The International Festival of Televisions and Independent Producers SIMFEST, Seventeenth Edition
# 1. SIMFEST is a TV competition – festival, the only one in South – Eastern Europe. It is organized, each year, by The Cultural Association SIMFEST for Supporting and Promoting the Media and Visual Arts Creators. SIMFEST advocates for professionalism and for freedom of expression. The XVIIth edition of SIMFEST will be held in Tirgu Mures, Romania, from September, 14th to September 20th, 2020.
# 2. SIMFEST is a complex cultural manifestation, which includes, together with the competition, other events and special programs: The Summer School for Journalists, recitals, exhibitions, shows, movies and documentaries public screenings, debates.
# 3. Media productions will be submitted to the SIMFEST competition by reporters, editors, show broadcasters, producers, cameramen, operators, cinematographers etc. of any local, regional or national coverage television, with air or cable broadcasting, which produces its own programs; territorial correspondents of national or regional stations; free-lancers; independent video production studios; students; companies or independent creators working in multimedia. The productions can be submitted by their producers, editors, directors or authorities entitled for representation of films.
# 4. The SIMFEST competitions has eight different sections. Each participant may submit more productions at any section.
a) NEWS: each participant will submit in the competition five (5) news, edited for broadcast. Each piece will last from 1 min. 10 sec. to 3 minutes and will be accompanied by scripts. Scripts shall also include INTRO and EXTRO (if applicable) for the announcer, names of interviewees (synchromesh) and names of producers. As a starting point in judgment in our competition will account the image, editingnand, foremost, the way in which the rules of drafting television-news are respected and highlighted.
b) TV PUBLISHING (reportage, documentary, TV investigation, essay, talk-show etc.): the works will be accompanied by the team's names list (including music playlist illustration). For the REPORTAGE and DOCUMENTARY categories, the grants will be awardes separated: for local TV stations or independent producers and for big TV stations or companies.
c) ENTERTAINMENT: the productions will be accompanied by explanatory texts that shall offer all the information about it, mention filmmakers, beneficiary, date and place of distribution, the name of the series, if the production is part of one etc.
d) VIDEO: this section is divided into three subsections: music video, video for advertising and video for political campaigns. The productions can be submitted by their producers. Promotional Videos may also be submitted by their beneficiaries, and the music and the electoral ones may be submitted by their protagonists (bands, personalities or political parties).
e) MULTIMEDIA: this section is dedicated to web pages - sites, blogs etc. and presentation CDs. Each project will be accompanied by a brief presentation that shall also contain the producers and team members' names.
Multimedia events previously produced can also be submitted for the competition - for each piece we must receive a filmed summary of no more than 25 minutes.
Live multimedia events can also be registered: they shall be presented live during the festival; for their proper unfolding the responsibility lies with the competitors who will take the time to contact the organizers to ensure that they were included in the program and that they can be provided with the appropriate logistics.
Competitors can sign up one project for each of these last two categories.
f) STUDENT PROJECTS: students from any college, in Romania or abroad, regardless of their studying domain, can submit their projects, and that can be carried out by any technical means. The judging will value the creativity, the theme's originality and the project's specific approach. May also submit graduates, but it is needed that the works have been made when they were students.
g) TOURISTIC FILM: documentaries or reports presenting places, events or settlements that may constitute touristic attractions, can be submitted for this section.
h) FICTION: may be submitted movies made by independent producers, which technically can be bought and broadcasted by TV stations.
# 5. The SIMFEST jury consists of renowned journalism, television and film figures. It has full decisional independence. It has the power to grant the awards for the stated sections, as well as not grant awards for sections that haven't received, in their consideration, productions of the desired quality. The jury can also set up special prizes, other than those set out in the festival's record. The event is also open to partnerships, which result in different awards will be announced on the festival website or during the Festival’s closing ceremony.
# 6. The official SIMFEST’s Prizes are:
- The Great Prize (1,000 Euro, gross)
- The prize for European Journalism (500 Euro, gross), given by The Association of the Romanian Independent Journalists AZIR
- The best documentary (separated for big and small producers)
- The best TV reportage (separated for big and small producers)
- The best motion picture
- The JEANA GHEORGHIU prize for talk-show
- The best touristic film
- The best video
- The prize for scenario
- The best news reporter or the best news journal
- The best production dedicated to minorities
- The best student project
- The prize for entertainment
- The best multimedia creation
# 7. The prizes (money and/or objects) will be awarded to the registered producers, reporters or filmmakers.
# 8. All submitted productions will be watched before by the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will be appointed by the Festival Management, and will be charged for advice in the official selection of the competition. The selected productions will be announced on the festival’s website and directly, by email to the filmmakers, no later than July, 20th, 2020.
# 9. Submissions are free of charges in the first 45 days. After that, the fee is 35 USD, excepting the sections Student Projects, TV News and TV PUBLISHING - Talk-show, which remain no fee.
# 10. Opening for entries: 1/15/2020. Deadline: 06/30/2020. Productions submitted/ sent after these dates will not be considered!
# 11. The festival does not pay screening rights for the productions registered in the competition. They shall remain in the SIMFEST archives in order to be used for documentary, educational and cultural purposes. For easier storage, films can also be stored in a digital data base. For the purpose of promotion of the awarded films and the Festival itself, the Festival shall retain the right to screen the awarded films into cultural events; although no fee will be paid for that, the owner of the property rights will be notified.
# 12. Application procedure:
12.1. The filmmakers, producers or retailers that owns the intellectual property rights must complete the online registration form on the official website of the festival at www.simfest.ro.
12.2. The competitors may send their productions by Internet, using a transfer method. If you choose to send your submission material as online link, it’s MANDATORY a private screening link protected by password (via Vimeo, YouTube or Google Drive). It’s also mandatory that it has the option to DOWNLOAD it, not only to SCREENING it. The link cannot be opened for public viewing and must have a password or be a private link. It’s the participant’s responsibility to provide link and password for viewing and download the material. The productions formats acceptable are MPG or MOV, with a HD resolution 1920 x 1080 or at least the best possible resolution.
All productions shall be also sent by post or by a courier company, recorded on a magnetic support (DVD or USB), until August, 10th 2020 at: SIMFEST Cultural Association, Unirii Street, no. 5, bl. A, ap. 7, 547530 – Singeorgiu de Mures, Mures County, Romania. The competitors shall also send a press kit, which will contain: a brief synopsis of the film in English language, the director's/reporter’s/producer’s biography and photos (of the quality suitable for press), a film's dialogue list in English language, other promo materials (press packages, posters etc.). By signing the submission form, the applicant authorizes the Festival to use and publish all the above specified materials in the festival catalogue, on Internet and in press. The Festival is also authorized to publish a trailer or insert from a film of up to 3 minutes of running time for promotional purposes. All costs of incoming mail shall be paid by the sender.
12.3. For online multimedia productions (web pages, blogs etc.) we must receive the accessing address.
12.4. In order to register for the Summer School for Journalists' courses and masterclasses, send an email to the organizers at office@simfest.ro, with Summer School for Journalists registration subject, until August, 15th 2020
# 13. Participation in the festival
The official program (the events' schedule, the projections screening hours as well as the related happenings' timetable) will be established by the organizers and will be announced on the Festival's website.
The Festival is open to the public. Print and audio-video accredited journalists will also be present at the event.
For the participants, the SIMFEST Association provides accommodation and meals.
The act of submitting in SIMFEST 2020 is regarded as a recognition of the above rules and regulation. The Festival’s direction reserves the right to make decisions about all matters that may not have been covered by this rules and regulations.
# 14. About the Festival
According to the public mission assumed by the SIMFEST Festival, the event proposes each year related cultural happenings such as exhibitions, book launches, workshops, film medallions, days dedicated to publishing houses etc. While the productions are being judged, public screenings of the submitted productions are organized, followed by debates. Their aim is both to encourage and facilitate knowledge and experience exchange among filmmakers and other media professionals present, and to create a communication bridge between people of the media and information consumers. The most valuable productions, as recommended by the jury, and of whose producers will be present, will be the ones scheduled for the public screenings.