Hayah is the only short film festival in Panama and Central America that rewards local and international short film makers. Our mission is to showcase the best shorts of the last year to a public that has limited access to them during the year, and also to give an opportunity to the local talent to meet the region's representatives of this exponentially increasing industry.
Rules & Terms
GENERAL RULES
Open Call
March 15th to May 15th, 2016
Hayah Profile
Hayah International Short Film Festival, in its 10th edition, invites filmmakers of Panama and the world to participate in its short film competition. Hayah is the only short film festival in Panama and Central America, calls for entries annually to reward the local and international short films. The short film competition will be held following the rules below:
Festival Date
The 10th Hayah International Short Film Festival will be held in November 2016 in Panama City.
Categories
There are SEVEN (7) COMPETITION SECTIONS to participate in:
a) Best Short Film Fiction
b) Best Short Film Documentary
c) Best Short Film Animation
d) New Directors Award (for Panamanian filmmakers only)
e) Best Music Video
f) Best National Short Film (for Panamanian filmmakers only)
g) Best Central-American Short Film
The Filmmakers who aspire to take part of the competitive categories, but do not get selected, will be taken in consideration to participate in the out of competition sections of the Festival.
Requirements
To participate in the Short Films Official Competition you must meet the following requirements:
• Natural or legal entities of any nationality can participate
• The number of short films that you can enter into competition is limited to two short films per director
• Only short films that have not been previously exhibited in Panama will be accepted
• Your film can not be a reduced or extended version of another short film made previously for this festival.
• Only short films with completion date after 1st of January, 2014 can compete
Awards
The Hayah Short Film Festival will award honorable mentions if the jury deems so. The jury reserves the right of not awarding all the prizes if within the proposals there is no Short film that goes along the lines of the Hayah International Short Film Festival.
The prizes are personal and not transferable. The Hayah International Short Film Festival organization can deem some categories as deserted if the call does not meet a minimal participation.
Participating short films in the OFFICIAL COMPETITION SECTION will compete for the following prizes depending on their characteristics :
Best Short Film Fiction: 10th Jubilee Trophy + $ 1000
Best Short Film Documentary: 10th Jubilee Trophy + $ 1000
Best Short Film Animation: 10th Jubilee Trophy + $ 1,000
Panama New Directors Award: 10th Jubilee Trophy + other awards to be confirmed
Best Music Video: 10th Jubilee Trophy
Special Award: Best Central-American Short Film: 10th Jubilee Trophy
Special Award: Best National Short Film: 10th Jubilee Trophy + Travel and accommodation to an associated International Festival
In addition, each short film will participate for Honorable Mentions for Best Production, Direction, Sound Design, Acting, Editing, Photography, among others.
Terms and Conditions
a. The maximum duration for the short films in all categories is 20 minutes and may have been shot in any system.
c. Entries must have completed production after January 1st, 2014.
d. All those short films whose original dialogues are not in Spanish, is preferably subtitled in Spanish. Otherwise, they will might be refused as the Festival has limited resources.
e. The short films whose dialogues are in Spanish, should preferably have English subtitles.
f. The Organization will agree upon selection, date and display order of the short films participating in Hayah International Short Film Festival and any Itinerant project after the 10th edition of the Festival. In the latter case only those short films in which the responsible person for each work expressly authorizes will be displayed.
g. Proposals received after the specified date are excluded from participating.
h. For local filmmakers participation in all activities of the Festival is mandatory. For foreign filmmakers the Festival will arrange for lodging discounts in Panama City, if they can attend to the Festival activities.
Registration and material submission
The Festival Call will take place only
FROM MARCH 15th TO MAY 15th, 2016
a) Submission of materials will be made via the platform, following the platform’s rules.
b) The subscription can be managed online, via the platform.
c) Once the work is uploaded, you will be asked a series of information that makes up the registration form, the participant does not have to send anything else by post or e-mail. The content is private and only accessible by the festival and its contributors.
d) Upon enrollment the information must be complete and ready to attach, such as:
• Short film's still photo
• Poster (if there was made one)
• Director's photo
• In the File section attach a signed and scanned letter by the creative team: director, screenwriter, producer and/or the film owner, where he authorizes the HAYAH SHORT FILM FESTIVAL to display the short film. People who sign must include a copy of their personal identity document with the letter.
• The Festival kindly asks the submitters to include Spanish subtitles with their submission. The Festival has limited resources and might have to refuse short films with no Spanish subtitles.
e) The online transfer cost is approximately 3 € (three euros), slightly differing among each platform. It can be paid via the options that the platform offers.
f) The cost of the subscription differs between platforms. The subscription is always free of charge for Central American filmmakers.
e) The submission and transfer cost is free of charge for the filmmakers from Central America. If you are sending your short film from Central America, please contact with the Festival via e-mail: programacion@festivalhayah.com
Sending by Mail
Will only be admitted for film schools and distributors who prefer to send their material via mail. They should contact the Festival directly using the following email address:
programacion@festivalhayah.com
Jury
a) The Official Jury, composed by professionals from the film, culture and communication industry, will be in charge of awarding the prizes. The awards will be for the film's Director.
b) Decisions of both the Selection Committee and the Official Jury will be final.
c) The Jury reserves the right to declare awards and mentions deserted, if they don't find works that go along with what the Festival represents.
d) The jury's decision will be public at the end of the 2016 Festival.
e) The Jury will evaluate the script, producing, directing, technical and artistic resources with which the participant short was made.
Final
a) The registration implies acceptance of all the rules.
b) Each short film must have script registration rights and will be responsible for the image rights of the people who appear in their videos, as well as the rights of the soundtrack and/or original music.
c) If selected to participate in the Festival, it is mandatory to have
a Trailer of the short film, 1 minute long max, which will be required by the programming team. The information about the short film (synopsis and technical datasheet) will be required in English and Spanish