VLAFF 10th Anniversary Award for First Time Directors

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, we are pleased to announce our inaugural competition for first-time directors of narrative films. The selected films will compete for the 10th Anniversary Award for First-Time Directors.

VLAFF is proud to announce the creation of this award, which commemorates the first decade of VLAFF and showcases the vibrancy and vitality of new Latin American cinema to Western Canadian audiences.

The Vancouver Latin American Film Festival has grown to become the most representative window into Latin American cinema in Canada. VLAFF 10 will take place from August 31st to September 9th, 2012 in the city of Vancouver, Canada.

Submission Guidelines:

The deadline for submissions is May 18, 2012.

The Call for Submissions is open to all films produced in 2011 and 2012.

The submission must be made by the person who holds the film’s screening rights (download the submission form here ). The festival will be authorized to use all press materials for promotion.

The film must be from a first-time director of a narrative film. However, we will accept films from a director who has previously made a feature-length documentary.

To complete the submission process, the filmmakers must send two copies of the film, in DVD format, to the VLAFF offices. The DVDs must be clearly labelled with the title of the film, the name of the director and the duration of the film in minutes.

Submissions must be sent to:

Suite 420 - 111 West Hastings St. 


Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4 
Canada

Tel. 604.708.5657

The envelope must have the following inscription: “NO COMMERCIAL VALUE – CULTURAL USE ONLY.”

The DVD copies submitted for selection will not be returned. They will become part of the festival’s film archives, and will not be used for commercial purposes.

Selection Process: 
The films will be evaluated by VLAFF's Programming Committee. The selected films will be published on festival’s website, www.vlaff.org on July 6, 2012. The Committee’s decision cannot be appealed. No screening fees will be paid for the selected films.

Exhibition of the selected films: 
If the film is selected, the person making the submission authorizes the films to be presented up to three times during the festival. Once the film has been submitted and selected, it cannot be removed from the program. 

Film screening copy: 35MM, DigiBeta, HD Cam, Blu Ray or Betacam with ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Jury: 
The jury for this competition will be composed of professionals in the fields of Arts and Communications, and will be selected by VLAFF.

Award: 
The jury will grant the VLAFF 10^th Anniversary Award for First-Time Directors. If the jury members decide so, there will also be a honourable mention awarded. The award will consist of a diploma and a $2,500 (CDN) cash prize to the director of the winning film.