ZINETXIKI ZINEMALDIA - International Film Festival for Children and Youth

1. ORGANISATION

IX edition of the Zinetxiki Zinemaldia - International Film Festival for Children and Youth, organised by the cultural association Begira Elkartea, will take place in Bilbao and other Basque cities and towns from 14 to 29 December 2024.

Zinetxiki Zinemaldia aims at offering worldwide quality audiovisual contents to a family audience. Through the projection of selected works in several competitive categories, the festival seeks to promote the audiovisual education and the creation of new audiences.

2. WHICH FILMS CAN BE SUBMITTED?

Any audiovisual work - fiction, animation, documentary or experimental -, produced for the cinema, television and any other screening platform. Only works that have been produced after 1 January 2022 will be accepted.

Films submitted to the festival must be addressed to children or young audiences, or must include children or young people in the leading role.

Any short or feature films that have been awarded or shown in other film festivals can also be submitted.

To enter the competition, films must be submitted by 31 May 2024 in any of the following categories:

• Films for children + 2 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, television content aimed at a family audience of 2 years of age and older).

• Films for children + 5 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, TV contents aimed at a family audience from 5 years of age onwards).

• Films for children + 7 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, TV contents aimed at a family audience from 7 years of age onwards).

• Children's film made by film school students and new directors. (This category will include films for children and young, created by film school students or new creators with no age limit. Given that this year 2024 marks the 76th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this category will also include short films with content related to the theme of human rights and SDGs).

• Children's short film by Cine y Educación (This category is aimed at short films made by students from primary, secondary and high schools. The contents that transmit values of integration, coexistence, respect, tolerance, equality, environment, etc. are valued. Maximum duration 12min)

3. TECHNICAL CRITERIA

The official languages of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia are Spanish, Basque and English.

a) Selection process

Films submitted to enter the competition must include a web address (URL) on the entry form for the festival’s Organisation to watch the film. URL links, private and password-protected, must be available until 10 November 2024.

Films submitted in different languages from the official ones, will have to attach Spanish/English subtitles and their corresponding timecodes in .srt or similar.

The Organisation might consider dubbing or subtitling short films in languages other than Spanish or Basque. Thus, it is requested to provide audio files, subtitles and dialogues in English or Spanish, with their corresponding timecodes.

For feature films that include dialogues in a language different from Basque, Spanish or English, those dialogues must be separately provided in English.

b) Screening of the official section

The person responsible for the entry (director, producer or distributor) commits to provide the final copy for screening before 14 July 2024.

Short films must be submited in .mp4 or .mkv format with a minimum resolution of 1900x1080p. Works will be preferably submitted digitally through tools such as Wetransfer, FTP or Dropbox; platforms like Film Freeway, Festhome and Click for festivals; or or by a download link via email to komunikazioa@zinetxiki.com.