Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film into competition in the Moscow Shorts (ISFF), you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of these Rules & Terms.
ELIGIBILITY
1. We accept International short films.
2. Entrants are responsible for securing all rights and permissions from copyright and other holders relating to their short.
3. Moscow Shorts categories include Short Narrative, Short Animation, Short Documentary, Music Video, Short Experimental and Student Shorts.
4. Each short film must be entered for one of the competitions named above. In some cases, though, the selection committees reserve the right to assign it to another competition or special programme.
5. Films in languages other than English will only be accepted with English subtitles.
6. All types of short films are accepted. Here are some examples: Absurdist, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Advertising, Art-house, Biographical, Black Comedy, Classic, Children, Comedy, Crime, Dance, Detective, Drama, Cult, Epic, Family, Fantasy, Gangster, Horror, Independent, Indie, Noir, Historical, Kids, LGBT, Magical realism, Musical, Mystery, Melodrama, Road Movie, Philosophical, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Silent Films, Slice of Life, Social, Sports, Superhero, Supernatural, Surreal, Suspense, Thriller, Urban, Western, Zombie etc
7. The running time of films entered for the competitions should not exceed 30 minutes (we have no minimum length limit).
8. Films must have been completed after January 1st 2019.
9. We don’t accept work in progress copies of films.
JUDGING PROCESS
All submissions will be viewed in their entirety by at least two judges. Submissions will be judged and scored based on criteria including quality of screenplay (story, dialogues etc), acting, production quality, originality, technical proficiency, cinematography, sound design, editing, location/s used and set design. We support indie filmmaking and will award additional points to shorts produced on a micro budget and/or minimal crew. All monthly winners will compete at Moscow Shorts annual event. The Jury will choose annual winners from monthly awarded short films.
NOTIFICATION
The directors of submitted films that are accepted will be notified via e-mail at the beginning of each month. There will also be a list of accepted films on our website moscowshorts.com at the beginning of each month. The winners list is published no later than one week after the official selection notification.
SCREENINGS (MONTHLY SCREENINGS and ANNUAL EDITION)
The selection and award classification will be posted on our website. Moscow Shorts (ISFF) works hard to recognize quality filmmaking and tends to offer Awards to 100+ short films per season.
– We don’t screen all selected films. We screen the monthly awarded films. The duration of the screening cannot exceed 100 minutes, so in some cases we don’t screen all winners.
– The main location of our monthly events is Kosmos Cinema Theatre in Moscow (600 seats) but starting with September 2021 we added more venues and new cities to our portfolio.
– All monthly winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards.
– A full season of Moscow Shorts Annual Competition starts in March and finishes in February next year.
– The Moscow Shorts Annual Event take place usually at the end of July.
– The Moscow Shorts Annual Event consists in one week of screenings, the annual awards ceremony, lectures, meetings, workshops, and other activities.
We may also screen some shorts outside these awards placing that deeply impress our selection committee.
FEE WAIVERS
We work hard to keep our submission fees as low as possible – consequently we cannot provide fee waivers.
MISCELLANEOUS
1. Moscow Shorts has no festival premiere eligibility requirements. Shorts that have screened at other festivals are still eligible.
2. Moscow Shorts has no public or internet broadcast eligibility requirements. If your short has screened on Vimeo etc, it is still eligible.
3. Changes to submitted films will only be accepted if accompanied by a new submission fee.
4. The decision of the selection committee is final.
5. Stills of selected films may also be shown on the Festival website and publicity/promo material including press releases, festival brochures and other materials.
6. All entry fees are non-refundable.
7. Moscow Shorts reserves the right to update or modify these terms and policies without prior notice.
8. After selection, notification letters will be sent electronically.
9. Moscow Shorts does not accept trailers or rough assemblies. Please be aware Moscow Shorts will not view multiple updates/versions of your film for programming consideration.
10. The Moscow Shorts (ISFF) is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. 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, rules and regulations.
11. The MOSCOW SHORTS (ISFF) reserves the right to refuse entries.
LEGAL MATTERS
The person or institution submitting the film is responsible for clearing all rights to the content of the work relevant to the film’s use by the festival. By submitting, they state that they are authorized representatives thereof, i. e. that screening or other use of the film by the Festival does not infringe rights held by third parties (e. g. copyrights, personality or trademark rights), and that especially the rights to any material produced by others (music, film footage, photographs, text etc.) used in the film have been cleared. They furthermore shall indemnify the Moscow Shorts ISFF against all third-party claims in connection with screening/using the film in the course of the Festival. This includes covering any legal costs that might be incurred.