ELIGIBILITY:
To be eligible for this competition you must be of Zimbabwean resident, based, living or working in Zimbabwe or of Zimbabwean heritage living any European or African country.
Participating filmmakers who have family members organising or judging the competition must advise the Festival Coordinators of their relationship with the of participating jury/judges to avoid conflict of interest. Jury/Judges related to any filmmaker will not be allowed to adjudicate in the category of the said filmmaker. This will ensure that the adjudication process remains transparent and fair. Violation of this Advisory will constitute in the disqualification of your film from the competition.
OFFICIAL (Jury) Competition/Categories/Awards/Prize Money
An independent jury panel made up of industry professionals, academics, community and business leaders judge all films in the official competition.
The categories/awards are as follows, with the selected winners receiving a cash prize:
Best Narrative Short - Winner USD 400
Best Documentary Short - Winner USD 400
Best Sound Editing - Winner USD 200
Best Cinematography - Winner USD 200
Best Diaspora Film - Winner USD 200
SUBMISSION:
Films from all genres can be submitted for application. Only short films up to a maximum length of 25 minutes and not older than two years (January 2022)* are accepted.
The deadline for the submissions is Saturday 2 September 2023. Each film must be submitted the following FilmFreeway link: https://filmfreeway.com/TheEuropeanFilmFestivalZimbabwe and provide the required material.
The material required is as follows:
Director’s Biography,
Picture of the Director,
3 Still pictures of the film,
Copy of the actual film,
Trailer of the film,
Film Synopsis,
Film Poster,
In the case of a selection, the submitted film may be shown several times during the festival period. Should the film win a prize at The European Film Festival Zimbabwe, it may also be shown twice as part of best-of programs following the festival. In this case, the entrant will be notified in advance. The winning films will be screened in two Cities (Harare and Bulawayo), with one live screening per city. They will also be viewed online in the month of November during the online festival, exclusively for Zimbabwean audiences (geo-blocking).
SUBMISSION FORMAT:
We will only be accepting films in digital format (mp4, mov). If the original version is in a language other than English, the film needs to be subtitled in English.
FILM LENGTH:
The Length of your film should be a minimum of 2 minutes and not more than 25 minutes.
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY FILM?
Click on the FilmFreeway BIOSKOP! Zimbabwe Short Film competition link below, click the submit button and fill in the required information. Submissions will be open until Saturday the 2nd of September 2023 (12pm CAT). NO Entry fee required.
Link: https://filmfreeway.com/TheEuropeanFilmFestivalZimbabwe
RIGHTS:
As the filmmaker, studio or institution submitting the film, you are responsible for clearing all rights to the content of the work relevant to the film's use by the Festival. By submitting, you state that you have the representative authority for the screening or other use of the film by the Festival and that it does not infringe rights held by third parties (e.g copyrights, personality or trademark rights), and that the rights to any material produced by others (music, film footage, photographs, text etc) used in the film have been cleared. You furthermore shall indemnify the European Film Festival Zimbabwe against all third-party claims in connection with screening/using the film in the course of the Festival. This includes covering any legal costs that might be incurred.
NOTIFICATION:
The winners of submitted films will be notified via e-mail on 22 September 2023. Winners are requested to keep the announcement private until further notice. Unfortunately, we will be unable notify those who have not been selected.
PRESS AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL:
With the submission of the film, the festival is permitted to use the film title, credits and the name of the director as well as film stills, film trailer, film synopsis and film excerpts (max. 60 seconds) for general promotion within the framework of the festival (incl. TV, web, cinema, showreel).
The images will also be used for the European Film Festival Zimbabwe print products (festival publications/Flyers/Poster etc) and online media (websites, apps, social media channels) where they will remain available without any time or territorial restrictions. The festival also reserves the right to make a password-protected copy of the film accessible to representatives of the press or selected industry professionals.
