Unarchive Found Footage Fest is an international festival dedicated to the creative reuse of archival material, born from a deep reflection on the function of audio-visual and film archives in the contemporary world, in the development of art, culture and more generally of civil society. It will take place in Rome in spring.

In a historical moment in which the reuse of images gives rise to higly experimental cinematographic horizons, creating new projects from archive fragments encourages the expressive research of film-makers and video artists, animators and performers, archivists and art curators, in a cross contamination of languages and practices that results in surprising film forms.

An aesthetic and technological revolution in which found footage increasingly takes on the traits of a pervasive and manifold experience, which raises new questions about the meaning of images and of life.

UnArchive Found Footage Fest wants to investigate and accompany the public through these expressive horizons, revealing a composite audio-visual scenario, often highly performative, in which the notions of audio-visual creation and fruition are reformulated through interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogues that are increasingly alive, open and regenerating.

The competition is open to audiovisual projects of any genre, format, duration and nationality that display free and innovative forms of creative reuse of archival materials.

UnArchive Found Footage Fest is promoted and organized by the Audiovisual Archive of the Democratic and Labour Movement, in collaboration with Luce Cinecittà, and the support of the MiC – Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo and of other public and private institutions.

Awards & Prizes

The projects selected for the competition will run for the following cash awards:

- UnArchive Award, € 3000, open to all selected projects.
- Award for Best Feature Film, € 1500, chosen among projects lasting more than 60 minutes.
- Award for Best Short Film, € 1500, chosen among projects lasting less than 60 minutes.

Additional prizes and mentions may be awarded.
The specified amount of the cash awards is to be considered gross of any tax charges.
Prizes and mentions will be awarded at the sole and absolute discretion of a Jury composed of artists, scholars and representative personalities of the sector.

Rules & Terms

The official selection will consist of a competitive section, dedicated to audiovisual projects of creative reuse, without constraints of format, duration or nationality, and of several non-competitive sections dedicated to forms of archive reuse in performative arts, music, exhibitions, video art, as well as in retrospectives, tributes, special events, thematic focuses.

COMPETITION
1) Entry requirements
Participation is open to audiovisual projects of any genre, format, duration and nationality, produced from 2022 on, which display forms of creative reuse of archive materials.
The films submitted for selection must be in their original version, subtitled in Italian, English or French.
2) Submission
In order to participate in the selection, applicants must submit the film on the FilmFreeway platform, at the following link: https://filmfreeway.com/UnArchive-FoundFootageFest.
Online submission must be entered no later than 15 January 2024.
To be registered, applicants will have to pay a €30 submission fee.
For any problems with the registration process, please contact: festival@unarchive.it

3) Selection
The selection of the audiovisual projects for the competition is made at the sole and absolute discretion of the artistic direction of the festival. In the selection process, the originality in the reuse of archival material will be considered a rewarding criterion.
Selected participants will be informed by February 2024.
No screening fees will be paid for films selected for the competition.

4) Materials required
If selected, the participant commits to sending the following material by the date that will be communicated by the Festival organization:
- a copy of the film in a format suitable for screening (DCP, HD File, Blu-Ray, or other formats to be agreed upon)
- subtitles or dialogue list of the film in Italian or (if not available in Italian) in English
- the film trailer (.mp4 file)
- a digital version of the film poster (low resolution and high resolution for printing)
- Director's Biography
- Director's notes
- 5 film photos (low resolution and high resolution for printing)
- 1 photo of the director (low resolution and high resolution for printing)
- The film’s press book

5) Responsibility of the participant and use of the projects
By registering, the participant declares to be the owner of the project, to accept these rules, to authorize the screening of the project within the Festival and, following notification to the director, within future dissemination activities connected to it (screenings, in places and dates other than the festival, of some representative projects, always within the context of the UnArchive Found Footage Fest project). Furthermore, the participant authorizes the Audiovisual Archive of the Democratic and Labour Movement to keep a copy of the film, and grants the faculty to use it for consultation, educational and research purposes, even in venues and contexts other than that of the festival, to the exclusion of any commercial use and in keeping with the interests of its authors and producers.
Participation in the selection, and in the festival if selected, implies full acceptance of these rules.

OUT OF COMPETITION SECTIONS
Participation to the non-competitive sections of the Festival (exhibition projects, performances, retrospectives, tributes, special events, thematic focuses) is granted by direct invitation of the artistic director. For any recommendations, write to: festival@unarchive.it

UnArchive INDUSTRY
This is a side event of the festival that involves different players of sectors connected to the reuse of archive materials (restoration workshops, audiovisual archives, museums, researchers, authors, curators, production companies, broadcasters and distributors) which aims at creating opportunities for the main actors of the sector to meet, discuss and stimulate their growth.

GENERAL RULES
Participation in the Festival entails compliance with these Regulations, also available in English. In case of conflict of interpretation, the Italian version will prevail. All disputes will be presided over by the Court of Rome.

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