Symphoria, the professional orchestra serving Central New York, is hosting a competition to select a 4-5 minute film/video for screening at a concert on April 20, 2018. The winner will receive a $250 cash prize, and promotion in conjunction with this live concert.

The April concert performance will feature the work of award-winning women composers, and celebrate themes of freedom, liberty, and in particular women as change makers.
The winning film/video will be paired in concert with Jennifer Higdon’s chamber composition, Sky Rising. We are seeking submissions inspired by this music that evoke the theme of liberty. All visual forms, including animation, are welcome. Please no soundtrack, as the film will be screened with live music. If dialogue is part of your film, please eliminate ALL talking/sound and include subtitles.

Your film will be screened with a live musical performance of this piece. Link to the sound file (Jennifer Higdon's Sky Quartet No. 1, Mvt. 1 "Sky Rising") We recommend ALL filmmakers to listen to this piece of music first.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19sjveusYqlPEm8KN9Rck3xeEGsgEZ5-O

From the Composer:
When I began composing "Sky Quartet", I envisioned the wonder and immensity of the Western sky. This is especially appropriate since the Da Vinci Quartet resides in Colorado. Every time I've been west of the Mississippi, I've always marveled at that exquisite canvas of blue and clouds. This work paints musical portraits of the sky in various stages: start of a day, the rapture of its "blueness", a storm-wrenched fury, and its vast immensity.
This work was commissioned by Frances Hettinger for the DaVinci Quartet. Originally composed in 1997, it was revised in 2000.

Awards & Prizes

One film will be selected as the winner and awarded a $250 prize. This film will be screened at the April 2018 concert. A live musical performance will accompany the screening.

Rules & Terms

• All films must run 4-5 minutes in length. Films under or over this time limit will be automatically disqualified.

• NO soundtrack, as the film will be screened with live music. If dialogue is part of your film, please eliminate ALL talking/sound and include subtitles.

• All entries must be submitted through FilmFreeway.com via the Festival site. All films submitted will be downloaded from the FilmFreeway site. You need to grant the festival permission to do so. FilmFreeway offers an economical, eco-friendly, and secure alternative to traditional hard-copy DVD submissions.

• By entering your film for consideration you authorize that your film is cleared for festival exhibition and you accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property therein. Entry into the festival constitutes permission to exhibit your work at the Symphoria concert. It is the sole responsibility of the filmmaker to secure authorization and permission from the copyright owner(s) of any and all copyrighted content or materials included within their submitted film.

• If selected, exhibition format digital files must be able to be downloaded from the FilmFreeway site prior to the start of the concert.

• Symphoria reserves the right to use segments of any submitted film for promotional purposes, including but not limited to broadcast on TV, websites, videos, blogs, social media, print publications, and signage or other media for educational, informational, and marketing purposes before, during and after the April 20, 2018 concert. Symphoria reserves the right to crop submissions as needed for print and web publications. Due to the intense nature of the publication cycle, we are not able to submit materials to filmmakers or their representatives for approval prior to publication.

• A panel of judges will review all entries and select a film to be screened at the April 20, 2018 concert. The same rules apply to all applicants. Only one film will be selected as the winner and awarded a $250 prize.