Melbourne Indie Film Festival

The Melbourne Indie Film Festival will take place from 16th – 24th March 2020.

Following the amazing success of the Sydney Indie Film Festival, which in its 4th year screened 146 films from nearly 30 countries during 11 entertaining film festival live events days, we are excited to bring the celebration of independent filmmaking to Melbourne, launching the Melbourne Indie Film Festival 2020!

The Melbourne Indie Film Festival will feature some of the best of independent cinema from around the world, including a mix of award winning films and outstanding emerging talent in the film industry.

The festival has been set-up to showcase new and creative works by emerging local and international artists, and for those who have an admiration for cinema and the craft of filmmaking.

We aim to share great stories with the audience, while supporting independent filmmakers. Whether you made a film with $100 or $100K budget, what will really captivate the audience is the story.

The Melbourne Indie Film Festival will take place from 16th – 24th March 2020 in the Screening Space at The Post St Kilda, in the heart of Melbourne's electrifying world famous St Kilda!

The Post St Kilda offers an unique cultural experience in a trendy space while supporting music, performances, and all forms of arts in the community.

Often referred to as the Arts capital of the country, Melbourne prides itself on its rich and diverse artistic culture, fully embracing all forms of expressive arts from street art to the Masters, theatre, fashion, dance, music and films.

Experience the stimulating fusion of Melbourne’s creative energy with the uniqueness of The Post St Kilda, as the Melbourne Indie Film Festival aims to bring entertainment and inspiration to its audience by showcasing stories and issues from around the world through the impact of great cinema.

We know that Film Festivals are great marketing vehicle, and with our incredible media team, we aim to give maximum publicity to all selected films.

The Melbourne Indie Film Festival mission is to unite, inspire and entertain, bringing opportunities for artists and great cultural events for the community.

Make sure you also check out our eldest festival, the Sydney Indie Film Festival.

The finalist films at the Melbourne Indie Film Festival, will be competing for the following awards:

Best Film - Feature Film
Best Screenplay - Feature Film
Best Director - Feature Film
Best Lead Male Actor - Feature Film
Best Lead Female Actor - Feature Film
Best Cinematography - Feature Film
Best Music Score - Feature Film
Best Editing - Feature Film
Best Production Design - Feature Film
Best Special Effects - Feature Film

Best Film - Short Film
Best Screenplay - Short Film
Best Director - Short Film
Best Lead Male Actor - Short Film
Best Lead Female Actor - Short Film
Best Cinematography - Short Film
Best Music Score - Short Film
Best Editing - Short Film
Best Production Design - Short Film
Best Special Effects - Short Film

Additional awards categories to be announced.

MELBOURNE INDIE FILM FESTIVAL RULES AND TERMS

The festival does not grant submission waiver. We believe in equal opportunity and we just don’t think it is fair for a project to equally compete entering with a submission waiver, with the filmmakers who made an effort to pay the submission fee. NO EXCEPTIONS.

We accept all genre in any language, from around the world.

All films must be in English or have subtitles in English.

Preference will be given to films that are not yet published online.

Online Submissions accepted exclusively via FilmFreeway.

All entry fees are in U.S. Dollars, per film and non-refundable.

Entries must be submitted no later than the deadline listed.

You must be over 18 years of age to qualify to enter the festival.

You are the copyright owner or producer.

You have the right to enter the movie in the festival.

The movie does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, contract rights, or any other intellectual property rights of any third person or entity, or violate any person’s rights of privacy or publicity.

The festival does not pay for mailing/shipping costs.

The festival does not pay screening fees.

The festival does not return DVD/BLU RAY copies and/or any other materials (such as stills, media kits or posters).

If your film is selected, we request the “Festival Screener File” to be sent via WeTransfer or other File Transfer Method. It is safer and faster than mailing packages.

If you prefer to send a Blu-Ray copy, these are the instructions:

Disk must be screen-ready and in English OR with English subtitles.

Disk specifications: PAL compatible, All Regions.

Disk must be labelled with:
Film Title
Running Time
Director’s name
Contact

Please do not put adhesive labels on the disk. Use a permanent marker to write the information on the disk or have it printed in the actual disk when using printable disk.

The submission and/or screener Disks/USBs must be sent to the Festival with the following statement: “without commercial value, for cultural purposes only”. In order to facilitate customs clearance, please indicate a maximum value of AU$10 or less.

The cost of shipping all entries and films to the festival must be paid by the entrant. The festival will not pay the cost of shipping the film back to the filmmaker. The festival will not be responsible for expedited or overnight shipping charges to other organizations. All international entries must be sent to the Melbourne Indie Film Festival with all transportation charges, duties, and taxes prepaid by the shipper.
The festival will not pay any customs' duties that could be incurred if you are mailing your disks via courier service. If you are using a courier service, make sure to mark that all customs' duties are paid by 'Sender' in order to avoid having your package returned to you.

After a film has been an official selection, the filmmaker will be notified, and the film will be listed on the festival's website under official selections.

If selected, the festival will require an Electronic Press Kit to include high-resolution production stills, key art, bio and filmography of the director, production notes and full cast and crew credits.

Once a film has been selected it cannot be withdrawn from the festival program.

Participation in the festival implies that the participants and winners in all sections will use in all publicity (posters, announcements, etc.) the name and the logo of the Melbourne Indie Film Festival and the Awards.

Although every possible care will be taken with disks, drives and files while in our possession, we cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage. Do not send originals or master prints, tapes, files or drives.

Please keep the festival notified of any email address/phone number changes.

The festival is hereby granted the rights to utilize excerpts from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.

The festival reserves the right to use any promotional materials you send us (such as stills, posters, trailers, reviews, interviews, etc.) for marketing, publishing and broadcast purposes of the festival.

You agree to participate in related publicity and to the use of your name and participation images for the purposes of advertising, promotion and publicity for the festival.

The festival promotes the schedule of screenings via online and offline media. The festival encourages filmmakers to help promote their films by promoting their screenings to industry professionals, distributors, the press and the general public.

The festival assumes no responsibility for any incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete information, whether caused by website users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the competition, and the festival assumes no responsibility for technical, hardware or software failure of any kind, for lost network connections, garbled computer transmissions, other problems or technical malfunctions with regard to the competition. The festival assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, corruption, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alteration of entries. The festival is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail addressed to the festival on account of technical problems, human error or traffic congestion on the internet or any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to your or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in the competition. If for any reason a contestant’s work cannot be viewed or is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer viruses, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud or technical failures, the festival assumes no responsibility.

In no event will the festival, its members, event partners or its officers, directors, employees, be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages arising out of any contestant’s access to and use of the website and participation in the competition.

You accept responsibility for obtaining any and all clearances necessary to exhibit your film at the festival, warrant that you have the rights necessary to exhibit your film at the festival, indemnify and hold harmless Melbourne Indie Film Festival and its affiliates against any claim arising out of submission and/or exhibition of your film at Melbourne Indie Film Festival.

By entering the competition you hereby accept these competition rules.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Adam Speranza

    Festival did a great job at continuing despite the coronavirus restrictions

    September 2020
  • Melbourne Indie Film Festival is wonderful. Good communication, solid networking, and overall a great experience.
    I look forward to attending the festival in person in the future! Thanks again.

    September 2020
  • Lawrence Donello

    Due to the Covid situation and distance we had to send our daughter who is living in Melbourne to the festival. She was made to feel welcome and really enjoyed her experience there. She would definitely go again on our behalf. Hopefully next time we will attend ourselves. Best of luck for the future and thankyou for screening our little film.

    September 2020
  • A fantastic film festival. The event was well organised and filmmakers were looked after by the fantastic festival crew! Highly recommended.

    August 2020
  • Jacob Harris

    While I was unable to attend the Melbourne indie Film festival in 2020, I have much admiration for the festival organisers for their hard work in promoting an event occurring on the precipice of an international pandemic. Through their excellent use of social media, I always felt involved and close in spite these uncertain times. My only regret is not being able to attend! I highly recommend this festival. Well done Shailla and team, I can hardly wait for the next addition.

    June 2020