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Official Rules & Guidelines

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Please read through our submission criteria carefully — we do not provide refunds to disqualified submissions. Feel free to contact us at info@liaff.com if you have a question or need clarification.

Rules & Regulations

Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film into competition in the Luis Bunuel Memorial Awards (LBMA), you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of these Rules & Terms.

LBMA is open to any film completed after January 1, 2000, regardless of content, subject, or origin. Submitting your film to the LBMA is not a guarantee of selection. All the official selection, nominees and the winners will be listed on our website permanently. All the winning films will receive a trophy, award or certificate. Please note that we do not offer application fee waivers. We treat every filmmaker equally.

  1. Films made in languages other than English must have English subtitles otherwise they will be summarily rejected.
  2. The film submitted to the LBMA for a particular month can be re-submitted at any time for a second chance, considering that we have different judges’ panels for each season.
  3. A director / producer may submit more than one film in a category and more than one category at a time.
  4. The LBMA is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival within India only. 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.
  5. The LBMA reserves the right to refuse entries.
  6. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the LBMA, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits and publicity.
  7. The LBMA will not refund any fees if the filmmaker fails to submit the film in the correct category. Films submitted without the correct fees or proper submission media may be deemed ineligible at the discretion of the LBMA programming director or executive director. The festival does not cover any of the expenses incurred by the filmmaker.
  8. After a film has been an official selection, the filmmaker will be notified, and eventually the film will be listed on the festival website under Official Selections. The Official Selection status doesn’t mean that your film will be screened at the festival. It means that your film has been appreciated by our judges of panel and you can use the festival logo on your poster.
  9. A nominee will be privately screened for the LBMA judging panel, and will not be screened initially to the public.
  10. “Best” films of each category will receive a laurel & certificate.
  11. A filmmaker’s submission fee will not be reimbursed if they decide to withdraw their submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
  12. We require an official trailer or poster, synopsis and a link to your film. Please select the correct category while submitting to avoid disqualification. We reserve right to re-assign films to the appropriate category.
  13. LBMA may without advance notice amend these Rules & Terms from time to time. Each and every such amendment shall be become effective immediately. It is your responsibility to periodically check for updates of these Rules & Terms.

Disclaimer

All filmmakers understand and accept that if their film is accepted for presentation and screening at the film festival, they grant full and unrestricted permission for LBMA to screen the film/video at times of the festivals choice and to charge an admission fee for the presentation of the digital video program. All the presented film/videos do win Pigeon D’Or Awards from the festival, LBMA only screens winners.

The Filmmaker understands and accepts that they do not participate in receiving any funds from the Box-office proceeds which are fully retained by the festival to help cover the overall cost of the festival presentation. It should be noted for the record that box-office proceeds never cover the cost of presentation of the Features and Short Film Programs. The filmmaker releases the festival (LBMA) from any and all liability for damages or destruction of the entered DCP.  The Filmmaker understands that the entered DCP will be retained in a secure facility by the festival, and every effort will be taken to protect and control the viewing of this production.

The festival assumes no liability whatsoever for theft, copyright violations or piracy of the entry. The Filmmaker accepts and understands that the festival, in conjunction with HLC Studio, Kolkata will do everything possible to present the video in the best possible manner but the festival (LBMA) is not responsible for any and all malfunctions during the presentation of the production at its festival screening. We use Professional Pioneer International playback systems, all formats, all regions, including Region 0. All entries are carefully pre-screened prior to the public showing to assure that the DCP does perform to industry Standards. The Festival (LBMA) assumes no responsibility for any technical difficulties in the presentation of this video at the actual event.

The Film Festival (LBMA) reserves the complete right to make changes in the program dates and times and to possibly not screen the video, despite its being selected for screening.

The filmmaker will endeavor to present to The Festival (LBMA) a new and pre- checked Hard disk / DCP for the actual presentation of the video at the festival.