1) ELIGIBILITY
- Eligible film submissions must be directed by Black, Indigenous and/or People of Colour Canadian filmmaker;
- All submissions and exhibitions must be in either English, subtitled in English or English versioned (if selected, any subtitles must be burned into final submission file);
- Must not be available online, via any home device (blu-ray, DVD, etc.) or screened/released theatrically or on TV in Canada by the time of the festival exhibition until after the final festival date November 2023;
- Rough cuts and works-in-progress will be considered during the selection process.
- Entrant confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry into the Reelworld Film Festival and to use all music, images, and content in the entry; Entrant hereby grants Reelworld Film Festival permission to screen and otherwise use the entry in connection with the 2023 festival. Your film festival acceptance also grants Reelworld permission to use stills and excerpts from the entry for promotional and publicity use.
2) PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATION
We accept narrative films, documentaries, animation, webisodes (web series), episodic content, music videos, and by Black, Indigenous, Asian and People of Colour Canadian filmmakers that explore current issues, and ideas
All programs are carefully curated and submissions will be fully considered by the Reelworld Film Festival programming team. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR SCREENER PASSWORD IS CORRECT AT TIME OF SUBMISSION.
3) FILM LENGTH
For the purposes of eligibility and awards consideration, Reelworld uses the following definitions:
Feature-Length: 45 minutes or longer
Short: up to 30 minutes
Episodic: up to 45 minutes (must be part of or intended to be part of a 3+ part series)
Music Video: up to 6 minutes
4) SELECTION & NOTIFICATION PROCESS
Accepted applicants will be notified of programming decisions by email before September 5th, 2023. If applicants do not hear by that date, then they have not been selected for the festival. Final programming, categorization and slotting of films will be determined by the Reelworld programming team. Their decision is final. Successful applicants will receive this information in their official invitation.
Selected applicants must send in a film trailer and a one-minute scene of their choosing. Other requirements, such as social media handles, press information, etc will be outlined in your selection letter.
Acceptance of your invitation into the festival indicates an understanding that this will be a hybrid screening of both an online festival screening, geoblocked to Ontario and an in-person screening in Toronto.
Selected Applicants will receive passes to the Festival and complimentary tickets to their screening. These details will be outlined in your selection letter.
5) ACCEPTED EXHIBITION FORMATS
For this year's digital online festival, a direct FTP upload link to our secure online streaming platform, CineSend is the required method for uploading film assets, as well as critical film info like credits, premiere status, synopses, etc. Selected applicants must provide a high quality digital file that meets the source file technical requirements for upload. Details about this will be outlined following your selection letter.
For accessibility, all accepted films should have subtitles or closed captions in WebVTT or TTML file format included with the delivery (can be sent via email when directed, with the file clearly labeled with the film title and the subject header: "Subtitle/Closed Captions: [Film Title]")
All film assets, as well as film stills, director bios, and other relevant marketing information that will be outlined in the acceptance letter must be received by the deadline of 11.59pm, EST, July 30, 2023.
Selected applicants must provide a digital or physical DCP format, digital file in .MP4 format and or digital file in .MOV formats of their digital film or video work. The exact requirement will be detailed in the acceptance letter. For the purpose of the online festival, complete source file requirements/upload specifications to our CineSend streaming platform will be sent to selected applicants. Please contact the festival directly if you have other formats for consideration. DVD is not accepted at Reelworld.
6) ARTIST FEES
Reelworld is committed to paying artist fees to directors in selection and follows standard rates set by the Independent Media Arts Alliance (http://www.imaa.ca/). Artist fees will be paid via e-transfer a week after the festival.
