The undersigned (hereafter called the “Applicant”) shall be the authorized representative of the Short Film being submitted for consideration and throughout this application (hereafter called the "Project") to Sundance Film Festival: Asia (hereafter called the “Organisers”) for consideration for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition (hereafter called the “Competition”), hereby represents that they have read, understood, and agreed to the following:
1. Key Dates:
Submission Open: March 4, 2024
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024
2024 Sundance Film Festival Asia: August 21-25, 2024
2. Submission Fee:
310 TWD (~10 USD)
3. Eligibility:
Applicant MUST comply with the following requirements:
(a) Applicant Eligibilities:
- Film director(s) of the Submission must be at the age of 18 or above at the deadline of submitting the application (May 31, 2024). If the Submission has more than one director (maximum 4 directors), ALL joint-directors must be at the age of 18 or above.
- Film Director(s) of the Submission must hold a valid Taiwanese Passport and/or Taiwanese Resident (ARC) Card Holder (either residing in Taiwan or an overseas resident with a valid Taiwanese Passport and/or Taiwanese Resident ARC Card). If the Submission has more than one director (maximum 4 directors), ALL joint-directors must be valid Taiwanese Passport Holders and/or Taiwanese Resident (ARC) Card Holders. For details about the status of your passport/resident (ARC) card, please visit the website of the Immigration Department at https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5475/
- Accepted Nominees of the Competition should make every effort to attend Sundance Film Festival: Asia’s activities upon the request of the Organisers, including, but not limited to, panels and Q&A Sessions of respective screenings. Details will be announced in due course.
(b) Submission Requirements
- Production of Submissions must be completed on or after 1 January, 2023 (last date of Production must fall on 1 January, 2023 or after).
- Running time of each Submission is required to be between 3 and 15 minutes (including opening and end credits).
- Submissions must either 1) have burnt-in English Subtitles (burnt-in English Subtitles are needed for non-English dialogue) OR 2) If Applicant(s) are not able to submit the screening copy with burnt-in subtitles, they are required to attach an English dialog transcript for Jury Panel’s reference in a separate e-mail to iris@sundanceffasia.com. Please note that Submissions that do not include English translations for non-English dialog, either in the form of burnt-in subtitles or a dialog transcript cannot be considered by the Jury Panel and will be disqualified without refund of any or all submission fees.
- All genres of short films between 3 and 15 minutes are accepted for Submission, except music video clips and commercial advertising videos.
- While submission categories include fiction, non-fiction, and animation, all completed Submissions will compete for the same Competition nominations, regardless of category.
- There are no premiere or prior screening restrictions for Submissions. Short films that have been publicly exhibited, distributed, entered, or have won prizes at festivals or in other contests still remain eligible to enter the Competition.
- There is no restriction on the number of Submissions that may be entered by any individual entity via uniquely separate entries under the same FilmFreeway account, but each individual Submission may be entered only once for consideration.
- Submissions that have been submitted to previous editions of Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition (2023 or earlier) may not be submitted again and will be disqualified without any refund of any or all submission fees.
- If selected, applicants are required to provide an Exhibition Copy (with required burnt-in subtitles) of the Project in either ProRes 422 or above in the .MOV file format for the censorship review process.
- If selected, applicants are required to provide the Exhibition Copy (with required burnt-in subtitles) in DCP format in July for theatrical screening(s). All encrypted DCPs must supply DKDM keys that remain open for the duration of 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia. Failure to provide the above-listed exhibition formats may result in disqualification.
- In the case of any dispute concerning the definition of the above eligibility, the interpretation of the Organisers shall be final and conclusive.
4. Work Submission:
Applicants are required to submit the materials outlined above via FilmFreeway at https://filmfreeway.com/SundanceAsia no later than May 31, 2024. Submissions received after that date will NOT be considered. Applicants must perform the following in order to be considered:
(a) Create a FilmFreeway account;
(b) Upload the following materials on FilmFreeway:
- Video file or link (Vimeo or YouTube) of the submitted short film;
- Biography of each director of the submitted short film;
- Synopsis of the submitted short film;
- At least one digital still photo (in JPEG format) of the submitted short film.
Failure to include any or all of the above-mentioned items on the submission application may result in the disqualification of the submission, at the sole discretion of the Organisers. Uploading or providing a link for your film via the FilmFreeway platform does not give the Organisers access to do anything other than to view it for Sundance Film Festival: Asia consideration. We cannot download, copy, or share films that have been uploaded via FilmFreeway for our consideration, and you are not giving FilmFreeway or its parent companies permission to access your video for any purpose other than submitting it for consideration for the Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition. For any questions regarding video uploading, please contact iris@sundanceffasia.com.
Once the application is submitted, no applicant is allowed to alter or re-submit their initial application. Withdrawal of a Submission does not entitle the Applicant(s) to a refund of any or all submission fees.
Note: It is the sole responsibility of the Applicant(s) to ensure that their online application is properly submitted. After the completion and submission of the online application, and upon successful selection for consideration, an email will be sent to the applicant to request a required photocopy or other visual proof of the director or directors' Taiwanese Passport and/or Taiwanese Resident (ARC) Card for verification.
All Submission materials MUST be received by the Organisers no later than the applicable deadlines referenced above. The Organisers reserve the right to disqualify, without refund of any or all submission fees, any Submission if it is not completed in accordance with these Submission Rules and Regulations.
The Submission to the Competition implies acceptance of the Rules and Regulations for Applicants. The English text of the Rules and Regulations is the authentic and binding version. The Organisers have the sole and final decision in relation to issues that have not been covered in the Rules and Regulations and Submission Checklist. The Organisers reserve the right to revise such regulations and forms at any time.
The Personal Data and other information are collected for the sole purpose of entering a Project into this Competition and its adjudication, and are governed by The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and related Enforcement Rules of the Personal Data Protection Act of Taiwan. In submitting an application, all Applicants are deemed to agree to allow the Organisers to use such information. Applicants may be contacted in the future with regard to further information and details regarding Sundance Film Festival: Asia and any events and/or activities related to it.
5. Jury Panel:
Submissions selected for the Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition will be judged by a jury panel including:
- Kim Yutani - Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival
- Heidi Zwicker - Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival
- Mike Plante Senior Programmer, Short Film, Sundance Film Festival
Selected Submissions will be assessed and selected by the Jury Panel in accordance with the following criteria:
- Filming Skills / Techniques
- Scripts / Narrative
- Film Editing
- Creativity
6. Awards & Prizes:
Submissions that are selected and nominated for Jury Awards (here after referred to as “Nominees”) will be notified in July. Representatives of these Nominees will be invited to an awarding event (date TBC) with one Nominee to be awarded the Jury Award for Best Short Film, and a number of Nominees will be named as Finalists.
Jury Award:
- 50,000 TWD Cash Prize.
- All selected work (“Nominees”) will have the opportunity to screen and be showcased at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia.
- Awarded work will be automatically submitted for consideration for Submission to the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
- One Trophy.
Finalists:
- All selected Projects (“Nominees”) will have the opportunity to screen and be showcased at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia.
Note: The Jury Panel reserves the right to withhold an award if they find none of the Submissions merits a particular award and prize. The decision of the Organisers and Jury Panel shall be final and conclusive.
7. Copyright & Sponsorship:
(a) Copyright:
- The submission to the Competition implies the agreement of granting the screening rights to the Organisers, as well as allowing the Organisers to transfer the submitted data and video to the Jury Panel for the purposes of assessment and evaluation.
- All Applicants must be the sole and exclusive owner of the copyright in the Submission or Submissions. If there is more than one Applicant associated with a Submission, all Applicants must be exclusive owners of the copyright in the Submission. Submissions that not infringe any rights of any third party may be disqualified by the Organisers, without refund of any or all submission fees.
- All Applicants shall only use third party music excerpts or film/video segments in the Submission with the prior written consent of the relevant third party or parties. Applicants must acknowledge any authorized use of music excerpts or film/video segments in the Submission in accordance with the relevant copyright laws. The Organisers shall not be responsible whether directly or indirectly for any liability arising whatsoever or howsoever from any violation of any copyright laws. Applicants agree and undertake to accept and be responsible for all such liability arising therefrom.
- For details about the Copyright Act, please visit https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=J0070017
(b) Sponsorship/Funding:
- If the Submission is sponsored and/or funded by any organisation(s) and or college(s), the nature and details of the sponsorship/funding must be stated in the materials submitted to the Organisers.
- Applicants must ensure that the sponsor(s) will not interfere with their creativity and production.
8. Submission Presentation & Archive:
- For Submissions that are to be awarded or selected for presentation at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia, the Organisers have the right to use the still photo(s) provided by the Applicant(s), synopsis, and a maximum of 2 minutes of footage for promotion purposes in any and all media.
- Any use of the Submission for any commercial purposes will be subject to the conclusion of a separate agreement between the Organisers and the copyright owner of the particular Submission.
- The Organisers have the final decision on the presentation arrangement.
- Unless the Applicant objects in writing, the Organisers have the perpetual right to keep one copy of each Submission for educational, archival, and research purposes.
9. Enquiry:
All enquires regarding the submission process for Sundance Film Festival: Asia should be directed to iris@sundanceffasia.com
