SLASH is Austria's leading festival for Fantastic Film. Each year around 70 carefully selected features and shorts from genres such diverse as horror, science-fiction, fantasy and animation are screened as national premieres to an enthusiastic audience. In the past years films such as Julia Ducournau's TITANE, Natalie Erika James' RELIC, Panos Cosmatos' MANDY, Andres Muschietti's IT, David Robert Mitchell's IT FOLLOWS or Sion Sono's TOKYO TRIBE have all had their Austrian premieres at SLASH Filmfestival.

Since its foundation in 2010 the festival greatly expanded in size and importance, tripling the number of visitors as well as attracting top-notch talents from the movie industry.

Among the film professionals who've graced us with their presence are director Brandon Cronenberg, actor Michael Ironside, Drag superstar Peaches Christ, cult icons Jörg Buttgereit and Udo Kier, superstar Nicolas Cage, pope of trash John Waters, legendary director Joe Dante and Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (to name a few).

Feature film trailer for SLASH 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucsyhXQQioI

Fantastic Shorts trailer for SLASH 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EwpAPDxLbs&t=1s

SLASH Vimeo & Youtube Channel:
https://vimeo.com/slashfilmfest
https://www.youtube.com/user/slashfilmfestival

Fantastic Shorts Competition - Audience Award (short films):
As a film festival designed to be closely attuned to the soul of its audience, the winner of our international short film competition, comprised of two approximately 90 minute-long programs, will be identified by popular vote after the respective screenings. The winner will be awarded with 1.000€ worth of prize money.

Méliès d’argent (short films):
As a member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, we will nominate a minimum of six European shorts to compete for the Méliès d’argent. The winning film will be chosen by a jury and will then be in the running for the Méliès d'or. More info can be found here https://melies.org/

Fantastic Futures (short films):
Our goal is to celebrate the brightest up-and-coming talents on the genre circuit, by highlighting works from first-time or student filmmakers. The winner will be identified by a jury.

Awards & Prizes might be subject to change.

1 GENERAL INFO
This is an agreement between you (the “submitter” )
and

Verein zur Förderung des Fantastischen Films
Diesterweggasse 8/1
1140 Wien
ZVR: 573264184

as the organiser of the event

“SLASH Filmfestival – Festival des Fantastischen Films”
(“the festival”, “SLASH Filmfestival”, “SLASH”, “we”, “us”)

If you have any questions contact us at: submissions@slashfilmfestival.com

2 ELIGIBILITY
2.1 Length & country of production

2.1.1 Short Films
All films with a running time of 35 minutes or less are eligible for submission. There are no limits regarding the country of production or the director’s/producer’s nationality.

2.1.2 Feature Films
All films with a running time of 60 minutes or more are eligible for submission. There are no limits regarding the country of production or the director’s/producer’s nationality.

2.2 Genres
As a Festival of Fantastic Film we accept submissions from genres like horror, science fiction and fantasy in all forms of artistic expression and style, such as fiction, documentary, animation or experimental cinema. We will not under any circumstance accept image videos, commercials or showreels.

2.3 Year of production
The film has been finished on or after the 1st of January 2023.

2.4 Re-Submissions
Films that have been submitted to previous editions will not be accepted.

2.5 Language
If the film has dialogue or text that is not in English, English subtitles have to be provided. For selection purposes screener copies of films in German without subtitles are accepted.

3 VOTING & AWARDS
3.1 The cash prize for the international short film competition in total will be EUR 1000.

3.2 Payout of the prize money will be done via regular Bank transfer for Austrian and EU citizens (IBAN has to be provided) or PayPal for international winners (PayPal account has to be provided).

3.3 The prize and the amount of cash awarded may be subject to change.

4 EXCLUSIVITY
4.1 The entrant agrees that their film will not be screened publicly in Vienna from July 1 2024 until the final notification of the selection status.

4.2 If the film is being accepted for SLASH Filmfestival, the entrant agrees that their film will not be screened publicly in Vienna outside of the festival until after the end of the festival. Exempt from this rule are private screenings and television broadcasts.

5 DEADLINES & NOTIFICATION
5.1 The early bird call runs from October 31 until January 31.

5.2 The general call runs from February 01 until April 30 with an extended deadline until July 31.

5.3 The submitter will be notified of the selection status (accepted / rejected) in August through the submission platform or via email.

5.4 If selected the screening copy of the film must be delivered to SLASH no later than the 4th of September 2024.

6 ENTRY FEE
The film you submit to SLASH Filmfestival is being screened by a group of film professionals, curators and programmers. In order to ensure the quality of the selection process we charge an entry fee. In addition, the submission platform might charge a submission fee.

6.1 Fees during early bird call
6.1a Entries by Austrian filmmakers: 3$ (short films) 5$ (feature films)
6.1b Entries by all other nationalities: 5$ (short films) 15$ (feature films)

6.2 Fees during general call
6.2a Entries by Austrian filmmakers: 5$ (short films) 10$ (feature films)
6.2b Entries by all other nationalities: 10$ (short films) 25$ (feature films)

6.3 Fees during extended deadline: 15$ (short films) 35$ (feature films)

6.4 The entry fee may be subject to change and is payable only via the submission platform.

7 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
In addition to a screener file you are asked to at least submit the following
7.1 Film trailer (as mp4 or mov)
7.2 Three film stills (300 dpi as png or jpg)
7.3 A list with previous screenings of the film, including awards and premiere status
7.4 Main credits
7.5 Synopsis
7.6 Director’s biography and filmography

8 SCREENING COPIES
8.1 Accepted formats
8.1a Film: 35mm, 16mm
8.1b Digital Cinema: DCP (unencrypted, Interop, SMPTE, 2k, 24fps, 25fps, 30fps, 3D, 4K)
8.1c File: best possible quality (e.g. ProRes, H.264 in Full HD…)

8.2 A backup file must be submitted along with the screening copy.

8.3 The festival does not pay rental fees, license fees or other such fees for submitted films that are selected to be screened in either the short film or the feature film competition.

8.4 The films will be insured by the festival for the entire time of their being in the festival’s possession.

9 DISPATCH/SHIPPING OF SCREENING COPIES
9.1 By mail, courier or download (Dropbox, Sharc, Filemail or FTP)

9.2 All deliveries from outside the European Union must be marked with the phrase “no commercial value – for cultural purposes only”.

9.3 We will not accept shipments for which we would have to bear shipping fees, duties, taxes or customs duties, and will not assume any responsibility for such shipments.

9.4 Costs: The applicant is responsible for the costs of sending the viewing and screening copies to the festival. The festival covers the costs of returning/forwarding screening copies.

9.5 Return of copies: All screening copies will be sent back to the address they were shipped from (or forwarded to an address specified by the submitter) as registered mail as soon as possible after the festival.

9.6 Please note: Preview copies will not be returned, but stored in the SLASH Filmfestival archive.

10 RIGHTS
10.1 You guarantee that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the film you submit to us and that you are entitled to transfer the rights to us as specified in this agreement.

10.2 By submitting the film, you guarantee that all (intellectual property) rights needed for screening during SLASH and other uses described in this agreement have been cleared.

10.3 By submitting the film you guarantee that the screening or other use of the film by SLASH does not infringe rights held by third parties.

10.4 By submitting the film you agree to indemnify the festival against all third-party claims in connection with screening the film during SLASH and other uses described in the terms. This includes covering any legal costs that might be incurred.

10.5 Screening: The festival is entitled to show the selected films during the duration of the festival any number of times.

10.6 Best-of programs: Award-winning films at SLASH may be shown again, free of charge two times within a year from the festival as part of a best-of program to promote the winning films/filmmakers as well as the festival. If the film is to be shown the submitter will be informed ahead of time.

10.7 Press screeners & archive: You grant us the nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual and unlimited right to make copies of the film in order to make these copies available to press or industry representatives only and to archive these copies. The festival guarantees to exercise this right within reason and always with the benefit of the filmmaker in mind. These copies will not be used for commercial screening purposes by any means.

10.8 Promotion: If your film is selected to be included in the program you grant us the nonexclusive, royalty-free right to show – online, via television or in cinemas, in single form or as part of a showreel – excerpts of up to 30 seconds of the film for advertising and promotion purposes.

10.9 Meta material: If your film is selected to be included in the program you grant us the nonexclusive, royalty-free, unlimited and irrevocable right to publish submitted meta material such as (but not limited to) film stills, the title and credits of the film, and the director’s name.

11 SEVERABILITY & ARBITRATION
11.1 If a provision of this agreement is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, that shall not affect:

11.1a the validity or enforceability in that jurisdiction of any other provision of this agreement; or

11.1b the validity or enforceability in other jurisdictions of that or any other provision of this agreement.

11.2 This agreement is governed by Austrian law. The place of arbitration shall be Vienna, Austria, the language of arbitration shall be German.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Monic Films GmbH

    One of the most sweetest, most interesting, inspiring and friendliest festival experiences I ever had. They truly love genre films and you can really feel that <3 Everyone who's lucky enough to attend will have a unique time there and will see some amazing movies. So SLASH, thank you!

    October 2023
  • Shengwei Zhou

    A fantastic festival and I won an award!!!!!!!

    October 2023
  • Brian Lonano

    So happy to have been part of Slash Film Festival. When they first started, they invited all my shorts to screen as part of their inaugural festival. And over 10 years later, they invited my latest short to screen. Their venue looks incredible. Their programming is always awesome. I hope to attend in the future. Thank you very much!

    October 2023
  • idan gilboa

    Great genre festival. One of the best in the world. Thanks for the honor of selecting my film Deadline to be screened in this Festival.

    October 2023
  • Fantastic! Thank you for SLASH

    February 2023