28 Annual October 12, 2012 to October 21, 2012

The Warsaw Film Festival

MISSION & OBJECTIVE
The Warsaw Film Festival (WFF) is organized by the Warsaw Film Foundation in Warsaw, Poland. Its aim is to present the best films from all over the world to Polish and international audience, and to encourage better communication and understanding between people living in different countries and of different cultural backgrounds. WFF is accredited by FIAPF (www.fiapf.org) as a competitive non-specialized film festival. At WFF we present films made to be screened at cinemas.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Warsaw Film Festival has a history going back twenty-five years. We have travelled a long way – from a modest though ambitious student event to a genuine film festival that can rival even the best competitions.

The WFF differs from other festivals in its programme, just as Warsaw differs from other cities. Selecting the films, we always remember about our audience, the Varsovians – the city’s native residents, those working or studying in Warsaw, and those in town for a short while, for instance only for the Festival.

The cultural backwardness inherited from the previous system, a system that cut us off from our original civilization for half a century, is not getting smaller. The world is rushing forward faster and faster. That makes us try even harder to make sure that our audiences get to know the latest and most interesting trends in world cinema as soon as possible, often in the form of national and regional presentations. In this way, WFF audiences – usually as the first people in Poland – could discover American independent cinema as well as Asian, Latin American, Iranian, Russian, and Romanian cinema. Time has always been a major consideration: capturing the moment of the greatest success, the peak. Our aim is to show a film before it wins an Oscar, to introduce a director to Warsaw audiences before he or she wins an award at the Cannes festival.

We have been expanding the professional part of the WFF for the past ten years. We realize that film festivals are part of a giant mechanism that is the global film industry. We do our best to make sure that the world takes note of Polish films, that they get screened at leading festivals, that they find their way into international distribution.

We started off modestly – with screenings of new Polish projects for barely a dozen foreign guests. Five years later, we held the CentEast Market for the first time: a meeting place for professionals interested in films from Eastern Europe. Last year, The Hollywood Reporter had this brief remark to offer about the CentEast Market: “[it] is the go-to event”.

I am confident there is a bright future before the Warsaw Film Festival.

Stefan Laudyn
Director of the Warsaw Film Festival
ORGANIZERS
Bartek Pulcyn (Head of Short Films Competition) ; Stefan Laudyn (Director)

GENERAL RULES
1. ORGANISATION, AIMS, DATES
The Warsaw Film Festival (WFF) is organised by the Warsaw Film Foundation in Warsaw, Poland. Its aim is to present the best films from all over the world to Polish and international audience, and to encourage better communication and understanding between people living in different countries and of different cultural backgrounds. WFF is accredited by FIAPF (www.fiapf.org) as a competitive non-specialised film festival. At WFF we present films made to be screened at cinemas.
The 28th Warsaw Film Festival will take place October 12-21, 2012.

2. SECTIONS
The Festival programme is divided into the following sections:
2.1. International Competition – for feature films from all over the world.
2.2. Competition 1-2 – for first and second feature films by the directors from all over the world.
2.3. Free Spirit Competition – for independent, innovative, rebellious films from all over the world.
2.4. Documentary Competition – for feature length (over 60 mins.) documentaries from all over the world.
2.5. Short Films Competition – for short films from all over the world (30 mins. or less).
2.6. Special Screenings (non-competitive section).
2.7. Discoveries – visions of contemporary world (non-competitive section).
2.8. The World Today (non-competitive section).
2.9. Critics Selection (non-competitive section).
2.10. Family Cinema Weekend – films for children and their parents (non-competitive section).
2.11. Polish Short Films Panorama (non-competitive section).

3. ELIGIBILITY
Except in special circumstances, accepted by the festival director, only films meeting the following criteria can be presented at the Warsaw Film Festival:
a/ films which had their first public screening no more than twelve months before the Festival;
b/ films that have not been presented during any motion picture event in Poland; the only acceptable exception are Polish feature films, which can be presented at the Polish Feature Films Festival in Gdynia and at the Festival of Film Debuts in Koszalin;
c/ films that have not been distributed, exhibited or broadcast in Poland;
d/ films screening from the following formats: 35 mm, DCP, HDCAM, DigiBeta, Betacam SP.
World, international, and European premieres have priority in competitive sections.

4. SELECTION
4.1. The Director of the Festival selects and invites the films participating in the Festival.
4.2. Films sent on time on DVD with English subtitles (if the language of dialogues is not English or Polish), accompanied by duly filled entry forms and documentation are accepted for selection.
4.3. DVDs remaining in Poland will be destroyed six months after the end of the festival.

5. DEADLINES/IMPORTANT DATES
March 15 – selection process commences
June 15 – deadline for submissions of feature length films
July 31 – deadline for submissions of short films
August 15 – selection results announced to the entrants; sorry, but due to an enormous number of entries we will only inform the entrants whose films were selected; if you do not receive from us an invitation by August 15, it means that your film has not been selected for the WFF programme;
September 26 (Wednesday) – official press conference of WFF
October 5 – deadline for delivery of screening materials to the Festival Office
October 12-21 – dates of the Festival
October 19-21 – dates of CentEast Market Warsaw, which accompanies the WFF
Saturday, October 20 – Awards Ceremony
October 31 – film prints returned (at the latest).

6. LANGUAGE VERSIONS AND SUBTITLES
6.1. All films will be screened in their original languages with English subtitles, except for films with dialogues in English. The English subtitles are obligatory for Polish films.
6.2. Polish Distributors must provide the prints of foreign films with Polish subtitles at their own expense.
6.3. If the film does not have a Polish Distributor, the Festival Organisers will provide electronic subtitles (under the screen) in the Polish language at their own expense.
6.4. Polish films presented at the WIFF must be subtitled in English at the expense of the Producer.

7. SCREENINGS
7.1. Each film will be presented no more than four times, including press & industry screenings.
7.2. The Festival Director makes the screenings schedule.
7.3. During the Festival no public screening of any of the films participating is permitted before the official screening organised by the Festival.

8. JURIES, AWARDS
The Juries and their Presidents are appointed by the Festival Director, who has the right to attend the jury proceedings, but does not take part in the voting. The decisions of the Juries are taken by open ballot, with simple majority. Persons who have any connection with films presented in the competition cannot be on the Jury.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION regarding cash awards:
a/ payments will be made by bank transfer only; the winners are requested to provide us with their banking details;
b/ the entire sum of prize money will be transferred to one account of the winner;
8.1. International Competition awards:
a/ the main award – Warsaw Grand Prix
The financial part of the award: 100,000 zlotys *). 50% of the prize money goes to the Director (or Directors) and 50% to the Producer (Producers).
b/ Best Director
The financial part of the award: 20.000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director (Directors).
c/ Special Jury Award
The financial part of the award: 8.000 zlotys *). The award can be given to an actor, composer, editor, director of photography, producer, scriptwriter or set designer.
There can be only one winner of each of the awards in the International Competition (no ex-aequo).
8.2. Awards in Competition 1-2
Winner of Competition 1-2
The Jury can give one or two equally important awards. The financial part of each award: 20.000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director (Directors).
8.3. Free Spirit Competition award:
Free Spirit Award
The financial part of the award: 12.000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director (Directors). There can be only one winner of the Free Spirit Competition (no ex-aequo).
8.4. Documentary Competition award
Best Documentary Award
The financial part of the award: 12,000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director(s). There can be only one winner of the Documentary Competition (no ex-aequo).
8.5. Short Films Competition
a/ Grand Prix
The financial part of the award: 4,000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director(s) of the winning film. There can be only one winner of the Grand Prix (no ex-aequo).
b/ Best Animated Short Film Award
The financial part of the award: 2,000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director(s) of the winning film.
c/ Best Live Action Short Film Award
The financial part of the award: 2,000 zlotys *). The award goes to the Director(s) of the winning film.
8.6. The Audience Award: The audience votes for the best film from any section of the Festival. The winner gets the Audience Award. No financial part of this award.
*) all financial awards are subject to tax, to be paid in Poland, according to the Polish Law; for current exchange rates please consult http://www.nbp.pl;

9. TRANSPORTATION AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRINTS
9.1. The prints should reach the Festival Office in Warsaw (in accordance with Shipping Instructions) by October 5, at the latest.
9.2. Polish Producers and Distributors deliver the prints to the Festival Office at their own expense.
9.3. For films without Polish Distributor, the cost of prints’ transportation, if not agreed otherwise, is covered by WIFF:
a/ to and from Poland, if the print is transported from and to the lending company (Producer/Sales Agent);
b/ one way (to Poland only), if the print is transported along a chain of festivals.
9.4. The Festival is responsible for the prints from the moment of pick-up from the shipper (when importing) to the moment of giving them to the shipper (when re-exporting). The Festival’s responsibility for damage or loss of the print is limited to the cost of making a new print according to the present laboratory rate for making a standard print. The festival’s liability in case of whole or partial destruction of a print during the festival cannot exceed the value of 3.500 Euro.
9.5. Damage to the film print must be reported to the Festival Office in writing within one month of its return and before the following screening. All claims will be judged by the reported state of the print.

10. OTHER ISSUES
10.1. Participation in the Festival implies acceptance of the Festival regulations.
10.2. Once the invitation has been accepted, the invited film cannot be withdrawn from the Festival programme.
10.3. Cases not covered by these Regulations will be considered in compliance with the International Regulations. In case of dispute, only the Polish language version of the Festival Regulations is considered legally binding.
Mailing address: Warsaw Film Festival, P.O. Box 816, PL-00-950 Warszawa 1, Poland
Office (couriers’) address: Warsaw Film Festival, ul. Lwowska 11/11, 00-660 Warszawa, Poland
Other co-ordinates: tel: (48-22) 621 4647, fax: (48-22) 621 6268, e-mail: films@wff.pl, http://www.wff.pl.

IMPOTRTANT! When sending a DVD screener, please write on the package: “For cultural purposes only, no commercial value,” and declare customs value of no more than 20 euro, or the equivalent, to avoid customs fees. Please note the WFF will not pay customs fees for DVD screeners of the submitted films.