the finalists a sufficient amount of time to arrange to be present at the awards ceremony on October 16, 2016 at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. The festival committee will work with all finalists in assisting to arrange accommodations where necessary. It is strongly encouraged that all finalists be present at the awards ceremony, however it is not represent that they be present to receive an award.
General information
Submissions may be made in either color format or black and white.
Each submission may only be considered in one category. If you are uncertain as to which category your documentary best represents, you can request assistance from the committee.
All submissions must be a minimum of 15 minutes in length. This does not include either opening or closing credits, unless a portion of the material is running concurrently with either the title screen or the credits.
Submissions of between 15 to 45minutes will be considered for the short category.
Submissions of over 45 minutes of less than 2 hours will be considered in the long category.
Submissions over under 15 minutes or 2 hours will not be considered.
The material must be recent. The documentary can’t have been released in any format prior to Jan. 1 of 2014. Historical footage is permitted but must not be the sole material being considered or presented.
The documentary must not have been released in any commercial format or venue prior to the competition completion in Oct. 2016.
Submissions will be judged on the following criteria; the quality of the evidence presented, the volume of the evidence presented, the logic of the conclusion [if any] and the overall entertainment value of the submission.
The overall presentation, tenor, format and/or conclusion (if any) is entirely the choice of the submitter. To clarify, you may present your material from the point of view of being supportive or accepting of the validity of your subject, or you may choose to be a skeptic. The material may be presented in either a strictly documentarian type of format, or may be presented in a narrative (story) form. Those presenting material in a narrative form must present objective information [evidence] in such a way so that the viewer can delineate between the storyline and the objective information contained therein.
Debunkers will not be considered. Debunkers are defined as people with dismissive attitudes who deal with the topics by simply stating or inferring that the given subject matter has no evidence to support it, is illogical and/or is unworthy of serious study.
The documentary does not have to arrive at a conclusion of any kind. It is perfectly acceptable for the topic to remain a mystery.
Definition of terms
Spirits\ghosts – documentaries on this topic may include such things as; inexplicable movement of material objects, inexplicable variations in temperature, the presence of any quantifiable physical state that seems to be under control or as the result of the presence of a nonphysical life force such as variations in electrical conductivity, rapidly changing unaccountable emotional states, balls of light, mists, shadows or smells. EVP’s, photographic or video graphic manifestations, technological data gathered from devices for that intended purpose.
UFO’s / EBE’s / Flying Saucers – devices that appear to be technological in nature that are either seen flying through the sky or operating underwater. The aerial devices should exhibit characteristics of flight contrary to current understanding of physics / aerodynamics. The underwater devices should exhibit characteristics contrary to current understanding of fluid dynamics, physics, or otherwise accepted conventional material limits. EBE’s [extra-terrestrial biological entities] should be shown to have characteristics or abilities substantially different from those of terrestrial homo sapien sapiens.
Miscellaneous paranormal events / abilities / beings – anything that is of an unexplained, paranormal or phenomenological nature not covered by the other two topic areas. Some examples of topics from this category are; crop circles, cryptozoological creatures, unexplained sounds or lights, unconventional energy sources [orgone, radionics, chi, etc.], reincarnation, etc. If you are uncertain if the topic meets the criteria of the competition, please contact the director, H. Thomas Cameron, to validate the subject matter.