This is England is a film festival focused on British short films of all genres - fiction, animation, documentary -, held every year in Rouen (Normandy, France).
- Jury Prize for best fiction (1000 €)
- Jury Prize for best documentary (1000 €)
- Jury Prize for best animation (1000 €)
- Audience Award (500 €)
- Rouen-Norwich Club Award for best performance (500 €)
- Young Audience Award based on school-goers' votes to their favourite film among the dedicated primary/secondary school - under 12 - programmes (500 €)
1. Organisation
The British Short Film Festival of Rouen : THIS IS ENGLAND is organised by Rouen Norwich Club (NPO & twinning committee between the cities of Rouen and Norwich) and takes place each year in November in two cinemas :
-- Cinéma Omnia-République, 28 rue de la République, 76000 Rouen
-- Cinema Kinepolis, Centre Saint-Sever; Place de la Verrerie, 76100 Rouen
The festival aims at :
* making the French public discover new talents in British film-making, helping to facilitate the exhibition and promotion of their films.
* bringing all the generations of Rouen citizens together around a cultural event which is the continuation of what has been Rouen-Norwich Club's daily policy for 60 years.
* making possible the meeting of cinema enthusiasts with those who already live their passion in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.
* plugging Rouen back to her historical connection with Britain.
2. Film selection
The programme of the Rouen British Short-fim Festival : THIS IS ENGLAND consists of :
- fiction shorts competing for the best short film award.
- animated shorts competing for the best animation short film award.
- documentary shorts competing for the best non-fiction short film award.
-young audience shorts competing for the best young audience short film award (new in 2023)
3. Submission
The submission of a film for the official selection is done through Filmfreeway.com platform.
A synopsis in French or in English must be provided
The films submitted must be produced after January 1, 2022 by a crew at least partly based in the United Kingdom.
4. Film selection
Producers or film-makers will be informed of the selection of their entries by e-mail.
Please note that the selecting panel’s decisions are final.
The dates, locations and times of screening for the selected films are decided by the festival organisers and will be announced a week before the festival at the latest.
As soon as the selection of a film is confirmed, further documents must be supplied by e-mail to our programmer at fanny.popieul@gmail.com (if not already provided during the submission process) :
- a short synopsis in French and/or in English
- A transcript or continuity list
- stills of the film and photographs of the film-maker in digital format
- a trailer or clip (no longer than 3 minutes) representative of the film, for the use of the Festival
NB : The Festival does the translating and the subtitling of the films if necessary. English dialogue lists must be provided when required by the Festival. The material created will then be property of the Festival during the event and for its use only.
The director(s) of a film selected by the Festival agree that they will not withdraw their film after the programme has been announced at the late September press conference (find out the exact date by contacting our press agent: servicepresse@thisisengland-festival.com or on the Festival website : www.thisisengland-festival.com)
The filmmakers whose films have been selected agree to lend their films free of charge for the duration of the festival.
5. Film crew and cast
The festival invite the filmmakers (director, producer and/or cast member) to attend the screenings (200€ refund for transport per person). They are offered 2 nights' complimentary accommodation in shared flats located in the city centre. They are invited to participate in press conferences and in public Q&As after the screening of their film.
The film directors present agree to attend press sessions.
6. Distribution rights
Unless a pre-existing contract applies, the participants grant the festival :
- the right to show the selected films, during the festival and the subsequent ones
- the right to reproduce images, trailers or film excerpts (less than 2 minutes long) for press, television or internet use
- the right to use photographs of the film-maker and/or the cast/crew taken during the festival
- the right to duplicate the selected film for the Festival’s private video archive
7. Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for the Official Competition, the short films must meet the following criteria:
- no commercial, theatrical or tv distribution in France
- digital, standard copy with optical soundtrack, excluding all other types of support and sound recording
- the films selected for the competition must be in original version with French subtitles. If not, the English and French (if available) dialogue lists must be provided at submission
8. Judging panel
The judges are film industry professionals. The Jury base their final decisions on majority rule.
The judges cannot in any way be linked with the films contending in the Official Competition.
9. Award Categories
The prizes will be announced and presented during the closing ceremony on Saturday 18th November 2023
Short-film Official Competition :
Awarded by the Jury :
- Grand Jury Prize for Fiction (Sponsored by the Festival) : 1,000 € granted by the judges
- Grand Jury Prize for Animation (Sponsored by the Festival) : 1,000 € granted by the judges
- Grand Jury Prize for documentary (Sponsored by the Festival) : 1,000 € granted by the judges
- Best performance (Sponsored by the organisers : Rouen-Norwich Club) : 500 € granted by RNC judges
Awarded by the Public :
Public Award (Sponsored by the organisers : Rouen-Norwich Club) : 500 € granted by the public
Young Audience Award based on school-goers' votes to their favourite film among the dedicated primary/secondary school - under 12 - programmes (500 €)
Award-winners’ obligation
The directors, producers and distributors of the award-winning films agree to mention their THIS IS ENGLAND Short Film Festival awards in all the press packs and other promotional material (posters…) as well as during showings of the films (festival insert to be added at the beginning of the screening credits) and during the films’ national releases.
The Festival laurels will be sent within 7 days following the festival.
10. Terms and Conditions
The submission of an entry not only amounts to the unconditional agreement with, and application of, the present regulations, but also to the strict commitment not to contest any of the clauses (the official document being the French text).
The submission of an entry authorises the Festival to publish, in its publicity and in the media of its choice, film excerpts, photos and literature presenting the film, biographies and filmographies related to the film, as supplied by the film-makers or acquired through the festival’s own research.
The Festival will decide as needed on issues which might not be mentioned in the present regulations.
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Leo Crane
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Sam Baron
This Is England was a total pleasure to be involved with, from start to finish. It was a rare treat to immerse myself in so many excellent short films for days on end, and to connect with so many wonderful fellow filmmakers - new friends and potential collaborators. Thank you TIE for an amazing time in Rouen!
November 2022 -
A very well-organised festival with a diverse selection of excellent shorts by talented filmmakers. Communication by the generous and passionate organisers was top-notch, screening venues were flawless, and the city was beautiful! I would highly recommend this festival to others and am very grateful my film DUET was selected!
November 2022
