SFC Film Festival celebrates space exploration and space film makers. The aim of the festival is two folds, one is to give more established indie filmmakers the opportunity to make a living from their work and the other is to nurture emerging filmmakers to learn, grow and make positive space films, inspiring the next space pioneers and artists.

After our successful 2021 festival we are making it bigger and better, thank you to all who participated

This year we’re expanding the awards to include more awards to include general positivity (no necessarily space related) awards. We are also adding a student award to each category.

Watch the following video for more detailed information. You can always contact the festival director, Masoud, if you have any questions.
[Place Holder for video link]

PLEASE READ THE TERMS AND INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY, AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE SUBMITTING TO THE RIGHT CATEGORY. ALSO PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING. CAREFULLY.

PROCESS
--------------
SFC Film Festival is a combination of online events and physical events. Once you submit your films, or series pilot, we will review and evaluate your submissions. If we officially select your submission it'll be screened online (platform TBD). We will screen selected films after each deadline. The number of films screened will depend on how many were selected within the deadline and how many have been shown. Your film will be screened at least once online. Then at the end of the submission period (i.e. 23rd Sept. 2022) all selected films will be judges by a panel of judges to determine the winners of each category awards. If your submission wins then we will screen it physically at a cinema theatre in National Film And Sound Archive, with the award ceremony held at the end of the cinema screenings.

Please DO NOT submit the same film, video or series project to multiple categories. Choose the one that fits your project best.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Masoud (Festival Director)

Awards & Prizes

Winners will share a prize pool of AU$3750 on non-cash prizes + a medal or trophy + Laurel, except for licensing deal category. Details below. AND/OR optional offer of licensing deal maybe offered to films that suit SFC Films mission.

Licensing Deal Award With SFC Films
------------------------------------------------------
This is a special category and is seperate from all other categories. There will be no screenings of these films and will go straight to SVOD, or TVOD, section of SFC Films website. Winners of this award will be offered a non-exclusive licensing opportunity for their films with SFC Films to be distributed on www.sfcfilms.space available to SFC Films members. The licensing terms will be case by case basis and will be negotiated with filmmaker. Winners of this category will be notified as soon as a decision is made to make an offer.

[**** For the following categories****]

All officially selected films will be ranked by Judges in November 2022, and winners will be contacted and confirmed in November 2022. All winners will receive an official SFC winners Laurel, a medal or trophy, and possibly an offer of screening rights Licensing with SFC Films at www.sfcfilms.space worth AU$100 - AU$500 (depending on quality and length) for two years beyond the one year rights mentioned in terms & conditions.

Optimistic Sci-Fi Awards
------------------------------------
The winners of each award will receive the following non-cash prizes:
- Best Optimistic Sci-Fi (Black Magic Design Davinci Resolve Speed Editor valued at AU$625)
- Best Canberra & Surroundings Sci-Fi (Filmplus 1 day sound studio hire valued at AU$500)
- Best Australian Sci-Fi (Rounded accounting software for freelancers 1 year subscription valued at AU$275)
- Best International Sci-Fi (SFC Films 1 year premium membership valued at AU$200)
- Best Student Sci-Fi (SFC Films 1 year standard membership valued at AU$100)

Space Documentary Awards
-----------------------------------------
Each winner of the following awards will receive non-cash prizes (TBD), Laurel & medal or trophy. Winners will be determined at the festival screening events, where officially selected films will be screened.
- Best Space Documentary (Black Magic Design Davinci Resolve Speed Editor valued at AU$625)
- Best Canberra & Surroundings Space Documentary (Filmplus 1 day sound studio hire valued at AU$500)
- Best Australian Space Documentary (Rounded accounting software for freelancers 1 year subscription valued at AU$275)
- Best International Space Documentary (SFC Films 1 year premium membership valued at AU$200)
- Best Student Space Documentary (SFC Films 1 year standard membership valued at AU$100)

Positivity Award
-----------------------
Each winner of the following awards will receive a winners laurel & medal or trophy. Winners will be determined at the festival screening events, where officially selected films will be screened. This category does not have to be space related but it must have a core message of a positive future.
- Best Positive film (Black Magic Design Davinci Resolve Speed Editor valued at AU$625)
- Best Canberra & Surroundings Positive Film (Filmplus 1 day sound studio hire valued at AU$500)
- Best Australian Positive Film (Rounded accounting software for freelancers 1 year subscription valued at AU$275)
- Best International Positive Film (SFC Films 1 year premium membership valued at AU$200)
- Best Student Positive Film (SFC Films 1 year standard membership valued at AU$100)

Rules & Terms

PLEASE READ THE TERMS AND INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. It is your responsibility to understand the terms and conditions before entering into this competition. If you are not sure of a particular point, please feel free to contact the Festival Director.
 
By submitting to SFC Film Festival you agree with the following Terms & Conditions:
 
1. The film is your original idea & creation and you hold all copyrights associated. No sales agents please.

2. If you submit your film to the “Licensing Deal” award, at any time after a period of review, we may offer you a licensing contract (terms to be negotiated). It is only when the licensing contract is signed that you and SFC Films will enter into a contract to have your film distributed on www.sfcfilms.space in accordance with the contract terms. If you make a submission to the “Licensing Deal”, you may not submit the same film to any other categories in this festival. When submitting to the “Licensing Deal” category, your film will only be considered if it is not freely available to the public (i.e. YouTube, Facebook etc.). If the film is behind a membership or payment system that is acceptable.
 
3. If your film is officially selected you grant us the right to screen it online at an SFC Films online screening event.
 
4. If you win an award, you grant SFC Films to screen it at a big screen viewing at a Canberra venue in November. In addition you grant us non-exclusive rights to upload your films to www.sfcfilms.space as winners of the 2022 festival, only viewable to SFC Members (i.e. not to the public) for a period of one year from the date the film is uploaded, after the 2022 festival concludes. We reserve the right to offer you a non-exclusive SVOD licensing deal of AU$100-AU$500 beyond this one year, depending on quality and length of your film.
 
5. You must respond to official requests and e-mails within one week of the initial contact. This can include, but not limited to, a request for extra materials, acceptance of an offer, official selection etc. If you do not respond within one week, your official selection or winnings may be forfeited to the runners up.
 
6. You permit SFC Films to use images or excerpts from your film to promote SFC Films and SFC Film festival.
 
7. Your film must not be more than 45 minutes in length if submitting to awards other than “Licensing Deal awards”. Licensing Deal films, videos or series awards can be any length.
 
8. Your film must be suitable for general public viewing. No horror, sexual, drug use or violent materials. Also no profanity please.
 
9. Submissions to “Positivity award” may not have to be related to space or space science, however they must include a positive message of the future.
 
10. Must be of high quality. Student films and videos can be experimental and learning projects, however make it the best you can.
  
11. Minimum 1080P is accepted however you must have a 4K version ready when requested for cinema screening purposes.
 
12. If you win an award, you must attend the award ceremony, or you must organise a representative to be present at the award ceremony on your behalf. If you or your representative do not attend the ceremony, your winnings will be forfeited. This does not apply to “Licensing Deal” or “SFC Members”. All awards and prizes will be presented at the screening night of the category winners in November or December 2022. It is your responsibility to accept and collect your prizes, or ensure a representative does so on your behalf. If you are an SFC member and you need help, please feel free ask the SFC community.

13. If your film is selected then you agree that we will screen it live online, on a platform of our choosing, one or more times at the end of each deadline period. This excludes "Licensing Deal".

14. You will not submit the same film to multiple categories, choose the one that fits your project best.

8 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Mitsuyasu Sakai

    Great experience joining the ceremony through online! Its purpose and determination to honor optimistic Sci-Fi films are splendid. I wish this festival will grow more and more.

    February 2022
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    I hope so too Mitsuyasu, the plan is to keep growing it. Thank you for your participation and support. Your film was such a heart warming and positive film, thank you for making it. See you at the next season of SFC Film Festival.

  • Eric Dean Freese

    Great festival, terrific organizers. Masoud is great at communicating, despite my being on the other side of the world. He was very responsive, and I felt valued. The films I watched were outstanding and showed a variety of topics under the "space" theme. And I was very impressed with how they handled bringing the remote guests into the awards program via Zoom. It really added to my enjoyment of the festival. Thank you so much!

    February 2022
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Eric. The event went very smoothly, thanks to the team that helped me. Hope to see you with more awesome space films next season.

  • daniel farmer

    I gotta say Masoud was incredibly communicative and supportive. Most festivals are vague and you never know where your film stands. This was not the case for my film Solitary. SFCFF constantly let me know what was happening and where things were. They are generous and supportive of wanting to uplift genre film in a positive way.

    February 2022
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Daniel. Keep making awesome space films mate. See you next season.

  • Ratimir Rakuljic

    The inaugural edition of the festival was beautifully organized. The Festival director and their team were courteous and prompt in their communication, and their immense enthusiasm for science and science fiction was lovely. All in all, a wonderful experience!

    February 2022
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the experience. Thank you for your encouraging words. See you next season.

  • Chana de Moura

    The festival is very well organized and take its participants seriously. Besides its entertainment aspect, the festival selection brings about discussions on different aspects of contemporary planetary challenges. Unfortunately, I could not attend the ceremony in person, but the festival provided a person to receive the prize in my name.

    February 2022
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Chana. Your film brought something wonderful and diverse to the festival. Keep being awesome. see you next season.