‘Making a film makes you happy. This is what I wish you all, see it through, don’t ever stop!’ (Vilmos Zsigmond)

SEND US YOUR SHORTS, FEATURES, DOCS & 1ST TIME THIS YEAR YOUR MUSIC VIDEOS TO GET RECOGNITION FOR THEIR CINEMATOGRAPHERS!

Vilmos Zsigmond (1930-2016), the world-famous, Academy Award-winning cinematographer was born in Szeged. With his words in mind, our festival invites cinematographers to compete and focuses on the quality of the film image.

The Zsigmond Vilmos International Film Festival primarily aims at drawing attention to the work of cinematographers, one of the most important co-creators of a film, together with giving an opportunity to young artists to show their craft. Hungarian cinematography has become world-famous in the past 60 years, and the members of the new generations, who both follow and renew the traditions, are no exception. The festival jury will evaluate the films submitted to the festival primarily on the basis of the cinematography, but will of course also look at the overall artistic quality.

The festival also wishes to focus on Zsigmond Vilmos’s life and art and to show today’s cinematographers what he achieved. So every year we will also show a retrospective of his work, a selection of his films based on different criteria, as well as documentaries and interviews with and about him, since Vilmos Zsigmond, the world-famous, Academy Award-winning cinematographer, was born in Szeged and was also named honorary citizen of the town. The largest auditorium with 512 seats in Belvárosi Cinema, which is one of the biggest, oldest and most beautiful cinemas in Hungary, was named after him in 2005, and he was very proud of it. He visited the cinema many times and brought international TV companies along to the place where he first encountered the wonderful world of movies.

The honorary patron of the festival is Susan Zsigmond.

Zsigmond Vilmos Award for Best Cinematography

CinProCaS® Award for the best cinematographer

Best Feature Award for the film's cinematographer

Best Documentary Award for the film's cinematographer

Best Short Feature Award for the film's cinematographer

Best Music Video Award for the video's cinematographer

Critics’ Choice Award

Student Jury Award

Special Mentions are possible in the 6 above categories

Szeged Award

HCA - Hungarian Cinematographers' Association Award

AHD - Association of HUngarian Film Directors Award

Vantage Vision Award, for the Best Young Cinematographer

Lifetime Achievement Award

The jury reserves the right not to present every award.

The Zsigmond Vilmos International Film Festival draws attention to cinematographers, one of the most important co-creators of a film, together with giving an opportunity to young artists to show their craft.

The festival jury will evaluate the films submitted to the festival primarily on the basis of innovative cinematography, but will also consider the overall artistic quality.

APPLICANTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE DIFFERENT AWARDS OF THIS FESTIVAL GO TO THE CINEMATOGRAPHERS.

THE FESTIVAL PAYS NEITHER RENTAL FEES NOR COPYRIGHT FEES FOR THE FILMS SCREENED WITHIN THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME.

The call is open to individual filmmakers and artistic communities without age restriction, and the festival organisers also look forward to receiving films made by students majoring in film studies, directing or cinematography.

The call is open to films in four categories, each completed after the 1st of January 2023:

FEATURE FILMS,
SHORT FILMS (with no restrictions on genre or technical aspects, but max 60 min long)
DOCUMENTARIES and
MUSIC VIDEOS
Part of the competition program of the festival is

a section called HUNGARIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS' WEEK, the films of which are selected from the submitted works by the selection jury. The winner in this category is awarded by the Hungarian Cinematographers Association (HCA).

One filmmaker can submit more than one film.

Each and every submission is subject to a registration fee of 10 euros – for short films and music videos – or 15 euros for works longer than 60 minutes. Please apply, upload and pay on our FILMFREEWAY (https://filmfreeway.com/) interface.

Technical requirements

For viewing purposes we only accept online screeners, and if applicable, with a password that will expire after the festival. All films should be subtitled in English. Please note that the viewing copy should be the final cut of the film submitted.

Submissions selected for the competition programme will be accepted only in DCP format.

Application: https://filmfreeway.com/ZSIGMOND_VILMOS_INTERNATIONAL_FILM_FESTIVAL

Application deadline: 22 January 2025, 11:59 (PT)

The competition programme of the festival will be announced on the 10th of February 2025.

An integral part of the Call for Application is our SUBMISSION POLICY:

1. General information
Feature films, short films (with no restrictions on genre or technical aspects but max. 60 minutes long), music videos and documentaries completed after 1 January 2023 can be submitted to the festival. There is no restriction on the length and number of the films submitted, and one filmmaker or filmmaking community can submit more than one film. Each film has to be registered separately.

2. Deadlines
Application deadline: 22 January 2025, midnight (CET)
The competition programme will be published on the 7th of January 2025
Date and venue of the festival: 27-31 May 2025, Belvárosi Cinema, Szeged, Hungary

3. Film submission, application form
Submission and payment of the registration fee is available via FILMFREEWAY.COM
https://filmfreeway.com/ZSIGMOND_VILMOS_INTERNATIONAL_FILM_FESTIVAL
E-mail address of the festival: zsigmondvilmosfeszt@gmail.com

4. Information on film copies and screening
The festival pays no rental or screening fees.
Applicants whose films are selected to take part in the competition programme have to submit their films in DCP format with English subtitles. These DCPs have to be available until the end of the festival.
The festival reserves the right to publish a maximum 2-minute long part of the submitted films on its website for promotional and educational (non-commercial) purposes. Belvárosi Cinema may screen the award-winning films on two further occasions after the festival.

EVALUATION: The films submitted will be pre-selected by a jury of cinematographers, film directors and film professionals.

The awards will be voted by a professional jury chaired by Gábor Szabó, Béla Balázs Award-winning cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond’s former colleague. The main festival prize, the Zsigmond Vilmos Award for Best Cinematography, will be given to the best cinematographer. The best films in each category will also be awarded, as well as the City of Szeged, the Association of Hungarian Film Directors )AHD), the Film critics’ jury, the Student jury and the aforementioned Hungarian Cinematographers Association (HCA) will hand out an award respectively.

The jury reserves the right not to present every award.