ZINEBI - Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Cortometraje de Bilbao ()

Festival start: 08 November 2024      Festival end: 15 November 2024

ZINEBI
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM OF BILBAO

It got started in the year 1.959 and organized by the Cultural Department of Bilbao City Hall, ZINEBI will celebrate its 66th edition from the 8th up to the 15th of November, 2024.

It is the only international Class A festival in Spain in the documentary and short film category recognised by FIAPF since 1974, recognised by the Hollywood Academy as a qualifier for the Oscars among the short films from the official palmares and qualifier as well by the Spanish Academy for the BAFTA Awards and the GOYA Awards.

ZINEBI is a festival which holds all the most current forms and formats, innovative and suggestive and that is making a steady bet for the emerging authors. The line-up of the international schedule (documentary, animation and fiction) and its section ZIFF-ZINEBI FIRST FILM, dedicated to first works, are their really distinguishing mark. Honour Mikeldis are also remarkable, which recognise the prestigious career of distinguising international directors and the strict selections of its sections BEAUTIFUL DOCS, dedicated to the most relevant contemporary features and BERTOKO BEGIRADAK, a section dedicated to the Basque documentary feature films from a recent production. Besides, every year it´s celebrated the profesional encounter entitled ZINEBI INDUSTRY- NETWORKING, dedicated to promote the audiovisual Basque industry.

Cash Prizes: 56,000€

OFFICIAL AWARDS // ENGLISH

ZINEBI GRAND AWARD - € 7,000
GRAND AWARD OF BASQUE CINEMA - € 6,000
GRAND AWARD OF SPANISH CINEMA - € 6,000
MIKELDI FOR BEST FICTION SHORT FILM - € 5,000
MIKELDI FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM - € 5,000
MIKELDI FOR BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM - € 5,000


OTHER AWARDS

EITB AUDIENCE AWARD – € 3,000
FAS CINECLUB AWARD - € 2,000
UNICEF AWARD

REGULATIONS FOR THE 66th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM OF BILBAO

OFFICIAL SECTION-SHORT FILM INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

REGULATIONS

1. The International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI is an international cinema event of a competitive nature recognized by FIAPF, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and organized according to FIAPF regulations and the regulations of the Festival. The Festival presents competitions (International Short Films, and International First Feature Films -ZIFF-) and curated programmes.

2. The 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI will be held in Bilbao, 8 – 15 November 2024.

3. Organizer of the Festival is the Bilbao City Council, in cooperation with the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (through the Spanish Cinema and Audiovisual Arts Institute – ICAA), the Basque Government Department of Culture, and the Regional Council of Biscay (Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia - Diputación Foral de Bizkaia).

4. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood has declared the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao - ZINEBI to be a “Qualified Festival” for the Oscar® Awards. This means that the short film winning the ZINEBI Grand Award or the Mikeldi for Best Documentary Short Film will automatically be taken into consideration by the Selection Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood for the Oscar® Awards.

5. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain has declared the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI to be a “Qualified Festival” for the annual Goya Awards. This means that the short film winning the Grand Award Best Spanish Short Film will get a direct inscription in the Goya Awards granted by the Academy.

6. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has declared the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI to be the only Spanish qualifying festival for the British Short Film category at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).

7. The European Film Academy has selected the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI to be one of the European festivals selecting a short film candidate for the EFAs (European Film Awards) 2025. This means that the festival’s international jury will select, among the short films included in the Official Selection – International Short Film Competition, a European (in the sense of the European Film Academy, this means geographical Europe, both EU and non-EU, and includes Israel and Palestine) short film to be candidate for the award “European Short Film Award 2025”.

CONDITIONS

8. The International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI accepts fiction, documentary and animation short film submissions for its Official Selection – International Short Film Competition. Short films must be entered by their producers or their legal representatives.

9. Productions entering this competition must have been completed after 1st of January 2023 and must be submitted via Festhome platform (www.festhome.com) no later than 15 July 2024 (date of receipt).

10. Admitted are works not exceeding a length of 30 minutes.

11. Submissions must include the official entry form of the Festival, and the information the production Company may consider necessary. All documents must be in Basque, Spanish or English.

12. Films that were previously shown at the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI, or films previously rejected cannot be submitted again.

13. The short films produced in the Basque Country (fiction, documentary and animation) to be admitted in the Official Selection – International Short Film Competition of ZINEBI must be Spanish premieres. The Basque short films premiered in Spain prior to ZINEBI may only take part in the Basque Short Films Section – Bertoko Begiradak Laburrak.

14. Short films with spoken languages other than English must be submitted with English subtitles. Films that are unreadable or damaged preview files will not be considered for selection. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the preview file is in full working order.

15. In order to be selected in competition by the Festival, all the short films will be watched by the Selection Committee. The selection process carried out by the Festival will benefit world, international and European premieres.

16. The Festival will not take into consideration submitted short films that do not fulfill all the requirements established by these regulations.

17. The producers or legal representatives of the submitted short films will keep ZINEBI informed of any changes to the film after the submission.

18. The Selection Committee will be appointed by the Festival Management, and will advise in the selection of the short films in competition. The direction of the Festival will be responsible for the final decision on the election of the short films.

19. No hire/licence fees will be paid for competition films.


20. All submitters will be informed of the selection results during the first ten days of of September 2024. ZINEBI will announce the short films included in the official selection before the end of October 2024. Disclosure of a film’s selection to third parties is not allowed before the official announcement.

21. No more than 6 hours per day will be given over to showing the sessions of the Official Selection – International Short Film Competition.

22. The Direction of the Festival decides dates and times in which the selected films will be presented.

23. The Festival may organise virtual screenings of the short films included in the Official Selection – International Short Film Competition in an online platform geo-blocked to Spain, within a limited availability during the Festival, enabling restrictions in the days or number of screenings, in discussion with the producers or the legal representatives of the films.

SCREENING COPY AND DOCUMENTATION

24. For their public showing, all the films shall be compulsory subtitled in English. Admitted screening format is non-encrypted DCP.

25. Screening materials will be checked and compiled on hard drives for screening purposes at the Festival venues.

26. The hard drives shall be stored in the Festival’s archives and they shall not be used for any other screening unless the proper authorization of the rights holders.

27. Screening copies delivered through digital ways will be treated with the highest security standards to prevent piracy.

28. The screening copies (DCP) of the selected films must arrive on ZINEBI’s private and internal server by 23 September 2024 at the very latest. This deadline must be respected without fail in order for the Festival to ensure the best screening and subtitling possible during the Festival.

29. The producers or legal representatives of the selected short films will send the following materials before 29 September 2024. ZINEBI reserves the right to use these materials for the promotion of the film and the Festival:

a. At least three horizontal stills from the film (JPG or TIFF format, 10 cm x 15 cm, 300 DPI).

b. A photo of the filmmaker(s) (JPG or TIFF format, 10 cm x 15 cm, 300 DPI).

c. Posters, flyers and other promotional material.

d. A dialogue list with timecodes in English.

e. A file or a link to the film trailer (three minutes maximum).

f. A file or a password-protected link of the final version of the film in high quality with English subtitles.

INTERNATIONAL JURY AND AWARDS

30. Prizes are awarded by an International Jury appointed by the Festival Management.

31. The Jury will number at least five, and always an odd number, with Spanish members accounting for no more than 40% of the total. The Secretary will be appointed by the Festival Managment and will take part in deliberations, though with no vote.

32. The International Jury will lay down its own internal rules in accordance with the Festival Management. Its decision will be final, and in the list of awards, the prizes listed below may not be left void or be shared ex aequo.

a. ZINEBI Grand Award (7,000€), to which all the short films included in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition will be eligible.

b. Grand Award of Basque Cinema (6,000€), to which all the short films produced in the Basque Autonomous Community included in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition will be eligible.

c. Grand Award of Spanish Cinema (6,000€), to which all the short films produced in Spain included in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition will be eligible.

d. Mikeldi for Best Documentary Short Film (5,000€), to which all the short films included by ZINEBI in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition as documentaries will be eligible.

e. Mikeldi for Best Animation Short Film (5,000€), to which all the short films included by ZINEBI in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition as animation films will be eligible.

f. Mikeldi for Best Fiction Short Film (5,000€), to which all the short films included by ZINEBI in the Official Selection – Short Film International Competition as fiction films will be eligible.


33. Other awards will also be given during the 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI:

a. Audience Award (3,000€)
b. Cineclub FAS Award (2,000€)
c. UNICEF Award

34. The awards money amount will be shared equally between the producer and the director of the bestowed film.

35. All awarded films at the 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao - ZINEBI will compulsory and explicitly include the received acknowledgement in every single poster, communication, publicity and credits from all the copies once the Festival is over, including communication in social networks and other multimedia formats.

36. Prizes given at the 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI shall be paid in 2024 with the tax reduction applicable on every single situation. For this purpose, and in order to avoid the double imposition, the payment shall be done after the winners had provided, by the 16 December 2024 at the latest, a tax certificate of residence issued by the proper authorities of their residence country.

37. These regulations are published in English, Basque and Spanish. In the event of a discrepancy, the Spanish-language version prevails.

38. The submission of any short film to the 66th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao – ZINEBI implies acceptance of the terms of these regulations, which will be construed and applied by the Festival Management, in compliance with the International Regulations of the FIAPF for festivals.

Bilbao, 15th March 2024

CONTACT:

ZINEBI - INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM OF BILBAO

info@zinebi.eus

La Perrera Eraikina, Sabino Arana 50, 1go solairua

48013 Bilbao
Bizkaia / Spain
+34 944 248 698
www.zinebi.eus