RULES AND REGULATIONS OF
THE SHORT FILM DAYS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL (SHORT FILM DAYS) IN 2024
- General Provisions.
1.2. Limited Liability Company MOVIESTART (OGRN 1197746246609, TIN 9710074719, location address: Office 35, Build. 1, 13, Vasilyevskaya str., municipal district Presnensky, Moscow 123056) is the organiser of the Short Film Days International Festival in 2024 (hereinafter - the ‘Project’).
The Project is carried out with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
1.3. Applications for the Project will be accepted and selected from 28 August 2024 till 20 October 2024, inclusive. The shortlist of the Project participants will be announced no later than on 15 November 2024.
Main screenings of the Project will be held between 14 December 2024 and 21 December 2024. Non-commercial screenings of the Project programmes will be held in Russian regions as part of the Short Film Days Echo (hereinafter referred to as the “Echo”) between 21 December 2024 and 15 February 2025.
The dates of the main Project and Project Echo screenings may be changed at the discretion of the Organiser.
1.4. The Project Echo venues are located at cinema theatres and cinema chains, multimedia centres, cultural and educational (folk art community centres, museums, etc.) and leisure time facilities (cultural centres, theatres, cinema-and-concert halls, entertainment centres, etc.), educational institutions and other venues.
2. Goals and Objectives
2.1. The goal of the Project is to identify and encourage talented and creative young people in the field of filmmaking and cinematography; promote short films to broad public; develop the film club movement.
2.2. Objectives of the Project are to expand the infrastructure of youth film screening; introduce the audience to new formats of filmmaking and cinematography; facilitate the exchange of experience and expertise between masters and young cinematographers; and create a bank of Russian short films.
3. General Producer of the Project
3.1. The Overall Organisation of the Project falls under the responsibility of the General Producer of the Project.
The functions of the General Producer of the Project include:
3.1.1. Form the Project Directorate;
3.1.2. Fundraise and attract partners;
3.1.3. Other functions stipulated by the local regulations of the Project Organiser.
3.2. Dmitry Yakunin, General Director of MOVIESTART LLC, is the General Producer of the Project.
4. Project Directorate
The functions of the members of the Project Directorate are as follows:
4.1. Form the Project programmes, in particular select films for participation in the competitive and non-competitive programmes of the Project;
4.2. Organise film screenings, master classes, meet-the-artist sessions, round-table discussions as part of the educational and business programmes of the Project;
4.3. Organise information and advertising campaigns of the Project;
4.4. Invite and coordinate the Project jury members;
4.5. Interact with the participants of the competitive and non-competitive programmes of the Project;
4.6. Interact with the venues of the Project, including within the Project Echo;
4.7. Moderate the Project’s website;
4.8. Draft necessary contracts and reports.
5. Programme of the Project
5.1. The 2024 Project programme includes:
5.1.1. The competition programme consisting of short feature films, short documentaries, animated short films, neural network short films (generated by AI) of Russian and international/foreign production from 2023-2024 (up to 30 minutes in length).
5.1.2. The non-competitive programme consisting of short feature films, short documentaries, animated short films, neural network short films (generated by AI) of Russian and international/foreign production from 2023 to 2024 (up to 30 minutes in length).
5.1.3. Awarding of Project winners within the framework of the Short Film Night.
5.2. Films for competitive and non-competitive programmes are accepted only in the Russian language. When submitting a film in other languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation or other foreign languages, subtitles in Russian shall be provided.
6. Participation in the Project
6.1. Participation in the Project is free of charge for Russian films.
Participation in the Project for international/foreign films is fee-based. The participation fee is USD 10.00 payable upon submission of an application for participation in the Project on the platform https://filmfreeway.com/.
6.2. Those willing to participate in the Project shall fill in the form at https://script.moviestart.ru/ (for Russian films) or at https://filmfreeway.com/ (for international/foreign films).
6.3. The prize fund of the Project is formed through the monetary resources of the Presidential Fund of Cultural Initiatives, for which reason the prizes to the winners of the Project are given to the citizens of the Russian Federation under the age of 36 years at the moment of receiving the prize.
6.4. The Project Directorate may invite representatives of the films participating in the Project to be present in person in the city of screenings to present their films and/or participate in the Project awards ceremony.
6. 5. The Project Directorate, at its discretion and at the request of the interested party, has the right to assume the cost of stay (travel by plane or long-distance train, accommodation in the city of the Project event) of the authors/producers of the films participating in the Project who wish to present their film at the Project venue, with travel expenses reimbursed only if the person concerned arrives from a location in the Russian Federation and then departures to a location in the Russian Federation.
7. Selection of Films
7.1. The selection process begins when the collection of applications is announced and continues till 20 October 2024 inclusive (up till 23:59 Moscow time). Films sent after the deadline shall not be accepted for consideration.
7.2. Films for participation in the competitive and non-competitive programmes of the Project shall be selected by the Project Directorate.
7.3. Having been selected for the Project, authors shall send materials for the Project website and catalogue in case they did not do this when submitting the application (the story outline in Russian and English, the director’s biography and filmography in Russian and English, film crew list in Russian and English, photo of the director, footage from the film, film trailer).
7.4. Having been selected for the Project, the film’s rights holder shall sign a licencing agreement (simple (non-exclusive) licence) for the right to use (run) the film within the framework of the Project. If the rights holder refuses to sign the licence agreement, the film shall not to be included into the Project programmes.
7.5. The films included in the competitive programme shall be evaluated on the basis of the ranked choice voting by the Project jury formed by the Project Directorate.
The Project Directorate shall form
•A jury of at least three (3) producers, screenwriters, directors, film experts and/or other industry related specialists to evaluate the films participating in all categories;
•A TikTok generation jury, consisting of at least 3 members from among young talented leaders in the field of culture, arts and creative industries, aged 18 to 35 inclusive, for separate additional evaluation of the films participating in the Best Feature Film category.
8. Awards
8.1. Winners of the Project shall be determined from among the films participating in the competitive programme in the following categories:
Best Feature Film (awarded to the film producer or director);
Best Film according to the TikTok Generation Jury (among the films participating in the Best Feature Film category, awarded to the film producer or director);
Best Documentary (awarded to the film producer or director);
Best Animated Film (awarded to the film producer or director);
Best Neural Network based Film (awarded to the film producer or director);
Best Directing (among films participating in the Best Feature Film category whose winning director is under 36 years of age at the time of receiving the prize);
Best Camerawork (among films participating in the Best Feature Film category whose winning camera director are under 36 years of age at the time of receiving the prize);
Best Film Producer (among films participating in the Best Feature Film category whose winning producer are under 36 years of age at the time of receiving the prize);
Best Acting (among films participating in the Best Feature Film category whose winning actor/actress is under 36 years of age at the time of receiving the prize);
Best Script (among films participating in the Best Feature Film category whose winning script writer is under 36 years of age at the time of receiving the prize).
8.2. The total prize fund of the Project is one million five hundred thousand (1 500 000) roubles. The cash prizes shall be distributed as follows:
200 000 roubles – Best Feature Film;
100 000 roubles – Best Film according to the TikTok Generation Jury;
150 000 roubles – Best Documentary;
150 000 roubles – Best Animated Film;
150 000 roubles – Best Neural Network based Film;
150 000 roubles – Best Directing;
150 000 roubles – Best Camerawork;
150 000roubles – Best Film Producer;
150 000 roubles – Best Acting;
150 000 roubles – Best Script.
8. 3. The winners in the Project categories shall sign a cash prize agreement. The Project Organiser under such contracts is a tax agent and shall independently calculate, withhold and pay personal income tax on the amount of the cash prize due to the winner at the established rate (in accordance with Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
The Project Organiser is not responsible for possible technical obstacles in the transfer of cash prizes to the Project winners who are citizens of foreign countries and/or who receive cash prizes to accounts opened in banks outside the Russian Federation.
8.4. The Project winners and participants in each category may additionally receive other prizes from the Project Organiser and partners thereto.
8.5. Winners get their awards during the Short Film Night.
9. Film Screenings as Part of the Project Echo
9.1. Venues that are invited to organise film screenings as part of the Project Echo shall meet the following criteria:
9.1.1. Public venues where video and audio content can be shown and viewing audience can be accommodated;
9.1.2. The hall capacity of the venue shall not be less than 50 seats;
9.1.3. A digital projector or screen for running digital video content in the MP4 format shall be available (if necessary, venues can independently convert the materials into the DCP-format);
9.1.3. Sound equipment for the presentation of audio content shall be available;
9.1.4 Their own staff to support the events shall be available, including film screening and film screening moderation;
9.1.5. The venue shall have its own information resources for independent attracting of the audience, including the venue's website and page in social media (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki);
9.1.6. A photographer to create a photo report on the screenings shall be available.
9.2. Requirements to the venues hosting film screenings of the Project Echo:
• Use their own staff to support events, including film screenings;
• Provide wired microphones (if necessary and available) in the hall for events;
• Provide audio and video reproducing equipment in the hall;
• Carry out unassisted an awareness campaign for the Project to invite viewers;
• Carry out screenings of the presented films in accordance with the terms of the Offer signed between the Project Organisers and the venue;
• Print and distribute unassisted graphic product, i.e. a current events guide, indicating the location and date of the Project;
• Show the Project trailer before the film shows within the Project;
• Provide information about the venues for the Project (location address, website, name of the venue, seating capacity of the hall, screening dates and time slots, contact person);
• Prepare a photo report on the film screenings, links to press/follow-up releases published and information on the number of visitors;
• Mention the main organisers and partners in all possible Project press and follow-up releases;
• The Project venues shall guarantee that films obtained within the Project will not be posted on the Internet and will not be used for commercial purposes. The venue shall guarantee full compliance with the hygiene and epidemiological standards and provide for its part absolutely all safety measures during the screenings of the Project films.
10. Cooperation
10.1. The Project Organiserinvites sponsors and media partners to cooperate. A sponsorship package is created for partners.
11. Final Provisions
11.1. The Organiser shall guarantee that it will not use or transfer the films to third parties for commercial purposes, and reserves the right to use photos, slides and episodes from the films (not longer than 3 minutes) for publications in the mass media.
11.2. Each Project participant providing a film for the Project shall guarantee that
11.2.1. It has full power and authority (exclusive rights or a relevant permission of the rights holder) to submit such a film to the Project.
Liability for possible claims and lawsuits of third parties related to copyright and neighbouring rights lies with the Project participant who submitted their application and film on the platform https://script.moviestart.ru/. In case of third party claims regarding the ownership of rights to the films submitted for participation in the Project, the Project Organiser reserves the right to remove the participant's film from consideration and from the Project programmes at any stage until all circumstances are clarified.
11.2.2. The film does not contain information which dissemination and/or propaganda is illegal under law of the Russian Federation, and contains no obscenities;
11.2.3. None of the participants in the film production has the status of a foreign agent in accordance with Federal Law No. 255-FZ on Control of Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence, dated 14 July 2022, as well as signs of being under foreign influence, which is understood as foreign sources providing support and (or) influencing the Contractor, including through coercion, persuasion and/or by other means;
11.2.4. None of the participants in the film production is included in the list of organisations and individuals in respect of whom there is information about their involvement in extremist activity or terrorism, or in the list of organisations and individuals in respect of whom there is information about their involvement in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
11.3. The Organiser shall reserve the right to non-commercial screenings of films submitted for participation in the Project during 2025 following the end of the Project and the Project Echo (upon agreement with the rights holders of such films).
11.4. The Project Directorate shall reserve the right not to explain reasons for not including a film in the Project programme and to leave the matter without comment.
11.5. The Project Organiser shall reserve the right to make changes to the guidelines for the Project during its preparations.
11.6. Participation in the Project suggests consent with these Rules and Regulations. Should an application for participation in the Project be submitted, this constitutes a confirmation of full consent with the Rules and Regulations by the persons submitting such application and the film rights holder.
12. Contact information:
Address: Office 35, build. 1, 13, Vasilyevskaya str., Moscow 123056 (Central House of Cinematographers)
Contacts:
E-mail: info@shortfilmdays.ru
Web-site: www.shortfilmdays.ru