CONDITIONS

1. Submission Format:

- Films must be submitted via online screener using FilmFreeway.

2. Submission Eligibility:

- All submissions must have been completed after 1 January 2023. - Films cannot have played to a public audience in Newcastle before the festival dates. - All films not in the English language are required to have subtitles. - High School category submissions must be NO more than 5 minutes in length (including titles). Only one student can be listed as the recipient of the prize cheque, and the distribution of funds can be arranged privately. Upon winning, students' enrollment will be verified. Must be a student enrolled in a school in the Hunter/Newcastle/Central Coast Region. - Open category submissions must be no more than 20 minutes in length (including titles). Shorter films are encouraged to enable us to screen more films for our audiences. - The number of entries by one submitter/filmmaker is not limited. - Only one final version of any one film can be submitted. No work in progress, or near-finished work will be accepted.

3. Film Classification:

- All films submitted to the High Schools category should comply with the Australian Classification G rating (The G classification is suitable for everyone. G products may contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are very mild in impact.) - Films submitted to the Open category should comply with the Australian Classification ratings G, PG, M, or MA15+ (See https://www.classification.gov.au/classification-ratings/what-do-ratings-mean for details)

4. Film Rights:

- In order to submit a film, the submitter/filmmaker must own the rights to the film and all production elements contained in the film (such as music recordings, performances, artwork).

5. Submission Fees:

- High school category: free - Open category: AUD $20 per film (all filmmakers pay the same rate. There are no student discounts or waivers) - All FilmFreeway submissions for Seahorse Film Festival are to be paid by credit card or PayPal. The submission fee is non-refundable.

6. Shipping:

- All shipping and postage costs, if the film is selected for the Festival, for any harddrives and additional materials sent to and returned from Seahorse Film Festival must be borne by the submitting party.- Seahorse Film Festival will not accept Cash On Delivery shipments. Seahorse Film Festival will not absorb any fees incurred by shipping or customs. All charges must be pre-paid.

7. Selection of Films:

Submissions are reviewed and selected under the following criteria:
- Quality of narrative and production values.
- Independent nature of the production

8. Dates and Notifications:

- Seahorse Film Festival endeavours to complete all selection procedures by 15th August 2024 and inform all submitting parties, in writing, if their film has been successful or not after that time. - Successful submissions will receive a Filmmaker Festival Pack that will include important information on sending a screening version of the film to the Festival, press and publicity, guest accreditation, contact information and how to make the most of participating in the Festival.

9. Festival Screenings:

- Selected films MUST provide a video file (.mov or .mp4 with H264 codec) in order to be screened at the Seahorse Film Festival. - The film title MUST be clearly labelled on the hard drive or submission file. Films may be screened twice during the festival.

10. Scheduling:

- Screenings are scheduled during the Festival at the discretion of Seahorse Film Festival. Whilst every effort will be made to adhere to the published schedule, Seahorse Film Festival reserves the right to make changes at any time for any reason. Seahorse Film Festival will not be liable for any costs claimed as a result of a change in scheduling. No film may be withdrawn from the festival programme after its selection.

11. Use of films for promotional purposes:

The Festival may use excerpts from competition films (up to 10% of the length of the film, but no more than two minutes) to promote the Festival on television, all social media such facebook, instagram etc, and the Internet.