PLEASE READ ALL RULES AND TERMS CAREFULLY PRIOR TO SUBMITTING YOUR FILM. BY SUBMITTING YOUR FILM TO THE TRANSPARENT FILM FESTIVAL, YOU HEREBY AGREE TO THE BELOW TERMS.
DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR FILM TO THIS FESTIVAL IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR FILM ONLINE.
1. We have a Weekly TV show in NYC and feature our favorite films from past festivals, along with clips from current submissions (usually ones that earn SELECTED status).
2. We broadcast/stream our festival for the weekend of the awards show so if you submit your film and are selected, understand we're going to show it.
The 6th Transparent Film Festival (“TFF”) Nominations Special and subsequent Awards Show will take place in NYC on Friday May 18, 2024. Last year's after party was at 230 5th (see photos). This year's venue is yet to be determined.
Transparent Film Festival and it's affiliated streaming channel TransparentDTV.com exist for the promotion of True Independent Filmmakers from around the world. We use an MTV inspired format that showcases films on a light, medium and heavy rotation basis to a worldwide audience. We also produce our own content including shows such as Director's Spotlight as well as live concerts and events,
1. Submission Deadlines
Submissions will be accepted beginning July 1, 2023. The final deadline is Fri. May 5, 2024. Early entry is encouraged but in no way guarantees acceptance. Last season, literally the very first, AND very last submissions were selected.
2. Submission Format
Films must be submitted via online screener ONLY. We do not accept films sent over by DVD. If selected, you must provide a theatrical quality screener that is HD and 2K in size dimensions as we will be showing on a 2K projector. Anything less than HD at a minimum of 1920 x 1080 will not be screened.
Filmmakers who do not promptly provide a properly compressed MP4 file at 1920 x 1080 resolution risk losing their selection status.
IMPORTANT ITEM 1 - We will review EVERY film with the exception of films submitted via Waiver. Due to the number of submissions we can no longer guarantee (as we did with the first four seasons), that we will watch every frame. We will provide our notes TO ALL FILMMAKERS (again with the exception of films submitted via waiver as we get so many).
Films that are submitted with a fee, will receive our notes along with our FilmFreeway Rating, and post a date stamped viewing receipt on our Facebook Page so you know when we viewed your submission.
IMPORTANT ITEM 2 - Please do not submit to our festival and make your film available for download if you are worried that a conflict will arise with other festivals, or if your film has any distribution restrictions of any kind (such as geo-blocking, rights issues, etc.). Our cable TV Show (audience reach of 620,000 people), in Manhattan NYC. and our new DTV Channel has been gaining in popularity since launching at the beginning of the year. It will not affect your acceptance status. We acknowledge that we own no rights to your film, and that you may request us to remove your film from our website and/or streaming channel at any time, for any reason.
3. Submission Eligibility
(A) All submissions must have begun production after 1 January 2023.
(B) Transparent Film Festival reserves the right to disqualify any film for any reason. For instance, nudity is fine, children appearing in a film naked is not material we are comfortable with receiving and/or reviewing. Violence, even graphic violence in a narrative context is fine. However video footage of someone being pummeled is not.
4. Premiere Status
- There is no premiere policy.
5. Submission Fee
All submissions for The Transparent Film Festival are to be paid through FilmFreeway platform. The submission fee is non-refundable.
6. Shipping - We no longer accepted snail mail. Use WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive to send us content to: transparentfilmfestival@gmail.com
DOUBLE MAKING SURE YOU UNDERSTAND
By submitting your film to Transparent Film Festival, you acknowledge, and grant us permission to upload your film to our website for exposition and promotional purposes. We acknowledge that the operators of this website own no rights to your film, and you may request at any time to have it removed. If your film is SELECTED and you exercise this right, your film will UNSELECTED and your submission fee is forfeit.
8. Selection of Films
Every submission will be screened under the following criteria, and given a score between 1 and 10 according to our customized rating system on FilmFreeway - which you will receive a copy of. Note we post all ratings on Facebook (but are not necessarily able to do so for films submitted via Waiver). We do not provide reviews.
TFF reserves the right to move any film submitted via Waiver to another category.
9. Notification
TFF will complete all selection procedures by April 1, 2024 and inform all submitting parties, by email on or by May 5, 2024, if their film has been successful or not after that time. Filmmakers whose submissions are accepted into the festival will be given two weeks to prepare, and will immediately receive information on how to make the most of participating in the Festival.
10. Festival Screenings
As selected films will be shown on 2K Projection Screen, selected films MUST provide an .MOV file that must be at least 1920 x 1080 HD quality. The film title and running time MUST be included in the file name. All foreign language films MUST contain English subtitles files.
IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE A HI-RES HD COPY - YOUR FILM WILL NOT SCREEN AND THE STATUS WILL BE CHANGED TO NOT SELECTED.
11. Scheduling
Screenings are scheduled at the discretion of TFF. The festival organizers will make every effort to adhere to the published schedule, however, TFF reserves the right to make changes at any time for any reason. TFF will not be liable for any costs claimed as a result of a change in scheduling.
12. Preference for live screenings are at the discretion of TFF. International Selections are screened online UNLESS THEY ARE IN CONTENTION FOR A BEST IN CATEGORY award (such as Best Foreign Film). Unfortunately we cannot screen Feature Films live.
13. Transparent Film Festival gives preference to SELECTED Filmmakers who are able to attend their live screening. It order to be selected BEST IN CATEGORY, Filmmakers must either: 1) attend the Awards Ceremony in person, 2) Have a representative at the Awards Ceremony, or 3) made arrangements to record and send an acceptance speech to the festival organizers at transparentfilmfestival@gmail.com.
No film may be withdrawn from the festival after it is selected.
SUPPLEMENTAL RULES (PLEASE READ)
ONLY ONE WAIVER WILL BE GRANTED TO A FILMMAKER FOR ONE CATEGORY IN A SEASON.
THERE ARE NO LONGER COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS DUE TO THE FACT THAT FILMMAKERS REQUEST THEM AND THEN DO NOT ATTEND (thereby limiting tickets available for purchase).
We reserve the right to disqualify any film and or filmmaker for any reason such as dishonesty, violating our terms and conditions, or for any reason whatsoever. This includes the use of any unlicensed material (music or video footage).
