SUBMISSION PROCESS:

Date of Submission:

Special Rate Deadline: August 31st, 2020

Regular Deadline: October 31st, 2020

Late Deadline: November 30th, 2020

Extended Deadline: January 10th, 2021

Notification Date: Approximately Feb 10th, 2021



SUBMISSION SCREENING FORMAT:

The BHFF only accepts Online screeners.

COMPLETED SUBMISSIONS INCLUDE:

- Submission fees

- All required fields through Online platform

- All films must include responses to the following: Synopsis (in English), 2 high resolution stills from the film, full cast and credits list, and an official film poster

PAYMENTS:

1. All payments and fees for submissions must be paid through the Online submission process. The BHFF does not accept any mailed payments.

2. There are absolutely NO refunds.

3. There are NO refunds in case of a global pandemic or government-required event cancellation. The FilmFreeway submission fee is a requirement for the selection of your film or screenplay either as an Official Selection OR as a declined project.

3. The BHFF does not wave submission fees to preserve the integrity of the competition and its participants’ artistic works.

FILM REQUIREMENTS:

- The BHFF accepts films of all genres

- Feature films must have a running time of more than 40 minutes: narrative live-action, animated feature, or feature documentary

- Short films must have a running time of 40 minutes or less: live-action short, animated short, or documentary short

- The BHFF considers all films regardless of commercial, theatrical, or television plays in the US.

- Prior festival screenings are considered. However, prior screenings are not preferred and may be one of the determining factors for including a film into the festival.

- World and U.S. premieres are not required.

- All films in a language other than English MUST include subtitles in English for festival screening.

- Works-in-progress will be considered. PLEASE NOTE: Upon acceptance, filmmakers must deliver completed film for festival screening by set deadline.

SCREENPLAY REQUIREMENTS:

- The BHFF accepts screenplays in all genres

- Multiple screenplays may be submitted by one writer

- Upon acceptance, only 1 screenplay per writer is selected

- The BHFF accepts screenplays in all standard publication styles

- Screenplay submissions are not required to include artwork

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS (FILMS):

Upon being accepted as an Official Selection entry at the BHFF, each participant is required to comply with the following regulations:

- All Official Selections must respond and consent to the Beverly Hills Film Festival rules, regulations, and deadlines. Missing a deadline or lack of communication will DISQUALIFY a selected film or screenplay as an Official Selection.

- All Official Selections must submit a U.S. format DCP and NTSC Blu-ray

- Frame-rate has to be between 24 and 30 fps/sec

- The DRIVE with the DCP has to be formatted EXT2, EXT3, NTFS or FAT32 (under 4gigs)

- NO MAC FORMATTED DRIVES

- DCPs should NOT be in a zipped folder

- All DCP and Blu-Ray of the Official Selections must be submitted by the deadline given to you in the email you will receive from the BHFF

- All DCP and Blu-Ray submissions must include the Title, tracking #, Director(s)’ name, TRT, Contact Info, and Genre

- All Official Selections must ship BOTH their DCP and NTSC Blu-Ray as one package to the below address by the deadline given to you in the email you will receive from the BHFF. The BHFF is absolutely not responsible for lost or damaged packages. Senders are responsible for tracking their safely-packaged and insured shipments.

- The BHFF does not provide shipping vouchers

- The BHFF does not provide DCP funding or vouchers

- All filmmakers are highly encouraged to have a backup master of their film at the screening.

- All filmmakers are required to pick-up their DCP and Blu-Ray after their screening

- If filmmakers cannot arrange their DCP and Blu-Ray pick-up after their screening, they are required to submit a prepaid shipping parcel/envelop with their initial DCP and Blu-Ray package.

- The BHFF does NOT ship unclaimed DCPs and Blu-Ray items without a prepaid shipping parcel/envelop submitted by the filmmaker(s)

- If applicable regarding shipping, the BHFF is absolutely not responsible for damages during shipping.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS (SCREENPLAYS):

The BHFF assigns an expert committee of industry professionals to review and consider the Official Selection entries. The festival does not recognize a limit for the number of accepted screenplays in the competition. All Official Selection entries compete for the following categories:

- 2nd Runner-Up

- 1st Runner-up

- The Golden Palm for Best Screenplay

STUDENT FILM & SCREENPLAY COMPETITION:

To allow and encourage the participants in this category to be part of the rare opportunity of preserving and investing in the arts and humanities, the BHFF invites all K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students to participate in this remarkable competition by sharing their film or screenplay with uniquely chosen artists from around the globe. All student participants are to comply with the following eligibility requirements:

1. All student participants must pay the required submission fee. The BHFF does not wave or refund submission fees to preserve the integrity of the competition and its participants’ artistic value.

2. Any student attending an accredited K-12 institution within and outside of the United States of America is eligible to participate. Foreign institutional accreditation laws must comply with the national accreditation regulations of the chosen institution.

3. Any undergraduate student attending an accredited two or four-year higher education institution within and outside of the United States of America is eligible to participate. An undergraduate student is defined as one who has not yet received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree or has applied for graduation in the current academic year.

4. Any graduate student attending an accredited four-year higher education institution within and outside of the United States of America is eligible to participate. A graduate student is defined as one who has not yet received a Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree or has applied for graduation in the current academic year.



5. All student participants must submit a signed and dated letter of reference from a faculty member, program director, department chair, department dean, vice president, or president of their home institution. The reference letter must officially introduce the student participant by his/her legal name, providing his/her student identification number/code, the official title of the student film or screenplay, the eligible BHFF film category the student would like to participate in, and a brief description of the student’s artistic intention and future academic and career goals. All letters must be in PDF form. The student participants in the film competition should email their letters of reference to films@beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com , and the student participants in the screenplay competition should email their letters of reference to screenplays@beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com by the submission deadline. Letters received after the submission deadline, along with letters without an official signature and date will automatically disqualify the submitted film or screenplay from any form of participation.

6. The BHFF only accepts student submissions in the following film categories: documentary, short subject, and animation.

7. The BHFF accepts multiple film OR screenplay submissions per student. Each participant must pay the required submission fee for each entry separately. If chosen as an Official Selection, the BHFF only accepts ONE submission per participant.

8. Upon being accepted as an Official Selection for the upcoming festival, each accepted student filmmaker or writer must agree to the Terms and Conditions of the BHFF if he/she wishes to have the film screened during the festival, or if he/she wishes to have the accepted screenplay title and author(s) published on the BHFF official website.

9. Upon agreeing to the BHFF Terms and Conditions of film screening, each accepted student film must have an in-person representation. The BHFF does NOT screen films that do not have, at least, one person representing them at the assigned theater.

10. Student films selected as Official Selections that have successfully been screened during the festival with proper, in-person representation, are eligible for being considered for the prestigious Beverly Hills Film Festival Student Filmmaker Award during the Awards Night Ceremony.

11. The BHFF does not provide any form of legal and/or travel assistance to international student filmmakers and/or writers who wish to either attend the festival or represent their accepted film during the festival. The student filmmakers and writers must accept full responsibility for all their legal travel requirements.

PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

The BHFF recommends Filmmakers and Screenplay Writers attending the festival to consider the following promotional opportunities:

- 50 postcards and/or business cards, displaying any work information and BHFF official laurel

- All posters, images, and promotional documents should not reference any other film festival other than the BHFF

- Accepted filmmakers, as Official Selections, must bring a poster of their film mounted on a foam/cork board back. Each filmmaker must provide his/her own easel to display the poster during the festival.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: SUBMISSION AGREEMENT

- The Beverly Hills Film Festival is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the festival for promotional purposes.

- The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations.

- The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless the Beverly Hills Film Festival from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses, including but not limited, to attorney's fees and costs of the court), which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

SUBMISSION RELEASE AGREEMENT:

I, the undersigned, acknowledge and agree to the following:

- I have read, understood, and complied with all eligibility and submission requirements

- All the statements and documents provided are authentic and accurate

- In consideration for the selection opportunity into the Beverly Hills Film Festival, I release and discharge the Beverly Hills Film Festival from any and all claims, demands, or causes of actions related to misappropriation or infringement of copyright or violation of any other right arising from or relating to my submission hereunder.

- I agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Beverly Hills Film Festival from any claims that arise as a result of my screenplay and/or film submission or screening of my film (upon selection) as well as from damage to or loss of any submitted documents or materials en route to the festival.

- I have all rights necessary and am duly authorized to submit this screenplay and/or film to the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

- I understand, as the authorized and responsible representative of my selected screenplay and/or film, any prize awarded to the selected screenplay and/or film is to be received by me or any other singular, official representative of the selected screenplay and/or film.

- I understand that the Beverly Hills Film Festival may disqualify and reject any submission that it determines, in its sole and absolute discretion, is not in compliance, in whole or in part, with the mentioned Terms.

- I understand that the Beverly Hills Film Festival does not issue any form of refund to any selected screenplay and film regardless of circumstances.

