Rules 10ᵃ edition

Bridge Film Festival – Official Selection

The BFFestival Jury Award The Golden Cocai will be awarded to the best long or medium metrage among films of BFF Official Selection by a panel of cinema professionals. The panel will work independently of the festival organization and in compliance with its rules. The artistic directors, if necessary and upon request from the members of each panel, can be consulted for advice regarding merely technical and procedural matters. Anyone who has taken part in the production or in the selection of the works cannot be a member of the panel. 500 euro

The BFFestival People’s Award The Silver Cocai will be awarded to the best short metrage among BFFestival Official Selection by people in the audience, who will be called to indicate their preference on BFF Official forms. 200 euro

The BFFestival Youth Award will be awarded to the best long, medium or short metrage among BFFestival Official Selection by a panel of the students at University of Verona, Academy of Fine Arts and Conservatory. Anyone who has taken part in the production or in the selection of the works cannot be a member of the panel. 100 euro


Opening submissions: April 3, 2023
Final deadline: May 31, 2023


Requirements

  1. Films completed after 2021
  2. Maximum duration: 120 minutes
  3. Country of production: All countries
  4. Screening format: Video mov/h264 (1080p, 2K, 4K) with the direct link to watch and download the file.
  5. Subs/srt: English or Italian
  6. Accepted genres: documentary, docu-fiction, animation about real events, fiction about real events, bio, expository, poetic, observational, interviews, video art/experimental.
  7. Relevance to the topic 2023 “Wait a minute you ain’t heard nothing yet”: the first line ever said in a film, from The Jazz Singer by Alan Crosland (1927), or how much sounds and silence can impact on films or reality.

Location and dates

  1. The 10th edition of the Bridge Film Festival will be held from the 12th to the 15th of July 2023 at Antica Dogana di fiume and Antica Dogana di terra in Verona, Italy. The screenings will be open to public and free of charge for members of cultural association Diplomart, organizer of the festival. All non members can easily associate through an online form.
  2. Bridge Film Festival is organized by Diplomart in collaboration with Canoa Club Verona and Corte Dogana with the support of Verona Town Hall, Veneto Region and Veneto Film Commission.

Prizes and panel of judges

  1. The panel’s decisions will be final.
  2. There will be only one winner for each category.
  3. The amount of money for each prize will be announced during the year and before the disclosure of the BFF Official selection.
  4. No prize money will be awarded for special mentions.
  5. The following prizes will be awarded:
    • The BFFestival Jury Award (The Golden Cocai) will be awarded to the best long or medium metrage among films of BFF Official Selection by a panel of cinema professionals. The panel will work independently of the festival organization and in compliance with its rules. The artistic directors, if necessary and upon request from the members of each panel, can be consulted for advice regarding merely technical and procedural matters. Anyone who has taken part in the production or in the selection of the works cannot be a member of the panel.
      500 euro
    • The BFFestival People’s Choice Award (The Silver Cocai) will be awarded to the best short metrage among BFFestival Official Selection by people in the audience, who will be called to indicate their preference on BFF Official forms.
      200 euro
    • The BFFestival Youth Prize will be awarded to the best long, medium or short metrage among BFFestival Official Selection by a panel of the students at University of Verona, Academy of Fine Arts and Conservatory. Anyone who has taken part in the production or in the selection of the works cannot be a member of the panel.
      100 euro
  6. The prizes will be announced and awarded on the final night of the Bridge Film Festival, according to point 2.5 of this Call for entries.

Eligibility

  1. All long, medium or short film are eligible for the competition with limits regarding the genre: documentary, docu-fiction, experimental, video-art, mockumentary, fiction about real events, biography, interviews.
  2. Short films from any nation and in any language are eligible for the competition.
  3. Only works produced starting from 2022 will be admitted to the competition.
  4. There are no limits regarding the number of works that can be presented, as long as all works fill all requirements.
  5. No advertisement or industrial film will be admitted.
  6. Only films submitted through the authorized submission form will be accepted.
  7. All works will be selected by artistic directors and other members of the festival organization, who form the selection committee.
  8. The works submitted to this call, even though excluded from the official selection, could be used for other cinema-themed events. These will be organized during the whole year by Diplomart. In this case the applicants will be contacted for the authorization of the screening.
  9. Final deadline for the submission of the works is 31 of May.

Selection

  1. The selected works will be:
    • up to 4 or 5 long films
    • up to 4 or 5 medium films
    • up to 15 or 20 short films
  2. Once the works have been selected, all relevant authors and directors will be notified by email.
  3. Producers of the films must complete the entry form in full, fill the projection authorization and submit the materials required within the deadline. Any failure in the submission process will result in being excluded from the competition.
  4. The selection of the works must be kept strictly confidential until the announcement of the official program of the festival.
  5. Applicants who have not been selected won’t receive any notice from the festival organization. The list of the selected works will be disclosed on the above-mentioned website, in the national media and on our social network pages.
  6. All materials submitted during the selection phase may be used by media for 2023 BFF edition coverage and by BFF organization, which is therefore authorized to post contents on the official website and all social media profiles. Audiovisual abstracts no longer than 15 seconds for each work, who have been selected by the festival press office possibly with respect to the indications given by the authors and directors themselves, can be used by radio and local television to create reports on 2023 BFF edition and also by the festival organization itself on website and Social Media profiles in order to promote the festival.
  7. No cash payment is envisaged for the submission of the films that will be screened, nor for the use of the materials submitted upon registration.

Materials and copyrights

  1. All materials submitted for the competition will become part of the BFF archive.
  2. Every year, Diplomart could present the films to the widest possible audience and the festival organization commits itself to using the materials exclusively for cultural purposes and for events related to the festival.
  3. In order to protect the rights of the authors and producers involved, no work will be used for commercial purposes. The authors’ consent will be required for any use other than that specified herein.
  4. The festival organization will adopt all necessary measures to protect copyrights of the works entrusted to it, in compliance with the legal provisions governing audio-visual piracy.
  5. In case of extreme conditions that prevent the regular running of the Festival in a public place, the organization will communicate to the selected directors the event recovery plan and the most suitable method for the regular execution of the competition. These could include the use of specialized online platforms (subject to login by viewers).
    In any case, the directors of the selected film will be notified in time about the chosen broadcasting channel.
  6. The Artistic Direction reserves the right to cancel the 2023 edition of the Festival or to reduce it to a smaller event if the necessary security conditions are not met to foresee its execution. In this regard, the categories, prizes and voting methods (of this Call for entries) may also be subject to changes, which will be regulated by specific rules available on the website this website.

Acceptance of the rules

  1. The participation in the festival is strictly subject to compliance with its rules.
  2. The registration to this call entails the inclusion of the applicant’s data in the festival’s database. This will be used for the newsletter in case of official announcements.
  3. All applicants are required to guarantee that they are lawfully entitled to submit their materials to the festival.
  4. The artistic director has the right to settle all the issues that fall outside the rules previously mentioned and to waive them in particular, well-motivated cases.
  5. If necessary, the festival organization reserves the right to modify the rules (for example in relation to prizes and data).
  6. Any dispute or claim arising from personal interpretations of the rules will be settled according to that specified in the original Italian document.