The Quito International Film Festival (FICQ) aims to promote auteur cinema to a new generation. It has been created as a festival to discover new talents and trends.
The festival was founded in 2016 by Cine Udla, the film school rooted in Universidad de Las Américas, in Quito.
FICQ is a festival mainly organized by students and their professors. The festival counts with five venues and has a young and fresh atmosphere. Its jury members come from all over the world; in previous editions the Festival has had the pleasure of welcomng distinguished guests such as Canadian-Mexican director Nicolás Pereida, directors Claudia Huaiquimilla (Chile), Kiki Álvarez (Cuba), Florencia Persia (Argentina), Jorge Forero (Colombia), Roberto Doveris (Chile), Laura Amelia Guzmán (Dominican Republic), Emiliano Cunha (Brazil), Mark Schlichter (Germany) and Sebastián Cordero (Ecuador), New York film critic Ruth Goldberg, producers Rich Henrich (USA) and Nicole Kellerhals (German), script-writer Abel Arcos (Cuba), composer Daniel Hidalgo (Mexico), director and film-critic Pedro Adrián Zuluaga (Colombia), film editor Ana Pfaff (Spain), director Marco Bechis (Chile), actress Antonella Costa (Argentina), casting director Luci Lenox (Irland), sound designer Jésica Suárez (Argentina) and director Alexandra Cuesta (Ecuador) .
FICQ also promotes parallel activities, which combine masterclasses, screenings and Q&As in order to encourage the cultural and artistic scene of Ecuador.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION
International Short Film (USD 500 + certificate)
Ecuadorian Short Film (USD 500 + certificate)
Audience Award – Short film (USD 200 + certificate)
Youth Award – Short film (certificate)

8th QUITO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (FICQ)
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR OFFICIAL COMPETITION

1. General guidelines for the competition

1.1 OFFICIAL COMPETITION: is comprised of

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM
All fiction or documentary works from any nationality, completed on or after January 1st 2022, can apply for the International Short Film Competition as long as their duration does not exceed 20 minutes. Submission of institutional, videoclip or advertising nature will be excluded. Works to be submitted to the International Short Film Competiton should not have been exhibited to the public within ecuadorian territory, nor been showcased on the Internet or in VOD (video on demand) platforms. ALL SUBMITTED WORKS MUST HAVE SPANISH SUBTITLES (CASTILLIAN/LATIN AMERICAN), if that is not their original language.

ECUADORIAN SHORT FILM
All fiction or documentary works from Ecuador (or directed by people born in Ecuador), completed on or after January 1st 2022, can apply the Ecuadorian Short Film Competition as long as their duration does not exceed 20 minutes.
Submission of institutional, videoclip or advertising nature will be excluded. Works to be submitted to the Ecuadorian Short Film Competiton should not have been exhibited to the public within ecuadorian territory, nor been showcased on the Internet or in VOD (video on demand) platforms. ALL SUBMITTED WORKS MUST HAVE SPANISH SUBTITLES if that is not their original language.

2. Submissions
The date limit for all submissions to be completed is July 31th, 2023. This should be done through the submission page available in FICQ’s FilmFreeway site (https://filmfreeway.com/ficq). Submissions must be accompanied by a screening link, along with its appropriate password, active until the end of June 2023. Submission is completely free.

Selected applicants for the Official Competition must commit to sending digital copies of their films (with Spanish subtitles if applicable) in the following formats:

- Codec Video: Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
- Audio Codec: PCM 48
- Size: UHD
- Layout: Surround 5.1 or 7.1
- Appearance: Flat or Scope
- Container: .mov or mxf
- Bit rate: Constant
- Subtitles: Burned into the image

Alternatively (but not ideal), these format can also be used:

- Video Codec: H.264 High Profile -10,000 Kb/s or more
- Audio Codec: ACC 320
- Size: HD
- Layout: Stereo 2.1
- Aspect: 16:9 (pillar-box (bars on the sides) or a small zoom is at the discretion of the creators)
- Container: .mp4
- Bit rate: Constant
- Subtitles: Burned into the image

3. Insurance for exhibition copies
FICQ is not responsible for any damage or loss caused during delivery processes of physical copies (hard drives, flash drives, discs, reels, tape, etc).

4. Catalog and promotion material
If selected, the producer and/or director of the film will facilitate all the necessary material for the festival’s catalog and other graphic pieces on the date indicated by the festival organizers. Aditional promotional material, both for the press and for the public, can also be sent. The producer and/or director, whose film participates in the Festival, authorize one or several fragments of their film to be used by FICQ as informative or promotional material, over any communication medium.

5. Jury and awards
5.1 For the Official Competition

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM:
The winner of the Official Competition – International Short Film will win 500,00
USD. The result will be announced on October 21th, 2023 during the Festival’s closing ceremony.

ECUADORIAN SHORT FILM:
The winner of the Official Competition – Ecuadorian Short Film will win 500,00 USD. The result will be announced on October 21th, 2023 during the Festival’s closing ceremony.

FICQ’s organizing team will appoint a jury formed by highly regarded professionals: two international members and one local member who have no connection to the participating films. The jury will deliberate secretly; their decision will be unappealable and will be made by simple majority. The jury could grant honorable mentions in both categories.

AUDIENCE AWARD
FICQ’s organizing team will also grant recognition to the short film, within Official Competition, with the higher number of online votes on the Festival’s website.
The winner will win 200,00 USD. The result will be announced on October 21th, 2023 during the Festival’s closing ceremony.

YOUTH AWARD
A jury composed by young filmmaking students from several local film schools will grant recognition to the short film which they consider to be relevant form their perspectives as youth.

6. Digital Festival: digital Festival for the Short Film Official Competition
Aiming to diversify audiences and promote wider participation of the ecuadorian public, the Festival will exhibit all participating short films on the Official Competition on a online (web) platform operated by Fundación Telefónica.

Participants in this section who accept their work to be exhibited in the Digital Festival, should indicate so in the submission form. Films in this platform will be accesible from within the ecuadorian territory only, and their availability will be limited to the duration of the Festival (October 17 to 22, 2023). Allowing your short film to be showcased in the Digital Festival is mandaroty in order to compete for the Audience Award.

FICQ8 Team

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Maravillosa experiencia.
    Belleza de festival!!

    November 2022
  • Rafael Méndez Meneses

    Excelente comunicación y coordinación con otras instituciones esperamos volver pronto

    October 2021
  • Gisela Chicolino

    We are very delighted for being selected with 3 short films from our catalog. Please keep working on generating this exquisite programming for the audiences.

    September 2021
  • Javid Farahani

    It was an honor for me and thank you for your professional team⚘

    August 2021
  • Great communication. Always good to come back with our films!

    August 2021