Festival Regulations for download (PDF, 53kB)
4th Prague Short Film Festival / November 12 – 16, 2008
Article 1
Prague Short Film Festival is a competitive Festival of short films. Its aim is to contribute to the development and promotion of artistic short films and their production.
Article 2
The Festival is organized by Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, a. s., located at Panská 1, 110 00, Praha 1, Česká republika, Phone: +420 221 411 011, Fax: +420 221 411 033, E-mail: info@pragueshorts.com, www.pragueshorts.com
Article 3
The 4th Prague Short Film Festival will take place in Prague from November 12 till 16, 2008.
Article 4
The Festival program involves:
- an international competition of short films (maximum 20 minutes in length)
- non-competitive informative film programs, retrospectives, homage profiles and other accompanying events. Films in non-competitive informative sections can have a maximum length of 45 minutes.
The Festival accepts fiction short films only. The Festival does not accept animation, documentary or industrial films.
Article 5
Only works produced after January 1, 2006 can be included in the competition. The films in competition should be presented as Czech Premieres.
Article 6
Only films on 35mm prints or on BETA SP PAL in good technical condition, and provided with English subtitles, can be accepted into the competition and non-competitive sections. All films will be shown with Czech electronic subtitles.
Technical requirements for BETA SP PAL tapes:
Only non-anamorphic 16/9 (“4/3 letterbox”) will be accepted.
Allocation of audio tracks:
- mono: identical phased sound on tracks 1 and 2
- stereo: left channel on track 1, right channel on track 2
Tracks 3 and 4 must be clear CLEARED of any audio signal.
Article 7
The selection of films is carried out by a commission of experts functioning as an advisory body to the Program Director. The commission, under the direction of the Program Director, determines the program schedule and sets the screening order for all films.
No film selected may be withdrawn from the Festival program after being officially confirmed.
Applicants are required to send their films on videotapes or DVDs, with clearly indicated name of the sender, address, tel/fax number and e-mail address on the videotape or/and DVD. All non-English spoken films must have English subtitles. All tapes or DVDs must be sent:
- by mail (indicated “no commercial value – cultural use only“)
- by courier service (with declared value of less than 15 EUR or 15 USD)
to the following address:
Prague Short Film Festival, c/o Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, a.s., Panská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic.
By sending the film on DVD or VHS the film would be signed up for the competition. No entry form is needed before the film is officially chosen for the competition.
All received tapes and DVDs will remain in the Festival archive.
The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2008.
Article 8
Prints of requested films (with English subtitles) must be sent to the Festival by October 25, 2008. This deadline must be strictly observed. It is obligatory for the participant to follow the shipping instructions attached to the notification of inclusion of a film into the Festival program.
Prints sent and received in accordance with the Festival’s shipping instructions will be shown at the Festival. No other prints will be accepted.
Article 9
Unless negotiated otherwise, costs related to the transportation of the film, promotional materials and insurance from the country of origin to the Customs Office in Prague are the responsibility of the participant. Costs related to the insurance of the film print against loss or complete or partial damage for the period after it is received by the Festival until its return to the delivery agent are the responsibility of the Festival. In case of damage or loss of a print during the Festival, the Festival is only responsible for the costs involved in making a new print based on the current laboratory rates for ordering a standard print.
The costs related to the transportation of the film back to the sender are the responsibility of the Festival.
Complaints regarding the bad technical condition of the returned print must be sent at the latest 1 month after its receiving.
Article 10
For each selected film, whether competitive or not, the Festival must receive a detailed documentation by the deadline, including: a synopsis of the film, stills of the film, a biography and filmography of the director, an original dialogue list and its translation into English, a full list of artistic and technical credits, and a videotape or DVD of the film.
The participation at the Festival includes also providing the Festival with excerpts from the film on a BETA tape (SP PAL version) or DVD in order to facilitate the promotion of the film during the Festival. In case there are no excerpts existing, the participant agrees that the Festival produce the excerpts at its own costs. The length of the excerpt will be 10 per cent of the length of the whole film at the most and will not exceed 3 minutes. The participant hereby also agrees with the showing of the excerpts on Czech or foreign televisions and on the Internet.
Article 11
The International Jury will be comprised of prominent representatives of culture, film production, theory, criticism, as well as filmmakers and producers. The Jury Members must not have participated in the making of any film in the competition. All Jury Members are sworn to secrecy. The Program Director of the Festival or his representative may attend the Jury deliberations, but may take no part in the voting.
Article 12
The Jury will award the following prize in the international short films competition:
- Grand Prix plus 5,000 EUR awarded to the best short film.
The financial award belongs to the director of the award-winning film. This award may not be attributed ex-aequo.
Additionally, the Jury may award up to a maximum of
- two Special Jury Mentions
Award-winners are expected to attend the closing ceremony and to mention the award as announced, nationally as well as internationally, in their publicity and promotional materials.
Article 13
The Management of the Prague Short Film Festival makes decisions in case of unclear situations or cases unforeseen in these Regulations in conformity with the international regulations.
Article 14
Participation in the Festival implies agreement with the Regulations set out herein.
Karel Spěšný, Program Director
