CALL FOR ENTRIES #REGARD28

REGARD - Saguenay International Short Film Festival will hold its 28th edition from March 20 to 24 2024

To submit your short film, click here.

The submission deadline is November 1st

The early bird rate registration fee of $37 CAD is applicable until October 15. The regular fee of $52 will be charged from October 16th until November 1st.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
• Read and accept the rules.
• Complete the submission form.
• Pay the submission fee via PayPal.
• Submit the form electronically.

The person responsible for each submission will receive a response, positive or negative, on mid-febuary at the latest. 

REGARD is one of the largest short film festival in North America. Established in 1995, the event presents nearly two hundred short films from Quebec and around the world every year. We have the mission of promoting independent short films that reflect an innovative spirit and demonstrate a high-quality artistic approach.

Widely respected among film professionals, the Festival brings together more than five hundreds of directors, producers, Canadian and international buyers, distributors, journalists and scriptwriters, who come to Saguenay to present their films and participate in the activities (workshops, forums, master classes, video library, etc.) of the Short Film Market, the only event of its kind in Quebec. REGARD includes an international competition, a parallel competition and a youth competition. It also presents themed selections. Nearly $100,000 CAD in cash and services are awarded to the winning filmmakers. The two Grand Prize winners for the official competition are eligible for consideration for the Live Action Oscars category. REGARD has several juries to select the winners: the official jury, the youth competition jury, the parallel jury and the AQCC and FIPRESCI critics’ juries. The Audience Awards for the Official and the Parallel Competitions will be awarded to the films receiving the most votes.

Rules

A. ELIGIBILITY

> Only short films with a runtime of 40 minutes or less are eligible.
> All genres (fiction, animation, documentary and experimental) are eligible.
> Priority to short films that have not been broadcast for free online;
> Student productions are eligible for all sections if they meet the above criteria.
> Films that are purely or mostly of a promotional and/or didactic nature are not eligible.
> Once the selection has been announced to the right holder, the film cannot be removed from the program;
> The Festival may accept late registrations if the production timeline justifies a delay. However, this is at the discretion of the Programming Director.
> The programmers reserve the right to assign submissions to an appropriate section. Nevertheless, we ask that you answer questions concerning Parallel Competitions and the film’s premiere status to the best of your ability.
> The person responsible for submitting a film confirms that they hold all copyrights and clearances (e.g. music) needed to screen the film at a festival and its associated Market.

B. FESTIVAL SECTIONS

1-The official competition
Grand Prize
Canadian Grand Prize
Jury Award
Public Award - Official Competition
Best Animation Short Film Award
Best Documentary Short Film Award
Quebec Critic Award AQCC
International Fipresci Critic’s Award

2-The parallel competition
Shoot No Matter What Award
Americana Award
Philippe Belley Award
Short & Queer Award
Public Award - Parallel Competition

3 - Youth short film competition
Best Youth short film Award

4-The thematic selection
Carte blanche, retrospective, panorama, focus, short genre films, experimental, documentary films, etc. The main goal behind these thematic programs is to build bridges with other festivals and countries, and to foster collaboration. The selection committee draws inspiration from recurring films and themes during the year in order to curate programs of short films in a variety of themed categories.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES
> Priority will be given to films completed in 2023-2024;
> Priority will be given to films that have not yet been made available online
> Priority to short films that will be presented in Première.
> Only World, North American and Canadian Premieres are eligible for the Grand Prize and Canadian Grand Prize;
> Films nominated for the Canadian Grand Prize can also be eligible for the Grand Prize.
> Films eligible for the Canadian Grand Prize must be made by a Canadian filmmaker or by a filmmaker residing in Canada.
> Documentaries and Animation Short Film are eligible for all awards, including the two Grand Prizes, if they have their World, North American or Canadian premiere at the Festival
> All Canadian films are eligible for awards presented by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
> All international films are eligible for awards presented by the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC).
> Films submitted to REGARD in previous years will not be considered.

PARALLEL COMPETITION RULES
> Priority will be given to films completed in 2023-2024;
> Priority will be given to films that have not yet been made available online;
> Priority to short films that will be presented in Première;

Shoot no matter what competition
> Only films produced in Quebec, independently, without financial assistance from the community and/or institutions, are eligible;
> Priority will be given to debut films;

Americana competition
> Competition for films from Central and South America will be considered ;
> Priority to short films of 20 minutes and less ;
> Priority to films that have not yet been screened at a film festival in Canada;

100% Regions competition
> All films made by directors from or resident in an administrative region of Quebec (outside of Montreal).

Short & Queer competition
> Competition for films featuring the realities of LGBTQIA2S+ communities
> Priority to films made by filmmakers from LGBTQIA2S+ communities;

YOUTH COMPETITION RULES
> All the films selected for the youth section are eligible for the Best Youth Film Award (programs for 2 to 17 years old ).
> A film selected in the youth competition can also be considered in official and/or parallel competition.

C. SELECTION PROCESS

> All films considered part of the pre-selection are judged by the selection committee; the Programming Director will make the final decision. A selection committee whose function is strictly advisory will support the Programming Director in the pre-selection and selection of films for the Festival.
> The films considered to be part of the youth competition are judged by a selection committee specific to this competition, and the the director of the youth section will make the final decision;
> Any requests for feedback about a film that was rejected cannot be dealt with prior to April 2024. To receive feedback, a written request is necessary. Send requests to [email protected].

D. IN CASE OF SELECTION

> The person responsible for each submission will receive a response, positive or negative, on mid-febuary at the latest.
> The Festival reserves the right to use excerpts from selected works (max. 60 seconds), pictures and trailers, solely for the Festival’s promotional purposes.
> The Festival will pay rights holders of Canadian films screened at the festival.
> The festival will pay right holders of all shorts shown in school screenings

E. SCREENING COPIES

> Films selected must be sent in ProRes format.
> All films must be subtitled in English and/or French.
> In the case of a selection, you will find in the selection letter sent all the details concerning the screening copy;

F. AWARDING PRIZES

> The juries’ decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
> A Canadian film can only be awarded one of the two Grand Prizes for the official competition.
> Neither of the two Grand Prizes can be awarded to two films deemed to be tied.
> If the nationality of the filmmaker is different from the country the film was made in, the nationality of the filmmaker will be given priority in establishing eligibility for certain prizes awarded by the Festival.
> If there is several filmmakers or producers of different nationalities involved in the project, the Festival reserves the right to review eligibility for certain prizes awarded by the Festival;
> In the absence of recipients at the Award Ceremony, awards will be sent by mail at the Festival’s expense.
> The Festival will then communicate with the filmmaker and rights owner of each winning film to relay information concerning all prizes.
> The Festival reserves the right to present all or only a selection of award-winning short films during the “Winners screening” organized at the event.
> The Festival encourages professionals in the production and distribution of award-winning films to use the laurels awarded to the winners in their promotional material and on their screening copies.
> The Festival reserves the right to present all or only a few award-winning short films during the screening entitled “Palmarès de REGARD” organized with the film clubs in the weeks following the Festival;

G. STAY AT THE FESTIVAL

> Our guest services team will get in touch with each selected filmmaker to provide all the necessary information concerning transportation, accommodation and festival accreditation.
> It is desirable that each film in Competitions be represented by its filmmaker or by a representative of the film during the event, up to the Awards Ceremony.
> For a limited time, the Festival will pay for accommodations for filmmakers whose films were selected in any of our programming sections.
> Regarding the travel costs of participants from outside Quebec, the Festival can provide an official invitation letter for participants to include in their applications for financial assistance