USA International Film Awards

Submission Guidelines

• All genres accepted
• Short Films: up to 40 minutes
• Feature Films: up to 180 minutes
• Student submissions require valid student ID
• Films must have been completed after 1 January 2020.
• Films where the original language is not English must provide subtitles in English.

Submission Rules & Terms

By submitting, you agree that the USA International Film Awards may use your trailer, teaser, poster, or stills for promotional purposes.
Submission fees are non-refundable.
You certify that:
• You own all rights to the submitted work
• Your submission cannot be withdrawn after selections are announced
• All third-party materials (music, footage, images) are fully licensed
• No content infringes copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or personal rights
• No defamatory material is included
• All clearance fees have been fully paid

Your submission grants the festival authorization to exhibit your film during both monthly selections and the annual Royal Eagle ceremony. The Submitter bears sole and exclusive responsibility for obtaining all necessary permissions, licenses, and clearances from the respective rights holders for any copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise protected materials included in the Film.

The Submitter must ensure that the Film is fully cleared of any and all actual or potential legal claims or liabilities.

Such claims include, without limitation, claims arising from or relating to libel, defamation, invasion of privacy, infringement of rights of publicity, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of confidence, breach of confidential relationship, or breach of any express or implied contract (collectively, “Third Party Claims”).

In the event that a submitted Film contains any unauthorized materials as described above, USA IFA reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify the Film from consideration or withdraw it from confirmed programming. In such cases, all submission fees paid shall be forfeited and non-refundable.

Festival Integrity
• Not affiliated with any similarly named events
• Submitter information is never shared
• We do not request or accept donations
Correspondence Policy

1. Communication Channels
All official correspondence from USA International Film Awards (USA IFA) regarding submissions will be sent through:

FilmFreeway messaging,

The Submitter’s registered email address, or

Approved third-party email campaign software.

2. Maintaining Communication
Submitters should not unsubscribe from USA IFA communications, as doing so may result in missing important updates.

3. Email Delivery Disclaimer
While USA IFA takes all reasonable measures to ensure messages are delivered, the Festival cannot be held responsible for emails not received due to technical issues or incorrect email addresses.

4. Submitter Responsibilities
Submitters are responsible for:

Logging in to FilmFreeway regularly to verify submission completion (including payment and screener uploads),

Ensuring the registered email address is accurate and current, and

Confirming that the film’s status is updated to “In Consideration” within two weeks of submission.

5. Selection Decisions
All selection and award decisions are final. USA IFA does not provide feedback, critical analysis, or correspondence regarding selection outcomes.

We do not accept:
1. Amateur videos. 2. Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organizations. 3. Pornography. 4. Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, video resolution lower than 720p HD). 5. We don't accept excerpts/scenes from films: you must submit the entire film.

Payment

The submission fee:
• must be made in USD, as collected by FilmFreeway.
• is payable by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Discover, Diners Club, UnionPay or PayPal, and accepted via FilmFreeway only.
• cannot be waived (NO EXCEPTIONS).
• cannot be discounted, including for the submission of multiple films.

Please note:
• Submission fees are non-refundable for films that do not meet eligibility requirements or are disqualified under these regulations.
• Films submitted without payment WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED and the submission will be disqualified.