The VerticalMovie Festival only accepts works shot in the 9/16 vertical video format.

This year the VerticalMovie Festival has chosen an entirely Green theme: ecology, sustainability, renewable energy and respect for the environment in order to safeguard our planet.

To quote Greta Thumberg: every day is “Earth Day”, and this reminds us that the environmental and climatic emergency must be the central pivot of our existence, that we must intensify circular economy, renewables and energy efficiency.

The symptoms of climate change must be addressed in such a way as to reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible. We must create conditions of resilience for our urban make-up. VerticalMovie Festival is a competition aimed for all, aimed at discovering new talents in the context of screenplay, directing and photography, to which participants are required to tell short audiovisual stories with video footage exclusively Vertical.

The vertical framing is a typical smartphone format and a new and modern visual manifestation of our present. VerticalMovie Festival will also have the aim to define and legitimize what has in effect become such a widespread expressive way.

Participants are asked to tell short audiovisual stories with the shooting mode whose framing must have one of the following vertical resolutions:

only and exclusively 9/16 vertical format movies ( 1080x1920 )

The file must be encoded in H264 and the container format must be MP4.

Audiovisuals must have a maximum duration of ten minutes and can be made with all those devices that allow a recovery with the above mentioned modes. The contest will be called on the web.

Awards & Prizes

We are sorry to report that due to Covid-19 there will be no cash or material prizes in this edition. Only acknowledgments of merit:

1. "Best VerticalGreen", jury merit award, awarded by the technical jury
2. "Best VerticalOpen", jury merit award, awarded by the technical jury
3. "Best VerticalSong", jury merit award, awarded by the technical jury

There are further awards awarded by the quality Jury:

BEST SCREENPLAY
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST EDITING
BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

The winner of the first absolute prize “BEST VERTICALMOVIE SHORT” awarded by the quality jury will be invited to be part of the jury in the next edition. In any case the winners will be able to participate as competitors to the next edition.

Rules & Terms

COMPETITION

Vertical Movie Festival is a competition aimed at all, aimed at discovering new talents in the field of screenplay, direction and photography, whose participants are asked to tell short audiovisual stories with exclusively vertical video footage.

Vertical framing is a typical format of the smartphone and a new and modern visual manifestation of our present, VerticalMovie Festival will also aim to define and legitimize what in all respects has become such a widespread expressive way.

Participants are asked to tell short audiovisual stories with the shooting mode whose shot must have one of the following vertical resolutions: horizontal and vertical resolution:

HD 1080 x 1920 - UHD 2160 x 3840 - 4K 2160 x 4096

The file must be encoded in H264 and the container format must be MP4.

The audiovisuals must have a maximum duration of ten minutes and can be made with all those devices that allow shooting in the manner described above. The competition will be launched on the web. 

VerticalMovie takes place in Rome in July 2023. 

REGULATION

Art. 1. The festival called VerticalMovie Festival is established in Rome: a short film competition, aimed at identifying new talent in the field of vertical audiovisual (format 9:16). The jury, made up of industry experts, will evaluate the works according to the criteria of originality of the contents, technical quality of the videos sent, and adherence to the "vertical" philosophy of the creation, selecting finalists whose products will be made visible on the youtube channel of the VerticalMovie Festival.

Art. 2. The recognition is based in Rome.

Art. 3. The various awards will be assigned to the authors of unpublished vertical films of a maximum duration of ten minutes (excluding any credits). Participating authors must be at least eighteen years of age and can register on the website dedicated to the initiative www.verticalmovie.it by filling in the dedicated entry form www.verticalmovie.it/enrollment. In case of registration by authors not yet of age, a release form will be required, signed by the minor's parents or legal guardians.

Art. 4. Participants in the competition must provide, at the time of registration, their personal details, proven by an identity document (identity card or passport; in the case of minors, also identity documents of parents or guardians legal notice), telephone number, email contact, signed privacy release form, all to be sent in digital format to the email on the site.

Art. 5. To validate the application, the author will sign an acceptance letter in which he agrees to accept the regulation in full.

Art. 6. Upon receipt of the registration request, as soon as the compliance of this request with all the above requirements has been ascertained, the participant will receive a personal user ID and password with which to access the dedicated page, on which he can upload the audiovisual that intends to take part in the competition.

Art. 7. Every single video in competition must be accompanied by a presentation synopsis, a poster, a trailer and an English subtitling.

Art. 8. The jury of experts is joined by that of the public, which will use the thumbs up on the website www.verticalmovie.it, to vote for the favorite video present in the competition.

Art. 9. The competition has a free theme, but particular attention will be given to all those works that should highlight the concept of "verticality" in all its meanings in terms of creativity and originality. Violent, pornographic, racist content is excluded, under penalty of exclusion. The jury

reserves the right to exclude, at its own unquestionable judgment, any work presenting content that it deems offensive or questionable.

Art. 10. The ballot will be held on the final evening of the festival.

Art. 11. The awards will be 8 (eight). 4 (four) assigned by the technical jury, 4 (four) assigned by the web, based on the number of views obtained with their work.

Further acknowledgments assigned by the technical jury are foreseen:

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST SCREENPLAY

BEST PROTAGONIST ACTOR

BEST PROTAGONIST ACTRESS

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY

BEST EDITING

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

Art. 12. The winner of the FIRST ABSOLUTE "BEST VERTICALMOVIE SHORT" AWARD awarded by the technical jury will be invited to be part of the jury in the next edition. In any case, the winners of the various awards will be able to participate as competitors in the next edition.

Art. 12. The winner of the FIRST ABSOLUTE "BEST VERTICALMOVIE SHORT" AWARD awarded by the technical jury will be invited to be part of the jury in the next edition. In any case, the winners of the various awards will be able to participate as competitors in the next edition.

Art. 13. The VerticalMovie Festival reserves the right to use every single video in competition for the duration of an entire calendar year for activities and events related to the VerticalMovie Festival, a use that is established completely free of charge by the participants.

Art. 14. Changes to this statute can be made by the Steering Committee.

Art. 15. The participants, (registered), in the VerticalMovie Festival competition, relieve the organizers of the VerticalMovie Festival from any legal, civil and criminal liability, for having used musical, literary content within their productions (films in competition) and of any other nature, whose copyrights are not their property, or in any case not free. It is therefore a concern for producers / authors of the films in competition to ensure in advance that their productions are free from any legal constraint, as the selection board of the VerticalMovie Festival is not required to detect such irregularities. Voting Rules

Art. 1. It is up to the Jury of Experts to reward the competing works.

Art. 2. Voting methods envisaged: by paper ballot or electronically. Each juror must assign their preference.

Art. 3. If there is an equal number of votes after the ballot, the prizes will be awarded ex aequo.

Art. 4. The jury's decision, which cannot be appealed, applies to any dispute.

Art. 5. The Prize guarantees the anonymity of the vote.

Art. 6. At the discretion of the selectors, the works received will be addressed within the sections of which the festival is composed.
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  • Stefano Colucci

    Awful experience. My presence, together with my partner, was poorly received at the entrance where we discovered that we had booked as audience members, while other participants enjoyed accreditation. This discrimination turned out to be linked to the fact that my work had not won any awards. A question arises spontaneously: does this festival only recognize the value of the winners, relegating other creatives to a position of total insignificance? My belief is that every creative deserves respect regardless of their success. Festivals should be sacred havens for creative minds, a place to celebrate art and artists. Instead, the event felt like an exercise in self-congratulation, a ritual of mutual adulation between the creative director and his friends.

    The lack of organization continued to taint the evening. Upon entering the room there was no assigned seat, no presentation, and our requests for explanations were ignored. An unworthy treatment for a director in competition who expected a more professional welcome.

    The lack of transparency also affected my project, selected but forgotten in all categories. I would like to understand why my work was excluded not only from the awards (I certainly didn't expect to win with a video art project) but even from the nominations. My partner and I were there at least to see the work screened, but it seemed that my project wasn't even in competition. They didn't talk about it before the event, we thought it was a normal festival with all the shorts having their time to be screened but no. They only screened the winners instead.

    The evening betrayed the very soul of the announcement of the festival here on the platform, revealing a serious lack of coherence with the formulas proclaimed there. I would also like to point out that most of the winners seemed to have prior knowledge of both the festival and the creative director. An observation that casts a shadow on the fairness of the selections.

    Furthermore, while from the stage the intuition of the festival (which is not a festival, being an awards evening) was praised, vertical even before Cannes, it was impossible not to smile and note that the gap in quality and commitment between the two events is insurmountable. That self-proclamation seems baseless.

    An artistic event should be a place of inspiration and mutual respect, and I cannot help but express my disappointment at the lack of such values ​​in this event.

    December 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Hello Mr. Stefano Colucci,

    I am very sorry for the bad reception you received on the occasion of the evening of the awards ceremony of the winners of the VerticalMovie Festival, I am dismayed.

    I will try to get to the bottom of how such a serious inattention could have happened in the management of the seats reserved for the competitors of the Festival. I will definitely take serious action with the public relations managers at our Festival. It is the first complaint we receive in five editions. I am really sorry about that.

    As the person in charge of the Festival, I offer my heartfelt apologies to you and your partner. This unfortunate incident will not happen again.

    As far as the jury is concerned, I can assure you that our jurors are very serious, passionate and scrupulous, and would never dream of lending themselves to favouritism. The purpose of the VerticalMovie is to discover talents, stimulate and encourage the production of audiovisual works and certainly not to deceive anyone.

    I think your work is very interesting and well made, with suggestive vertical shots and an extremely lyrical content, which is why it was selected and submitted to the jury. As you will surely have noticed, a trailer has been made to be posted on social media to testify to the liking it has aroused. Personally I have to congratulate you, because I very much liked your work, and I do not say it out of plagiarism or with the intent of enchanting you, I found your words of comment and tone of voice very poetic. Sincere congratulations.

    I hope to see you again at the competition in the following editions of the VerticalMovie, I am sure I will receive an equally valid work from you, and also, I’d love to have the opportunity to shake hands and congratulate you and offer my heartfelt apologies in person.

    Hoping you may accept my sincere apologies.
    Kind regards

    Salvatore