Alegre International Film Festival

Terracota Produções and audiovisual production company De Repente o Rio present and publish the rules for the Alegre International Film Festival, regarding the selection and screening of short films in the city of Alegre, located in the southern interior of the state of Espírito Santo, the gateway to the Caparaó region. The festival will be held in April 2026.

The festival aims to be a space dedicated to celebrating contemporary cinema in its multiple forms, voices, and languages, as well as a meeting point between films, audiences, and the local community, building bridges between different places and cinematic experiences.

The festival features competitive programs for national and international short films, as well as special screenings that make up the general program.

1. Object

1.1 The object of the present regulation is the selection and awarding of films to be screened at the Alegre International Film Festival, that aims to propagate the production of films, as well as to contribute to the reflection on the screened films and support the exchange between Brazilian and International filmmaking.

1.2 In addition to competitive screenings, the festival organizers may also schedule parallel and special screenings, which may or may not be linked to the registration and selection process.

2. Requirements

2.1 Registration will take place from february 03 to february 28, 2026, through the website www.festcinealegre.com for free registration of national films. For international films, registration will be done through the FilmFreeway platform. A fee will be charged for international film registrations, the amount of which will go towards the production of the event.

2.2 The preview digital copy can be sent online. For registrations through the Festival website, it is necessary to inform the link (and password, if any) to access or download the film and it must be available until the selection process is completed. The responsibility for the quality of the screening copies; for the good functioning and maintenance of the access link to the work; for the download or upload of the film is exclusive to the applicant. The Festival's Organizing Committee will not be responsible for any malfunction that may compromise the participation of interested parties.

2.3 Short films completed in October 2024 can apply. The first public screening date will be considered as the completion date, for unreleased films, in person or online. Any film submitted with a release date prior to this date will be disregarded.

2.4 The Festival will accept short films with maximum running time of 25 minutes (credits included, except advertising, institutional films, series and music videos), finished in digital format, never before submitted to the Festival and are not available for public online exhibition.

2.5 If the film has dialogues in languages other than Portuguese, the preview copy of the film must be subtitled in English or Portuguese. For selected international films, it will be necessary to send an srt file with English subtitles synchronized with the film's running time and frame rate.

2.6 The submission of films in the Festival implies the full acceptance of all the rules and conditions in this regulation and in the submission form.

2.7 The festival may announce the selection results a few days earlier or later, depending on the volume of material submitted and the workload. The festival will not refund the entry fee for international films, regardless of whether the film is selected or not.

2.8 Films submitted for selection must ensure that they hold the rights to display images and perform the soundtrack contained in the work, for the purposes of festival screenings and non-profit public screenings, and exempt the Alegre International Film Festival Organization from paying related rights for their screening.

3. Selection and submission of copies and material for exhibition

3.1 The films will be selected by a committee formed by professionals from the film industry, the festival’s artistic direction, and/or professionals from the academic field, including representatives from other arts and fields of knowledge. The members of the Selection Committee may be replaced at any time, if unable to attend and/or due to noncompliance with the regulations established by the Festival organizers.

3.2 The selection committee will decide in which section the selected films will be featured and will communicate this decision to their submitters. By submitting a film, the participant agrees that, if selected, the film may be included in any section of the Festival, respecting the main country or region of production of each film.

3.3 The selected short films will be officially announced at the Festival’s website from April, 2026.

3.4 The selected films will be screened in .mov/mp4 (codec H.264). Specific technical information about the screened formats will be provided when the selected films are announced.

3.5 The digital screening copy can be uploaded online. The responsibility for the quality of the screening copies; as well as for the good functioning and maintenance of the access link to the work; and for the download or upload of the film is exclusive to the applicant. The Festival's Organizing Committee will not be responsible for any malfunction that may compromise the participation of interested parties.

3.6 Indicative classification: According to Ordinance 368/2014 of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil, films shown in exhibitions and festivals must practice self-classification in accordance with the “Practical Guide to Indicative Classification”. It is mandatory to fill, on the registration form, the indicative classification of the film, according to these rules. The organization of the event is responsible for ensuring compliance with this measure and may even change this classification according to the festival's convenience to adapt to the rules. The Guide is available at: https://www.gov.br/mj/pt-br/assuntos/seus-direitos/classificacao-1/guia-pratico/guia_audiovisual_2022_4ed_ingles_final.pdf/@@download/file

3.7 Those responsible for short films that declare, at the time of registration, the existence of a copy with accessibility features must send the exhibition files with the facilities highlighted in the registration and synchronized with the exhibition copy. If accessibility has been made after registration, it is important to communicate these facilities to expand the possibilities of programming the film at the event.

4. Promotional materials

All information present in the registration form, as well as images of the films (up to 60 seconds) may be used for dissemination on the festival website and in the media, in public or paid Brazilian or foreign television channels, and/or on the Internet, as part of the dissemination of the Alegre International Film Festival at any time. Up to 3 still images (at least one vertically), poster, teaser or trailer and up to 3 minutes of selected works will be requested, which may be shown by the Festival strictly for the purpose of publicizing the event and its programming in any media. This material must be sent within one week after the date of notification of the selection.

5. Awards

5.1 The films screened at the Competitive Sections will compete for the Official Jury Award, with the gross amount of R$ 800,00 (eight hundred Reais) which will be offered to the best short- film, in each competitive section. The amounts are subjected to taxes deduction and wire transfer expenses applicable both nationally and internationally.

5.2 IIn cases of international awards, presentation of the invoice, copy of the passport, proof or registration that that person holds the rights or is the author of the film and CV/portfolio.

6. Copyrights and personality rights

6.1 It is the unique, exclusive and unmitigated responsibility of the applicant who submits its audiovisual work to the Festival the observance and regularization of all and any copyright issues related to images, voices and names of those involved in the work submitted, fitting him exclusively to obtain consent of those involved to use, vehicle and make available the audiovisual work, in the coverage of this regulation, owning full respect to the legislation in effect and shouldering the respective payment, if it's the case, exempting the Festival's Organization of any liability related to any breach.

6.2 Full credit, mentioning the name of all involved (other authors/directors, screenwriters/arguments, soundtrack composer, animators, cast, persons portrayed), should be inserted in the submitted audiovisual work itself and identified in the corresponding fields of the entry form.

6.3 It is the unique, exclusive and unmitigated responsibility of the applicant who submits to the Festival to declare the absence of plagiarism of the works presented, as well as guarantees the image rights and copyright thereof, exempting the Terracota Produções, De Repente o Rio and their partners, supporters and / or sponsors, of any responsibility in that regard.

7. Final considerations

If necessary, due to force majeure or administrative convenience, with due justification and always in the public interest, the organization of the Alegre International Film Festival may, without any restriction, cancel, bring forward, or extend any dates stipulated in these regulations, as well as transfer the screenings/event to another venue or change their scheduled times.

Submitting a film to the Festival implies full acceptance of these regulations.
In case of any doubts, please contact: festcinealegre@gmail.com