Please review the following carefully. By submitting, you indicate that you have read, understood, and to the best of your knowledge, complied with all eligibility requirements of the Sundial Film Festival and of the categories for which you would like your film to be considered.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Your submission must be accompanied by a submission fee paid in full and a working screener in order to be considered. Festival staff will do their best to follow up with filmmakers who are missing required submission elements, however, the responsibility for a fully completed submission falls to the submitter.
2. Any submissions that are incomplete by our final deadline will be disqualified without refund of submission fees. Reasons a submission will be considered incomplete include (but are not limited to) the following:
a. Missing Screener
b. Missing/incorrect screener password
c. Screener is missing subtitles (if in a foreign language)
d. Screener has major issues with audio, image, or any feature that prevents our screening committee from properly judging it.
3. Your submission must not have been submitted to any other festivals prior to January 1, 2023.
4. Films that are available for viewing online may be submitted, but if selected films must be made private and no additional public links can be available online.
DEADLINES:
All deadlines are set for 11:59pm local Pacific Standard Time.
PREMIERE REQUIREMENTS:
The Sundial Film Festival does not require a premiere status for consideration.
SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
Please review all submission categories carefully before submitting your project.
1. All entrants are required to pay the submission fee of their film’s appropriate category.
2. Category Changes: If you believe you have submitted your film to the wrong category, contact us immediately. Submitter is responsible for any additional fees. The Sundial Film Festival is not able to reimburse submitter for lower category fees.
3. If they qualify, films may submit to more than one category. A separate submission fee must be paid for each category.
4. Films will only be considered in the category in which they are submitted.
5. The Sundial Film Festival reserves the right to determine eligibility of a submission in each category. Refunds will not be offered for submission to an inappropriate category.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE / WORLD CINEMA FILM REQUIREMENTS
1. Films outside of the United States of America are considered “World Cinema Films”. This includes films from Canada and Mexico.
2. World Cinema Films can be in any language.
3. All foreign-language films in any category must be submitted with English subtitles. If a film is in a foreign language and does not have subtitles, the Sundial Film Festival will do its best to contact the filmmaker for a subtitled version. However, if the submission does not have working subtitles by the final submission deadline, the project will be disqualified without refund of submission fees.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FILM REQUIREMENTS:
The Sundial Film Festival encourages the production of film within northern California and is dedicated to ensuring the future of local filmmakers. The following are requirements for the Locally Filmed and Local Filmmaker film categories:
1. For Locally Filmed, over 50% of film was filmed in northern California (counties included: Shasta, Tehama, Trinity, Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Lassen, Mendocino, Glenn, Butte, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, & Lake counties).
2. For Local Filmmaker, director or over 50% of crew currently resides in northern California (counties included: Shasta, Tehama, Trinity, Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Lassen, Mendocino, Glenn, Butte, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, & Lake counties).
ACCEPTED FILMS:
1. The Sundial Film Festival DOES NOT PAY SCREENING FEES for submitted films. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that the Festival will not pay to present your work.
2. Films are screened digitally and must be delivered in format requested by deadline set at time of acceptance.
3. All Festival scheduling is purely at the discretion of the Sundial Film Festival staff.
4. If selected as a participant in the Festival, if requested, television ready media clips of the film must be provided by the date indicated on notice of selection.
AWARDS CONSIDERATIONS
Accepted films may be considered for the Sundial Film Festival’s “Best of” category, “Best of Festival” and “People’s Choice” awards. By submitting you agree that:
1. Should this film win an award at the Sundial Film Festival, you are authorized and/or empowered by all parties legally representing this film to name the individual(s) listed on the Award Designation List (to be received upon notice of selection to Festival) to receive any and all award(s).
2. In the event the designated party is unable to attend the awards ceremony, you understand that the director and/or producer of the film as listed in the credits of the film shall accept any and all awards in their stead.
3. In the event that filmmakers are not able to receive award in person, the Festival will do its best to send award to recipient.
DISQUALIFICATIONS AND REFUNDS
The Sundial Film Festival reserves the right to disqualify any submission without refund, even after a film has been invited or final programming has been announced, at the sole discretion of Sundial Film Festival staff.
Once a project is listed “In Consideration” on FilmFreeway, we are unable to offer refunds for any reason, including (but not limited to):
1. Submission to the wrong category
2. Change in premiere status or distribution
3. Acceptance to other festivals with premiere requirements
4. Duplicate submissions
5. Failure to pay the full submission fee by the final deadline
6. Failure to provide a working screener by the final deadline
7. Project’s failure to comply with submission Rules & Terms
8. Improper use of a discount code or waiver
9. Rejection from the festival
10. Withdrawing your submission for any reason (including changes of heart)
BY SUBMITTING, YOU CERTIFY:
1. You have read and agree to the rules and regulations above.
2. This film is not subject to litigation nor is threatened by any litigation.
3. You are duly authorized to submit this film to the Festival and its Competition and understand that the Festival holds the right to screen my film for Festival screening and promotional purposes and to extract clips from this film for promotional purposes. You understand this may include online streaming of clips on Festival or Festival sponsor sites.
4. You understand that the Sundial Film Festival ("Festival") is not responsible for any type of damage to or loss of the print during screenings, at any other time during the course of the Festival, while the film is in the Festival’s possession or while en route to or from the Festival, and you release the Sundial Film Festival ("Festival") from any and all liabilities regarding damage to or loss of the print while en route to/from the Festival or while it is in their possession.
5. This film’s public availability online will not change until after the completion of the 2025 Sundial Film Festival.
If you have any questions that are not answered here, please email us at info@sundialfilmfestival.com.
