The South Texas International Film Festival is hosted and organized by the City of Edinburg.
General Submission Guidelines
1. Film submissions will be admitted only through FilmFreeway.
2. All genres and subgenres are accepted.
3. Submissions must be in English or have English subtitles at the time submitted.
4. Submissions will be considered incomplete if the following are not included in the initial FilmFreeway submission: Film, Poster, and Synopsis.
5.The submitter is responsible for ensuring that their screener link and password are active throughout the entire submission cycle. In the event of a password or URL change after submitting, email stxiff@edinburglibrary.us immediately.
6. Feature films must be between forty (40) minutes and one-hundred and twenty (120) minutes in length, including credits. Short films must be between two (2) minutes and forty (40) minutes, including credits. Music Videos must be between two (2) minutes and five (5) minutes.
7. All films will be eligible for a possible showcase, but to be eligible for competition and thus an award, the film:
a) Must have been completed after January 1, 2021.
b) Must have the rights to all songs and other copyright material.
c) Must not be publicly available online or physically for purchase or renting. The film may be online but private (i.e., password or private link). Music Videos and Young Filmmakers are exempt from this guideline (7c).
8. The minimum requirement for selected films is H.264 codec, 1920x1080, mp4.
9. If selected, you must submit the following by June 28, 2024 by 11:59 PM:
a) link to a downloadable film projection file
b) High Resolution (300 DPI) film poster – aspect ratio suitable for display/printing 18x24, vertical preferred
c) Short, film synopsis - max of 40 words.
d) Press picture of director(s) (HD)
f) One-paragraph biography of director(s)
g) Film trailer or teaser and/or three (3) to five (5) film stills
10. A Jury of industry professionals will determine the winners of each category. The decisions will be final and unappealable and will be announced during the Award Ceremony.
11. Staff of the STXIFF and STXIFF Planning Committee members may not participate in any of the films which compete for an award. This includes but is not limited to actress, actor, director, writer, producer, or any other member of the production team of the film. If the producer and/or director wishes to appeal a crew member’s conflict of interest, they may do so by contacting the STXIFF staff before submitting a film. The STXIFF will review the appeal and give a response within 15 days of informing the STXIFF Staff. Deadline dates may be affected by your appeal; we recommend informing STXIFF Staff 1 month prior to a deadline.
12. By submitting your film, you grant permission to STXIFF to use your film trailer, stills, press picture, synopsis, bio, up to thirty (30) seconds of your film, and all other submitted information for Festival promotion without limitation and at its sole and complete discretion in perpetuity for the production and promotion of the South Texas International Film Festival.
13. The South Texas International Film Festival takes all necessary precautions to prevent copy and intellectual rights from being stolen, however, the film submitter takes all responsibility for any loss and stolen property by submitting to STXIFF and will to the maximum extent allowed by law agree to indemnify and hold harmless and defend the City of Edinburg, the South Texas International Film Festival, its agents, employees, officers, and volunteers from and against any claim, loss, damage, liability, and expense including reasonable attorney’s fees, incurred or suffered by them by reason of all claims, demands, or causes of actions asserted or that may be asserted against any or all of the named parties, whether alleging intentional or negligent acts or omissions, and whether seeking compensatory or punitive damages, and involving, arising out of, or relating to the submission agreement and any other claims against any staff or agent of the South Texas International Film Festival and the City of Edinburg.
14. By submitting your film, you are allowing STXIFF to screen/stream your film during the event dates. If you decide to remove your film from screening, you must notify STXIFF staff at least two months prior to the event date. Your film will not be eligible for a prize if it does not screen during the event.
15. Any other situation not considered in these submission guidelines will be reviewed by the South Texas International Film Festival.
16. We recommend you carefully review these guidelines and please email stxiff@edinburglibrary.us if you have any additional questions.
17. DISCLAIMER: In an effort to ensure fairness and transparency within our regional film competition, we invite professional filmmakers from outside the Rio Grande Valley as part of the programming team to view and select the films in our RGV competition. This process provides an equal platform for all local filmmakers in the RGV.
