OPPORTUNITIES BULLETIN #211 December 2020

OPPORTUNITIES BULLETIN #211 December 2020

N.B. The information below is provided directly by the organizers of events, festivals, audio-visual organizations or independent film projects. The Royal Film Commission - Jordan (RFC) cannot be held accountable for it.

In this bulletin:

1. The Royal Film Commission's Film Library is Open Again
2. Call for submissions: 74th Festival de Cannes
3. Call for submissions: Malmö Arab Film Festival 2021
4. Call for submissions: BEIRUT Cinema Platform
5. Call for submissions: Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)
6. Call for submissions: Palm Springs International ShortFest
7. Call for funding: The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund

 The Royal Film Commission - Jordan is very pleased to announce that the Film Library is open again for visitors!

Visitors can watch movies using the private viewing stations available and read books related to various aspects of the audiovisual field.

More than 2000 films from 59 countries, of all genres, for adults and kids are waiting for you to be watched at the Library or borrowed. Also, there are some 2500 film-related books in Arabic and English available for consultation.

Library members are, in addition, allowed to borrow films and/or books.

Membership fees: 20 JOD per year; 10 JOD for students.

Available films and books at Film Library http://www.film.jo/Contents/Library.aspx

Opening hours:

- Sunday – Thursday: 9 am – 6 pm

- Friday: Closed

Submission of films for the 2021 Official Selection is now open! The 74th Festival de Cannes will take place May 11 – 22, 2021.

To submit your film, you need to:

- Comply with the preselection conditions

- Fill out the online entry form

- Upload your film online (for short films)

- Send your film (for feature films) to the address indicated at the bottom of the entry form

- If your film is selected, you must comply with the festival's rules and regulations

Films may be accepted in the Official Competition, Out of Competition or Un Certain Regard. The selection committee is the sole decision-maker of the category in which a selected film is screened.

The deadline is February 15, 2021 for film school students; March 1, 2021 for short films; and March 5, 2021 for feature films.

For more information, please visit: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/info/articles/submission-of-films-for-2021

Malmö Arab Film Festival – MAFF offers a meeting ground for the Nordic and Arab film industries. The 11th edition of Malmö Arab Film Festival will be held April 6-11, 2021.

Rules:

- Films longer than 70 min should be submitted as feature films, and films less than 70 min should be submitted as short films.

- Films that may participate in the festival are selected by the festival’s judging committee.

- Selected films to participate in the festival may not be withdrawn.

- Submitted films should be produced in 2020-2021. No contributions that have been produced before the year 2020 will be accepted in the official competition but will accepted programs out of competition.

- Submitted films should be subtitled to English or Swedish language.

- Submitted films will not be accepted if they have been screened in Sweden before.

Awards:

- Best Short Film
- Best Feature Documentary Film

- Best Feature Film

- Best Director

- Best Script

- Best Actor

- Best Actress

Deadline: January 15, 2021.

For more information please visit: https://www.maffswe.com/rules-conditions/

The fifth edition of Beirut Cinema Platform (BCP) will take place March 26 – 28, 2021. The Platform is still unsure about whether the event will be held physically or virtually.

Beirut Cinema Platform is a co-production platform designed to bring Arab independent producers/filmmakers, holders of feature-length film projects (documentary and fiction) with regional and international industry professionals.

The upcoming edition of BCP will focus on the eminent potential of the selected films for impacting social and political realities.

Rules:

- The director has to be from an Arab country.

- The director should have previously directed at least one short film.

- Priority will be given to films with an Arab producer already attached.

- Only feature-length film projects are accepted (fiction, documentary or docu-fiction films).

- The projects submitted should be in development or a work in progress.

Deadline: December 20, 2021

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is one of the world’s oldest film festivals. The Festival has a large, dedicated and growing audience with a well-established public profile as a major event on the Australian calendar.

Eligibility requirements:

- Films must have been completed after January 1, 2019.

- Films must not have been (or will not be) broadcast on television or publicly screened, distributed or exhibited in a physical location within the state of Victoria, Australia, prior to August 23, 2021. The only exceptions to this requirement are for private screenings held for cast, crew or investors, and film-school graduation screenings.

- Films must not have been (or will not be) available commercially online and accessible from the state of Victoria, Australia, either for free or via on-demand services prior to August 23, 2021. Screenings as part of a digital or online festival are permitted if the festival is for a limited run and geo-blocked such that access by Australian viewers is prohibited.

- Films must be in their original language; if the original language is not English, subtitles in English must be provided.

Deadline: January 31, 2021

The Palm Springs International ShortFest is one of the largest showcases of short-form cinema in North America. The seven-day competitive festival is Academy Award, BAFTA and Goya-qualifying, screening annually more than 330 shorts from approximately 60 countries. ShortFest accepts submissions up to 40 minutes in duration, in the form of both fiction and non-fiction shorts. Categories include Animation, Documentary and Live Action.

Awards & Prizes

First-place winners in the Non-student Animation, Non-student Documentary and Non-student Live-Action categories, as well as the Best of the Festival Award winner will automatically become eligible to submit their shorts to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscars consideration.

Eligibility Requirements:

- Shorts must have been completed in 2019, 2020 or 2021.
- Shorts must be no more than exactly 40 minutes in length, credits included.
- If selected, shorts must be available for projection in DCP.
- All non-English-language shorts must have English subtitles.

Deadline: January 15, 2021

For more information please visit:  https://filmfreeway.com/PalmSpringsInternationalShortFest

The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund supports the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe. In a changing media landscape, the fund has been a stable, progressive force in supporting work that has expressed the world in creative, complex, beautiful, and provocative ways, and has created real cultural and social impact around some of the most pressing issues of our time.

The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund has two grant cycles per year, with decisions being made in the summer and winter.

Eligibility:

- Feature-length (52 minutes or more) nonfiction projects. The fund is open to projects and film teams from around the world.

- The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program supports independent nonfiction films with budgets under $1,000,000 (one million) USD.

- Creative and editorial control must be held by members of the films’ key creative teams.

- For international productions, the fund prioritize films led by artists from Africa, China, India, Latin America, and the Middle East. Indigenous artists globally and artists from the above regions who are living in the diaspora are also prioritized.

- Applicants may submit at any production phase from development through post-production. All proposals must convey some vision for a finished film. Projects that have not yet secured characters or subjects, are unable to articulate a story or structure, or are unable to explain the project's driving central question are discouraged. Proposals for story research are not to be considered. No need for any prior funding or a fiscal sponsor in order to apply.

Deadline: February 8, 2021