Puerto Rico Film Festival

PUERTO RICO FILM FESTIVAL has the main purpose to cultivate, develop, promote and enrich the island’s cinematic arts and science culture through active education and socio-cultural events to celebrate the excellence of cinema worldwide; It is conceived as the main platform to promote our filmmakers for greater international reach and impact.

The date of the event will be September 25th-29th, 2024, and will take place Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

The event calls to any filmmaker who has a film that meets the requirements, established in the terms and conditions section, of any nationality in any part of the world.

Sections & Categories:

The film pieces to submit, can be considered in one of the following categories within the official competition sections and/or categories:

1. National Official Section

Film pieces produced, co-produced and/or directed by filmmakers from Puerto Rico. These pieces must have been produced after January 1st, 2022. Short films will not exceed the maximum running time of twenty (20) minutes, including credits. Feature films running time must not be less than sixty-five (65) minutes. All films can vary within a wide range of genres and themes/ topics that provoke critical thinking, elevate cinema art in technical, narrative and aesthetic quality. The different submission categories our film festival calls:
a. Feature Length Fiction
b. Short Film Fiction
c. Documentary Film - Feature Film
d. Documentary Film - Short Film
e. Animated Film - Short Film
f. Music Video
g. Advertising Cinema

2. International Official Section

Film pieces produced by any country in the world, except Puerto Rico. These pieces must have been produced after January 1st, 2022. Short films will not exceed the maximum running time of twenty (20) minutes, including credits. Feature films running time must not be less than sixty-five (65) minutes. All films can vary within a wide range of genres and themes/ topics that provoke critical thinking, elevate cinema art in technical, narrative and aesthetic quality. The different submission categories our film festival calls:
a. Feature Length Fiction
b. Short Film Fiction
c. Documentary Film - Feature Length
d. Documentary Film - Short Film
e. Animated Film - Short Film

3. Official Section, Out of Competition

The festival reserves the right to invite cinematographic pieces as part of the official section of the program.

Terms and Conditions

The following terms and conditions govern the registration procedures for any film to be submitted for consideration to the Puerto Rico Film Festival (PRFF).

PRFF reserves the right to select, reject and/or disqualify the film piece once it is registered for consideration through the FilmFreeway platform.The ruling of this decision will be final and firm.

The submitter of the film accepts that has the rights, and consent, of the intellectual authors to submit the film for consideration. It is understood by intellectual authors: owners, creators, writers, producers and/or any figure that is legally authorized to represent the piece; You have read, understood and accepted the terms described here.

The submitter acknowledges and agrees to comply, once registering the film piece, the following requirements:

1) The film pieces must be subtitled in Spanish and/or English, for evaluation purposes and official screening.
2) All film pieces must be submitted in digital format, regardless of their original format.
3) The submitter ensures that all intellectual rights are released. The festival is not responsible for any copyright claim. If that would be the case, the film piece in question will be disqualified from the official section. The submitter guarantees that is the one who holds the distribution rights of the film. If that's not the case, the festival reserves the right to disqualify the film from the selection.
4) The submitter will submit the film piece under the minimum specifications required by the event: H.264 (.mp4) 1080p, Stereo or DCP (contact us for more information on how to subMit in DCP), , Subtitled to the corresponding language: English and/or Spanish.
5) All submissions must be processed via FilmFreeway. Please, verify that all communication chain is correct; the festival considers the information provided on the platform to be correct and verified.
6) The submitter will provide the projection package on the established date, only in the case of being selected on one of the official sections of the program. If it is not delivered within the time established by the festival, the one that was registered as a screener will be taken as a projection copy. As a last resort, the festival will have the authority to disqualify the piece for non-compliance. It is recommended that the submitter have on hand the following package:
a) One (1) HIGH QUALITY projection copy (H.264, 24fps, Stereo, 1080p)or DCP (contact us for more information on how to subMit in DCP), .
b) Three (3) still frames of the film in High Quality; in its native radio aspect.
c) Press Kit (.pdf)
d) Official Poster
e) Subtitles in English and/or Spanish. Format (.srt) file preferably. In the case that they
are burnt into the projection copy, please be sure to notify.
f) Documentation of main key credits, synopsis and logline; in English and Spanish.
g) Fill out correspondent documentation sent by de film festival upon selection (if
selected).
7) The submitter of the film piece consents and agrees to have all the rights, power and legal authority to submit the piece to the festival's consideration. The submitter certifies that once the piece is registered for consideration by the festival, there is no restriction on your part to exercise the obligations required by the event.
8) The submitter accepts all the terms and conditions that the competition implies, by submitting to the Puerto Rico Film Festival.
9) The festival reserves the right of selection. It is decreed as final and firm.
10) Due to the high volume of submissions, the festival is not obliged to provide comments or other related information about the selection of any particular film.
11) The official selection in competition will be notified by email. The date of this notice will be in mid-August; about two (1) month prior to the event date. The submitter complies to keep the selection notification as classified, until the festival releases officially the program, calendar and film pieces to de media. Any publication outside the term established by the film festival, herein will be sanctioned with a disqualification from the competition.
12) PRFF does not pay screening fees for any film announced as official selection for competition; nor guarantees allocation and transportation.
13) The festival guarantees precautions against piracy. All the pieces are protected in-between the different stages. Access of all film pieces submissions are restricted to the evaluation team, as well to the projection engineer. It is guaranteed that no copy will be duplicated and/or reserved outside of our platform.

Awards

The competing sections will be awarded in the following categories:
a. National Official Section
1. Short film
Best Animation, Best Documentary, Best Music Video, Best Advertising Spot, Best
Short Film, Best Cinema for Children

2. Feature Film
Best Fiction Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film

3. Music Video
Best Music Video

4. Advertising Cinema
Best Advertising Spot

b. International Official Section
1. Short film
Best Animation, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Cinema for Children

2. Feature film
Best Fiction Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Cinema for Children

The award ceremony will take place on the closing night of the event. Each winner will receive an official winner certification. The amount of the cash prizes will be announced on the opening night of the event.

Contact information:

www.prfilmfest.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/puertoricofilmfestival
Twitter: @puertoricofilmfest
Instagram: @puertoricofilmfest
Email: puertoricofilmfest@gmail.com