Dear artists, if you have submitted your work to us between July 31, 2020 and March 30, 2021, it means that it is now under review for our third season (Burnt 3). Please bear with us, we did not forget about your work, our jury is looking through the applications now. Please allow us time to go through the many wonderful submissions we have received. We are planning a number of screenings for our 3rd edition. More specific information along with the final selection of the films, will be announced by June 30th.
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Based in Montreal, Canada, Burnt Experimental Video Art and Film Festival is back with its third international edition! We will continue promoting experimental video artworks and experimental films by artists from around the world. We are looking to show radical experimental video art and film, whether abstract, absurd, comedic, critical, queer or uncanny. Deadline for submissions is February 15, 2021.

Burnt Fest is a process driven initiative, themes emerge as the selection process happens. Priority will be given to experimental works that explore urgent personal, social, economic, political, philosophical issues, either specific to the country of the artist, or worldwide, using the experimental approach to storytelling, and imagemaking. Traditional fiction, documentary, action, thriller or other conventional genres are not supported by our fest.

The screenings will be held in Montreal, Quebec starting July 2021 (venue and date TBA). The fest is 100% independently organized and made possible thanks to the efforts of the organizers, the jury, the audience, and last but most important: the ARTISTS who send in their applications.

Our jury is comprised of experimental video artists, experimental filmmakers, and art critics from various national backgrounds, currently living in Montreal, Canada. To organize our third edition, we determined a $5 fee for each application. The funds accumulated through the application fees will form Audience and Jury awards cash prizes as well as cover expenses related to the screenings, and organization of the festival.

During the past two editions we were able to have only one screening, which made us let go of many great works due to restrictions of time and space. This year our aim is to have multiple screening programs, that being said, it also depends on the volume of applications we receive.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD

JURY CHOICE AWARD

The majority of funds accumulated through the call for entries on FilmFreeway will be used to form cash prizes for these two awards, the rest will cover some expenses related to organizing the events.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

- we accept experimental video art, experimental film, including works created using mixed techniques and genres;

- only selected works will be screened;

- please include a short statement / synopsis of the work, and a short artist bio with your application;

- please include at least one or two stills from your work with your application, by attaching them in the “Still Photos” section of your project on FilmFreeway;

- Burnt Fest reserves the right to share stills included in submissions on social media, tributing the artist. We love connecting artists with the growing Burnt Fest community;

- works must be submitted in English or French or with English subtitles, if the original language is neither French nor English;

- maximum duration of the work must be 30 minutes, minimum 1 second;

- artists can submit a maximum of three works, but each work must be submitted as a separate entry;

- the finished video or film you are applying with must be your original work, plagiarism won’t be tolerated;

- it is your responsibility to make sure you have all the rights to the work you are applying with;

- no restrictions on the date of completion, premiere status or whether your work has been made available online;

- if your work is selected, you should provide a screening copy to the festival; selected artists grant us the right to screen their work;

- selected works will remain in the archive of the festival and be used during screenings; details of screenings will be communicated to the artists prior to the event;

- depending on the situation with COVID 19 next year, the festival might have to resort to an entirely online format, however, the live screening format is the preferred default; in order to avoid illegal downloading of your work from online video screening platforms, we will carefully consider all the security issues before choosing one;

- in addition to the preferred default, the festival might prepare an online program, again, depending on the circumstances;

- the fee of $5 per application is NON-REFUNDABLE, even if your work is not selected, or your link does not work at the time of selection process;

- funds accumulated through the application process will form the Jury and Audience awards cash prizes and cover the expenses related to the festival;

- at this moment, the festival is unable to provide screening fees to all the selected artists (if you don’t agree we won’t be able to screen your work, sadly) HOWEVER part of the funds formed through the application process will be dedicated to form cash prizes, as mentioned above;

- before sending the work, please make sure that your link works, password is correct, and your work displays as you intend to: the jury will not write to artists whose work does not display because of technical issues;

- if you have to change the password or link after submitting, please update the information on FilmFreeway ASAP, and, just in case, communicate the updated info by email, mentioning also your name and title of your work to burn.t.fest@gmail.com;

- by sending your work for consideration you automatically agree to ALL the above rules;

If you have any questions that were not answered above, or have any special requests, you are more than welcome write to burn.t.fest@gmail.com before sending your application.

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PS. Info and credits on the names of our deadlines:
PPS. The names of the deadlines, and this list should not be viewed as a didactic direction for applications. It is there for fun, and as a tribute to many great video artists and experimental filmmakers, who were here before us.
“Meshes of the Afternoon” 1943 Short experimental film by Maya Deren
“Sackville I’m Yours” 1972 Video art piece by Colin Campbell
“The Introduction” 1976 Experimental performance on film by Ann Kutera
“Funeral Parade of Roses” 1969 Arthouse experimental documentary by Toshio Matsumoto
“Four Seasons” 1975 Experimental film by Artavazd Pelechian and Mikhail Vartanov
“Strop” 1961 Art-house experimental film by Věra Chytilová
“The Girl Chewing Gum” 1976 Experimental avant-garde video art piece/film by John Smith
“Me Broni Ba” 2009 Experimental documentary by Akosua Adoma Owusu
“Délicieuse Catastrophe” 1970 Experimental animation by Piotr Kamler
“Bord de mer” 2009 Experimental feature film by Agnès Varda

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Flavio Sciolè

    This is a great and beautiful festival!

    May 2022
  • Krissy Mahan

    This is an excellent festival committed to exploring and expanding the creative conversation globally. The team communicated professionally and warmly. I appreciate that there is an opportunity to respond to other filmmakers' work through this festival. It was an honor to be included.

    January 2022
  • Amina Maher

    A great festival with great programming and selections. Happy to be part of you.

    January 2022
  • Anya Liftig

    Super cool! Honored to be included. Great communication!!!

    January 2022
  • Awesome festival! Nice program! interest in movies! Plesure to be in the line-up!

    January 2022