COVID in Sydney: Since late June Sydney and most of NSW has been in lockdown. Public gatherings are prohibited. Everything but essential businesses are closed. When will this end? Nobody knows. The Manly Film Festival was not planned as an online or virtual festival. Its a community event involving multiple small to medium sized venues around our beach communities. The festival dates are next year in March, so we hope that by then we'll be long out of lockdown. There is a risk that the festival may not proceed in March 2022, or be pushed out to a later date. Or not proceed at all. If the latter occurs refunds will be given less any admin costs charged to us by FilmFreeway. Let's hope we get lots of submissions and we can all get out and watch films in March 2022. We'll keep everyone posted.

The Manly Film Festival is a theme-based short film festival open to anyone . Films can be no longer than 10-minutes plus a maximum 60-second introduction by the creator.

The Manly Film Festival is without borders. Anyone can enter. The judges names and bios will be announced in mid-August. Whether you are new to filmmaking or an old hand, please feel free to enter.

Themes: Films should be narratives and factual. Films should be PG rated and be suitable for children and families. We may accept ratings outside of this. They will be shown accordingly.

The theme for our festival is "Community". Anything you like from your community. We want to see and learn about issues, people, ideas, activities, the weird and wonderful, secrets, and groups in your community. Great stories often start with a little curiosity, a little scratching beneath the surface, and a willingness to listen. Shake the tree, and see what falls out.

Communities never stop changing. They move forward and they move backwards. They struggle, they fail, and they prosper. They have big issues that may seem small to some, and tiny issues that look like mountains to others. Every issue in a community has a voice. We want to see, hear, and share your community stories. We want to see stories from around the world.

We want our communities to be stronger.

Some ideas.
1. The engine rooms of any community are people who help others to make connections. Tell us about them.
2. Communities sometimes have conflicting views on major and minor issues. A short film might help you express what you think your community needs to do to solve something.
3. Tragic events occur in communities every day. The Black Summer bushfires and recent floods in Australia is an example. The ongoing recovery from any tragic event takes years and a lot of local effort. How is your community doing?
4. Festivals, clubs, or groups exist everywhere. They are full of history and events that keeps them going. They are also a pot of gold for stories.
5. Bizarre and strange things exist all around us. Are they really strange though? Tell us.

Awards & Prizes

Best Film: 18-years and under: $1,000 first prize
Best Film: 19-years and over: $1,000 first prize.
Best Film Overall. $1,500 first prize.

You can win best film overall and your category. Peoples Choice is by screened electronic voting.

Films will be screened at a series of local venues in the Manly area in the final 2-weeks of the festival in March 2022. Locations and times and dates will be posted from September 2021.

Rules & Terms

1. The film must be no more than 2-years old on September 1st 2021.
2. Films must be no more than 10-minutes long.
3. You must submit an introduction of no more than 60-seconds long that introduces the film, and we need a head and shoulders photo as well.
4. In order to submit a film, you must own the rights or have permission from the owner.
5. All copyright on content or music are the responsibility of the filmmaker. Manly Film Festival is not responsible for any copyright infringements
6. The Festival relationship will exclusively be related to the film submitter.
7. Any Foreign film that is not in English must have English subtitles.
8. You have all intellectual property rights to all content in the submission and you have the performing rights for any music contained in the film.
9. By submitting to us, you give us the right to screen your film in front of a live audience any location we choose, and to screen it virtually, anywhere we choose
10. Films selected for the festival will be notified via email.
11. The judges cannot be corresponded with prior to the winners being announced
12. We may promote clips from your film on social media platforms
13. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through our online platforms.
14. Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.
15. By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.
16. We reserve the right to change our terms and conditions.