1. Organisation
The fifth edition of the Zinetxiki Zinemaldia - International Film Festival for Children and Youth, organised by the cultural association Begira Elkartea, will take place in Bilbao and other Basque cities and towns from 19 to 31 December 2020.
Zinetxiki Zinemaldia aims at offering worldwide quality audiovisual contents to a family audience. Through the projection of selected works in several competitive categories, the festival seeks to promote the audiovisual education and the creation of new audiences.
2. Which films can be submitted?
Any audiovisual work - fiction, animation, documentary or experimental -, produced for the cinema, television and any other screening platform. Only works that have been produced after 1 January 2017 will be accepted.
Films submitted to the festival must be addressed to children or young audiences, or must include children or young people in the leading role.
Any short or feature films that have been awarded or shown in other film festivals can also be submitted.
To enter the competition, films must be submitted by 5 June 2020 in any of the following categories:
• Short films for children + 2 years’ old (up to 12 min)
• Short films for children + 5 years’ old (up to 12 min)
• Short films for children + 7 years’ old (up to 12 min)
• Short films for children + 10 years’ old (up to 12 min)
• Short films from cinema schools’ students and first works (up to 15 min)
• Short films from new directors with no age limit (up to 15 min)
• Short films featuring TV content: series and any other format produced to be broadcasted on TV and other TV platforms (up to 15 min)
3. Technical criteria
The official languages of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia are Spanish, Basque and English.
a) Selection process
Films submitted to enter the competition must include a web address (URL) on the entry form for the festival’s Organisation to watch the film. URL links, private and password-protected, must be available until 20 October 2019.
Films submitted in different languages from the official ones, will have to attach Spanish/English subtitles and their corresponding timecodes in .srt or similar.
The Organisation might consider dubbing or subtitling short films in languages other than Spanish or Basque. Thus, it is requested to provide audio files, subtitles and dialogues in English or Spanish, with their corresponding timecodes.
For feature films that include dialogues in a language different from Basque, Spanish or English, those dialogues must be separately provided in English.
b) Screening of the official section
The person responsible for the entry (director, producer or distributor) commits to provide the final copy for screening before 20 July 2019.
Short films must be submited in .mp4 or .mkv format with a minimum resolution of 1900x1080p. Works will be preferably submitted digitally throughFilmFreeway, tools such as Wetransfer, FTP or Dropbox, or via the official website of the festival.
Judging panel and awards
The judging panel of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia will be made up of expert professionals from the cinema field, with a long trajectory and diverse experience. The composition of the panel will be communicated on the festival’s website by Septembre 2020.
To assess the participating films, the judging panel will take into account the technical part, through aspects such as photography or animation technique among others; as well as the script, prioritising plural content and a values-based education.
People responsible for the winning works will be notified via e-mail and awards will be announced publicly during the celebration of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia.
Awards will seek to internationally recognise audiovisual works of the highest quality and best content for family audiences, as a contribution from the festival to the promotion of the film. Likewise, the awards will include an economic contribution in support of the promotion and dissemination of the film by its author.
Official awards are as follows:
Short films:
• Jury’s Award for the best short film + 2 years’ old
• Jury’s Award for the best short film + 5 years’ old
• Jury’s Award for the best short film + 7 years’ old
• Jury’s Award for the best short film + 10 years’ old
• Jury’s Award for the best short film from cinema schools’ students and first works
• Jury’s Award for the best short film from new directors
• Jury’s Award for the best short film featuring TV content
The economic contribution for this category will be 400€.