KINOFILM, Manchester International Short Film & Animation Festival ()

Festival start: 26 February 2020      Festival end: 01 March 2020

Welcome to Kino Manchester, we operate Kinofilm, the North West of England's longest running short film festival. The dates for our next Festival (16th edition) are provisionally 26th Feb - 1st March 2020. First read about our current offers:

*NEW SPECIAL OFFER for 2019 - open to all Kino Alumni filmmakers (directors) that have previously screened at Kinoflim. If you have previously had a film screened at Kinofilm you can submit for 20% off all entry fees - but you must submit to the Alumni section to get this discount. You will be asked to enter a code that you will receive after providing evidence of your previous film screened at Kinofilm. Please also put these details in a cover letter on your FilmFreeway entry to us stating the year, director's name (which should be the same), the film's title and the programme it was in (if you can recall). Fees open at just $10.00

* REDUCED ENTRY FEES for filmmakers from EASTERN EUROPE and the Russian Federation - apx 30% off, please submit under the Eastern European section to obtain this discount. You must first contact us to provide evidence of residence and country of production to obtain this code to submit to this section. Fees open at just $10.00 or $8.50 for Gold Members of FFW.

* REDUCED ENTRY FEES for filmmakers from GREATER MANCHESTER - 30% off, please submit under the GREATER MANCHESTER FILMMAKERS section to obtain this discount.. You must upload evidence to your entry of residence within Greater Manchester and the film must be produced within the region. Fees open at just $10.00

* REDUCED ENTRY FEES for STUDENTS anywhere - 30% off, please submit under the KINO EXPOSED "Student" section to obtain this discount. You must first contact us to provide evidence of student status to obtain the code to submit under this section. Please also attach evidence to your entry on FFW. Fees open at just $10.00

* REDUCED ENTRY FEES for MICRO SHORTS (5 Minutes and under) - 30% off, please submit under the MICRO SHORTS section to obtain this discount. Fees open at just $10.00

* REDUCED ENTRY FEES for MOBILE PHONE SHORTS (10 Minutes and under) - 30% off, please submit under the MOBILE PHONE SHORTS section to obtain this discount. Fees open at just $10.00

*****A special youth section dedicated to young people of 17 years old and under. Please contact us first providing evidence of age when applying for the code to submit to this section. Please note reduced fees start at just $10.00 for Youths and Community filmmakers where the film is produced with young people of 17 and under.

**SPECIAL OPENING EARLY BIRD OFFER. ok so you don't qualify for the Alumni offer or the Student and Youth offers? Fear not, we are now offering until the 14th APRIL 25% off to everyone else from 26th Feb - 31st March (now extended till 14th April). Just submit early to qualify for reduced entry. All standard entry fees are only $15 during this period.

***FREE ENTRY - Waiver code for Iranian filmmakers based only in Iran. We realise the difficulties Iranian filmmakers experience by Western imposed sanctions on their country. We also recognise the importance of new stories coming out of work by young filmmakers and we are thrilled to have the ongoing special section in the festival for Iranian Filmmakers. Therefor our only free waiver code this year is for entries from IRAN. Please contact us first providing evidence of residence for the code to submit under this section.

****1st and 2nd features being made by Kino Alumni that have moved on to features, We would like to screen a couple of features this year to show the progression of filmmakers from shorts to features. Similarly to above you must provide evidence in your application that you have previously had a short shown at Kinofilm Festival to receive a code to submit to this section.

Women in Film
Women play an important role in filmmaking and there are many talents out there and to celebrate Women in Film we have two categories. One programme is a focus solely on Women directors, the second programme category will focus the work of women practitioners in the roles of writers, actresses, producers and Directors of Cinematography but please note the film lead roles must be female led. If you have a film that has a strong female led role or strong female writer etc and you want to be considered for this sectin of the festival please submit to the Women Practitioners category. Film Directors should submit to the Women in Film (directors category).

General Information.
Established in 1995 the festival is now in it's 16th International Shorts edition. Kinofilm has a unique reputation for showcasing the best short films from around the world, whilst being renowned for seeking out diverse, challenging and groundbreaking new films. We welcome filmmakers that are pushing the boundaries of the short film art form. The festival maintains a high standard with many European & International award-winning shorts featured in the Festival. It includes special programmes in North West Shorts (UK), British New Wave, Euro Cine, International Panorama, Kino Exposed (student and youth shorts), low/no budget shorts, Animation and various themed programmes, giving new and emerging filmmakers the opportunity to have their work screened alongside that of critically acclaimed, established short filmmakers.

Please note for 2019, the festival will move dates to February 2020. We will further welcome short films and animations from Eastern Europe as we extend the Polish festival to include more Baltic countries. This year we welcome films for this section from Romania and Russia.

As part of out 16th anniversary we are introducing a features section called Transitions for those short filmmakers that have successfully made the transition from short film to feature. This section is for previous entrants of Kinofilm Festival and can only be entered if you have previously had a short film at Kinofilm Festival. You must provide the name of the short film and year of the festival it was screened in advance of submitting..

All short films should have been completed since January 2018 to present and be no longer than 20 mins (accept documentaries which can be up to 23 mins including credits). PLEASE NOTE FILMS SHOULD NOT BE ONLINE FOR PUBLIC VIEWING. ANY FILMS THAT ARE SEEN TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN WILL FACE DISQUALIFICATION.

WE ARE OFFERING STUDENTS (world wide) , GREATER MANCHESTER FILMMAKERS, Youths and community groups, Eastern European Filmmakers and Alumni Filmmakers 20% OF ALL SUBMISSION FEES (please see offers at the top of this entry). The discount is automatically applied when you submit your film to the relevant sections, entry fees start at just $10.00 Please note PROOF OF ELIGIBILITY MUST BE SHOWN in all these categories in advance of submitting the film, you will then receive a code to submit your film.

IRANIAN Filmmakers can submit for free (see above details).

Please note, if your film is selected for screening in one of the cinema screenings you must be able to provide either a DCP or high-quality Bluray of your film. Please contact us if any issues with this and we will try to resolve it by showing the film in one of the other programmes not requiring either of these formats. If it playing in one of our other venues then we will require a digital version, details supplied if your film is accepted.

REFUNDS GIVEN ONLY IN THE FOLLOWING CIRCUMSTANCES: Please note if you make a genuine mistake and submit your film to us not realising that it does not fit all of the criteria, or you have to withdraw it for other reasons, we will refund your fee if the request is made only within the first two weeks from the date of submission. Films withdrawn later for other reasons such as you wish to withdraw it as your film has been accepted in another festival that requires premier status, will not receive a refund. (Please note that any refunds will be after FFW (8%) and PP (3.5%) commission fees already deducted from your fee, you will only be refunded the net amount that the festival receives).

Aims of the Festival:

1. To deliver a film festival of regional, national and international significance.

2. To nurture new talent and support the work of culturally diverse, emerging filmmakers.

3. To attract an industry base of filmmakers and media industry professionals, to encourage the exchange of ideas and development of partnerships.

4. To attract cinema goers and diverse audiences that would not normally experience the short film art form or film festivals.

5. To focus on the needs of the regions filmmakers, visiting filmmakers and the region’s audiences.

The festival will be competitive but award prizes are only announced if and when we have secure prizes. In addition, certificates and/or trophies will be presented and off course you will honoured with the acknowledgement of being awarded one of the best films in the festival. The award categories will be:

Best International Short
Best Eurocine Short
Best UK Short
Best North West Short
Best Female Director
Best Animated Short
Best Documentary
Best Screenplay
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best UK Student
Best International Student

After you submit your film, please remember to tell your friends and colleagues by Tweeting the news "I have submitted my film to @Kinofilm" . You can do this easily by using the Tweet facility on this site that shows directly after you have completed your entry. Please do it to help spread the news of our Open Call for Entries

FESTIVAL DATES
1. Provisional dates for 2019/20 are 26th Feb - 1st March 2020 Please note that these dates may change as we confirm up details and availability of the festival venues.

2. Please see our website for full rules and regulations (download the rules and regulations document at the following link). TBC Summary below.

3. Please note we obviously welcome premiers at the festival, please state in your cover letter if your film is a premier and it's status at the time of submission (North West / UK / Europe / World). We are not a premiere-only festival and we will consider any film regarding of its status. However, if your film has been shown previously in Manchester or you have any planned screening in the City of Manchester it will be disqualified. We may make exceptions to this rule in certain circumstances but you must contact us first to discuss. Failure to inform us of any such screenings and your film will be disqualified.

4. To claim the student and Greater Manchester discount you must submit through the Student or Greater Manchester categories for the reduction. Proof of student eligibility must be shown and student films must be made as part of an education or training establishment (full or part-time eligible).

5. To submit through the Greater Manchester category, the filmmaker must reside and work in and of the counties of Greater Manchester. Production must take place in the North West and the director/production company must me based within Greater Manchester (proof of address must me shown).

6. Films must be no longer than 20 mins (except documentary which can be up to 25 mins) and must be completed after January 2018.

7. If your film is accepted you must confirm local premier status and not agree to any other screenings within Greater Manchester prior to our festival at the time of acceptance into the Festival.

SELECTION PROCEDURE
1. Please note the various submission deadlines for which different fees apply. The early bird deadline is 31st March 2019, the regular deadline is 31st May 2019, late deadline is 6th July 2019 and the final deadline is 31st July 2019. We will have a special Extended Deadline by Permission Only of 10th August 2019.

2. On receipt of your submission you will receive a confirmation email with a reference number that should be quoted on all future correspondence as well as the film title.

3. Successful applicants will be informed as early as possible but at the latest the notification date is 11th October 2019 (subject to change). Once accepted you are not allowed to withdraw your film and you should not accept any other screenings within Greater Manchester prior to the festival or your film will be disqualified.

4. Due to the large number of entries we cannot guarantee to inform personally all unsuccessful entrants, so unless informed otherwise, please assume your entry has been unsuccessful on this occasion. You may request confirmation or further info if required and we will do our best to respond within 48 hours - time permitting. However, if you do submit through this channel you will receive a notification if accepted or rejected.

5. Applicants must confirm acceptance within 14 days of receiving the notification (quoting your film title and reference number). At this stage please supply images of the film (no more than 3 images plus a digital poster). Please note all images that you send us should be saved in the title of the film (not something like "headshot"), remember we will be receiving hundreds of files to our downloads folder and images not sent in the name of the film will be deleted. At this stage you will also be asked to confirm the credits for director, producer, writer and main cast to avoid printing errors. You should also inform us your social media handles for FB/Twitter.

6. Projection File: You will be given a date to provide via a suitable file transfer service the digital file of your screening print (you will be notified of a different email address to send your files to).

The projection file must be outputted h264 no larger than 2GB, please do not send pro-res files as they are generally not required (and they are too large) unless your film is selected for cinema screening in which case we will request a DCP file or a Bluray (at your cost).

7. Updated information on the festival and successful entries will be announced on the festival web site www.kinofilm.org.uk and on the Festival Facebook page www.facebook.com/kinofilmfest

8. Entrants should ensure that they read and agree to the Permissions of the festival which you agree to when submitting your entry. Please notify us of any specific requests.

9. Successful entrants will receive a complimentary pass for all Festival screenings and two guest tickets for their film screening, but due to the fact that Kino is unfunded we will not be able to cover any costs incurred of attending the festival though we will endeavour to get you the best deal or in guest accommodation when available.

10. Please note if we accept your film we do not pay screening fees.

PERMISSIONS:
Please note when you submit your film you consent to the following:

1. TV / Web broadcasts of your trailer for promotional purposes?

2. Your film/or an extract being shown in press screening?

3. A short clip of your film or trailer, still images or details of your work being used on the Kinofilm Website?

4. You agree to your film being also being shown in any Kino pre or post festival or promo events (for example festival touring programme) with no fee *(unless you have informed us otherwise and it was agreed with the Festival Director.

NB: Please note, no film will be shown in its entirety on line. We may circulate on our site or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter trailers pre-festival and only a select number of films will be shown in a press screening to launch the festival campaign.

AGREEMENT
● I agree to screening my film in the Kinofilm festival and in other future post or pre Festival or Kino Shorts events as and when required (including press and promotional events and post festival touring programmes if selected) and without a fee. Please note we will do our upmost best to inform you of any such screenings but be aware that sometimes due to timing or technical issues we my not always be able to contact you in time prior to the screening.

● I also agree that once accepted I will not accept any other screenings of the film in the City of Manchester prior to the Kinofilm Festival.

● I hereby give my permission for any number of screenings of the above film (as above) and confirm that I am duly authorised to submit this film. I also certify that all rights and clearances for use of any soundtrack, or other copyrighted materials / images have been obtained and I release Kinofilm Festival from any liability from either public screening or other such use in any and all media.

● I understand that Kinofilm Festival is not responsible for any damage or faults that may result in the film being withdrawn from the Festival or Kino Shorts or any other co-promoted event Kino is involved in, in circumstances beyond their control.

● I also confirm I will not withdraw my film once I have signed and returned this form to the festival.

● I agree to all publicity about my film across websites and social media, including posts on Facebook and Twitter. I understand that Kino will not show any clips / trailer of the film without my expressed permission.

NB. Any variation of this agreement must be communicated to us in writing and agreed by the Festival Director.