OPPORTUNITIES BULLETIN #219 August 2021

OPPORTUNITIES BULLETIN #219 August 2021

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. Call for submissions: Karama Human Rights Film Festival 2021
2. Call for applications: The Annual Sharjah Film Platform Pitching Forum
3. Call for submissions: Göteborg Film Festival 2022
4. Call for submissions: Hot Docs Festival 2022
5. Call for submissions: Montreal International Animation Film Festival – ANIMAZE 2022
6. Call for submissions: Montreal Independent Film Festival 2021
7. Call for applications: International Yunus Emre Short Film Competition

     1. Call for submissions: Karama Human Rights Film Festival 2021

Karama Human Rights Film Festival, organized by M3mal612-Think Factory, announces the launching of its 12th edition’s main events for this year 2021 from 5th until 20th December.

The festival in its 12th edition this year will select human rights films on topics related to the theme: “Human Right, a fantasy world?” films that document or depict the changes and transformations that took place in the past year across the region and across the rest of the world, tackling topics of social justice for the elderly and their right to healthcare.

Karama is currently accepting entries for films of the following genres: short fiction, feature fiction, documentary, animation. Films should be produced after January 2018.

A selection of films will compete in the Karama Feather Awards for Best Fiction Feature, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Fiction Film, Best Animated Film, Best Jordanian Film, as well as the “ANHAR Award: Arab Network for Human Rights Film Festivals.

The submitter authorizes Karama to use all submitted promotional material up to 2 minutes clips of the film for any promotional activity of the film or the festival, including the clip’s broadcasting on televisions and their websites, as on Karama’s website.

The submitter authorizes Karama to screen the film in its main event, mid-cycle screenings and Karama Package 2021 - 2022 and does not charge any screening fees. The submitter authorizes Karama to screen the film online on the secured platform Karama uses to screen the films.

Karama 12th edition presents cash prizes for Best Documentary Film, Best Feature Fiction Film, Best Short Fiction Film, and Best Animated Film.

The submissions’ regular deadline is on 15 September 2021. Late deadline is on 15t October 2021.

For more information, please visit: https://www.karamafestival.org/submit/

2. Call for applications: The Annual Sharjah Film Platform Pitching Forum

Returning for a third edition, this year’s Sharjah Film Platform Pitching Forum is offering one UAE-based scriptwriter an opportunity to win AED 200,000 to turn their script into a feature film. Shortlisted from a wider pool of applicants, 10 finalists who have a completed draft or version of a feature-length script in the Arabic language, will receive professional script development training ahead of Sharjah Film Platform (SFP), in addition to pitching coaching, before proceeding to an onsite pitching event at SFP to present their script to a panel of industry judges. After the live event, one winning scriptwriter will be selected to receive the prize to realize their film in the following year.

The Pitching Forum is part of the SFP Industry Hub, an industry-focused professional programme that supports the development and production of films.

This year’s initiative includes a mandatory script lab and pitching coaching course that will mentor all shortlisted contestants for the onsite pitching event and ensure that the winning script is ready to be produced into a film.

The Pitching Forum is supported by this year’s industry partner, Sharjah Media City (SHAMS). The winner of the Pitching Forum will be awarded jointly through a grant by Sharjah Art Foundation and an investment fund by Sharjah Media City (SHAMS).

To see the eligibility criteria, visit sharjahart.org

The deadline is on 18 September 2021.

To apply, please send an email with your Arabic submission materials and director’s film link to pitchingforum@sharjahart.org

3. Call for submissions: Göteborg Film Festival 2022

4. Call for submissions: Hot Docs Festival 2022

The 2022 Hot Docs Festival will take place late April/early May. Submissions for festival will open on September 15th 2021. Hot Docs accepts Canadian and international documentaries of all lengths and subject matter.

For the purposes of eligibility and awards consideration, Hot Docs uses the following definitions:

Film Length

Feature-Length: 66 minutes or longer
• Mid-Length: 41 to 65 minutes
• Short: 40 minutes or less

Submissions to the Festival are divided into two categories:

• Canadian Submissions: All films produced in Canada and/or directed by Canadian filmmakers. The director must currently reside in Canada with permanent resident status or be able to provide proof of Canadian citizenship. If the film is co-directed, at least one of the directors must meet this criterion.
• International Submissions: All films produced outside of Canada and directed by non-Canadians.

ELIGIBILITY

All submissions:

• must have been completed after January 1, 2021.
• features and mid-length films must be at minimum Ontario premieres (i.e. cannot have been screened publicly in Ontario prior to the 2022 Festival, including broadcast versions of any length or in any language).
• short films must be at minimum Toronto premieres.
• features and mid-lengths must not be available online in any form, for any period of time, to Ontario, Canada (this includes DVDs for purchase or VOD of any length or language) - not applicable for short film submissions.
• must be in English, subtitled in English or English versioned.
• may not have submitted to the Festival previously in any stage of completion (i.e. films that were submitted as rough cuts will not be reconsidered).

For more information, please visit: https://www.hotdocs.ca/p/hot-docs-festival

ANIMAZE International Animation Film Festival screens animation features, shorts and experimental films. Industry conferences, panels and international co-productions will be facilitated through the festival. ANIMAZE is the Montreal based international animation film festival and industry conference providing a showcase for animators and animation producers to showcase and market their works including technology and anything animated in the digital landscape as a digital art or even for research purposes in the field of science.

Filmmakers are invited from all over the world to submit their works in a wide range of genres and styles. The festival converges in Montreal and in Cannes France as Animation Day in Cannes, engaging audiences developing new opportunities in the fastest growing and morphing cinema art form; animation.

Submissions are now open to the 2022 festival which will take place from 27th until 30th August 2022. The early bird deadline is on 1 September 2021.

For more information, please visit: https://animazefestival.com/en/home/

6. Call for submissions: Montreal Independent Film Festival 2021

Submissions for the Montreal Independent Film Festival (MIFF) are still open! The festival will take place from 7th until 10th October 2021.

MIFF is a hybrid seasonal and annual event which is a blending of traditional forms of festivals with a new form of an online virtual festival that could create further opportunities for independent film projects and artists to be noticed, awarded, screened and recognized in the film industry.

Every season, the festival has a virtual event which leads to the annual festival as a hybrid event in late fall. The winners of each edition are further nominated to be an official selection of the annual festival with live screenings of films, online events, red carpet and award ceremony in Montreal.

Awards & Prizes

Annual Festival:

$1,000 is awarded to Best Narrative Feature of the year
$1,000 is awarded to Best Narrative Short of the year
$1,000 is awarded to Best Documentary of the year
$1,000 is awarded to Best Canadian Film of the year
$1,000 is awarded to Best Student Film of the year

Rules & Terms

- Films must have been completed in the past 3 years.
- MIFF considers films regardless of their premiere status. Even if your film has already premiered at another festival, whether it screened at a physical venue or online, it’s still eligible for consideration.
- International and Canadian productions are accepted.
- The festival has the right to use a trailer, stills, pics and posters for promotional purposes in various film magazines, social media, website, etc.

Entry fees are non-refundable since our programmers need to evaluate each project twice.
English or French subtitles are required for non-English and non-French films.
Shorts must be less than 50 minutes. All projects over 50 minutes should submit to the feature category.

The deadline for submissions is on 17 September 2021.

For more information, please visit: https://filmfreeway.com/Montrealindependentfilmfestival

7. Call for applications: International Yunus Emre Short Film Competition

UNESCO designated the year 2021 as the "Yunus Emre" year, commemorating the 700th anniversary of Turkish poet Yunus Emre's death. The International Yunus Emre Short Film Competition aims to convey the universal messages of the late poet, which have survived to our day through the language of cinema.

Applications for the competition organized by Yunus Emre Institute are accepted between 1 July until 15 October 2021. Eight short films that make it to the final will be awarded cash prizes.

Against the face of xenophobia, hate speech, discrimination and marginalization, the competition is calling to convey the meaningful words of Yunus Emre into movie sequences by those working in the film sector from students to academicians, screenwriters and directors.

PRIZES

FIRST PRIZE: 10.000 USD
SECOND PRIZE: $ 7.500 USD
THIRD PRIZE: $ 5.000 USD
MENTIONS: $ 1.000 USD (5 awards)

COMPETITION CALENDER

Application dates: 01 July – 15 October 2021
Evaluation of the Preliminary Jury: 16 October-30 October 2021
Jury's Evaluation: 01-05 November 2021
Announcement of Finalists: 6 November 2021
Announcement of Results and Award Ceremony: 15 November 2021

Please check rules and regulations: https://www.yee.org.tr/sites/default/files/u376/tr-ing-basvuru_sartnamesi_web_icin.pdf

For more information, please visit: https://www.yee.org.tr/en/news/international-yunus-emre-short-film-competition