Detour's International Film Festival / Short Film Showcase General Rules
1. Short Films are considered any motion picture, narrative, animated or documentary, that has a total running time between 2 - 35 minutes. Any film longer than 35 minutes is unable to be considered for our showcase at this time.
2. All films submitted to DIFF should not be currently available for public viewing via any streaming or social media platform via the internet. Films that are labeled as a World, USA or Florida “Premiere” are defined as any film that has not yet screened for the public in either of those respective areas. Films must not have additional screenings in the state of Florida during DIFF's festival/showcase dates.
3. Films that have shown theatrically or virtually both foreign and domestically, have been broadcast on network, cable or premium television or are available on home entertainment formats (including but not limited to Blu-Ray/DVD/TVOD/VOD) prior to screening at DIFF's festival/showcase in the year of 2025 will be deemed ineligible.
4. Films that been showcased privately, or during unpublicized FYC screenings are eligible for submission to DIFF's festival/showcase.
5. Films that have been previously submitted to DIFF's festival/showcase and were not accepted are ineligible to be reconsidered regardless of any and all edits made after their original submission and rejection.
6. Films publicly exhibited via self distribution and or distributors for monetary gain before the 2027 edition of DIFF's Short Film Showcase (March 2027) are ineligible.
7. All applicants must complete DIFF's official festival/showcase submission form located on Film Freeway to be considered for our showcase.
8. DIFF's festival/showcase reserves the right to disqualify any film not submitted through Film Freeway's website without refund of any application and or submission fees and applicable taxes.
9. The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the film. Films found including unauthorized copyrighted material are ineligible for DIFF's festival/showcase.
10. Films not in English or have scripted dialogue not in English must be subtitled.
11. Applicants may inform DIFF's festival/showcase programmers if your film includes Closed Captioning for the hearing impaired.
12. All projects must be submitted in a format Film Freeway can support. Virtual reality work will not be considered.
13. Majority A.I. (artificial intelligence) generated/created films will be considered ineligible.
14. Applicants must notify us if film submissions will contain scenes that will affect those with Epilepsy or similar conditions.
ACCEPTABLE FILM FORMATS:
DCP Files
*VISUAL: FLAT or SCOPE aspect ratios at 2k to 6k resolutions are acceptable
SOUND: 5.1 to 7.2 sound output is acceptable with 7.2 being preferred for best quality
TERMS
1. Films submitted by mail will not be returned. Films submitted by email that do not contain downloadable links will not be considered.
2. Multiple versions of the same film will not be considered. Only the final version submitted will be considered for DIFF Short Film Festivals/Showcases.
3. If the submitted film link does not play, the password does not work, or the film is otherwise not viewable, DIFF's festival/showcase reserves the right to disqualify the film without refunding the submission, nomination and any or all other applicable fees. It is the sole responsibility of the person(s) submitting the film to update any changed passwords or links and notify DIFF's festival/showcase of said changes immediately.
4. DIFF's festival/showcase will attempt, but is under no obligation, to view a submission that arrives after the designated deadline and is not entitled or obligated to refund the submission, nomination and any or all other applicable fees.
5. Submitted films that qualify based on the regulations and eligibility requirements stated above will be seen by DIFF's festival/showcase programming staff and be considered equally with all other submissions.
6. DIFF's festival/showcase reserves the right to disqualify any film for non-payment of the submission fee. In the event of non-payment, DIFF's festival/showcase may attempt to contact the applicant based on the contact information supplied at the time of submission in order to resolve non-payment status.
7. Applicants acknowledge that DIFF's festival/showcase reserves the right to change the nature of screening, panel, workshop and special event days and times as well as DIFF's festival/showcase venue due to circumstances related to public health, inclement weather, things defined as "acts of God" and or the welfare of the public at the discretion of local, state and or federal authorities. In such cases no submission, nomination or any or all other applicable fees shall be refunded or issued.
8. DIFF's festival/showcase is under no obligation to provide comments, thoughts, ratings or insight regarding submitted films to any applicant. The festival is not responsible for any internal comments obtained by the applicant regarding their film.
9. Applicants understand and agree to having their films screen via online distribution per DIFF's festival/showcase official website, supported through Vimeo's and or YouTube's on demand platform when they confirm their submissions.
10. Applicants understand that though there is a nominal fee for the public to view their submissions via Vimeo and or YouTube, however this fee is solely for the operation cost of DIFF's festival/showcase and applicants will not be entitled to any form of compensation form said fees.
