The Short-Doc-Film Competition is supported by Lufthansa.

Download the entry form here!

Rules and Regulations

1/ Context

As part of the "2008 French Film Festival" in New Zealand, the Embassy of France in Wellington is organising "The 2008 French Film Festival Short-Doc-Competition".

2/ Entrants

Category 1 entrants must be Year 11, 12 or 13 pupils enrolled to study French language and/or culture at a New Zealand secondary school for the 2008 New Zealand academic year at the time of submitting a documentary film.

Category 2 entrants must be aged between 18 and 25 years inclusive and be enrolled at a registered New Zealand film school, polytechnic or university at the time of submitting their documentary films.

3/ Submissions

The documentary films submitted to the Competition must be a maximum duration of 10 minutes in duration. Individual or group submissions will be accepted.

The films must be seen to have "a French flavour", an aspect that is open to broad figurative interpretation by the documentary filmmakers.

Any monologue, dialogue or narration (none of these is obligatory) in the documentary films must be either predominantly in English or feature English subtitles as appropriate. The members of the independent jury may not all be French speakers.

The documentary films must be the creations exclusively of the pupils or students submitting the films. The films must be submitted in DVD format, PAL or NTSC.

Submissions must reach the French Film Festival office (PO Box 11-281, Wellington) by 31 March 2008, and include a completed Entry Form. All postal charges shall be met by the sender. Receipt of each submission will be acknowledged by the Competition organisers to the entrant(s) by email.

There is no charge to enter a documentary film in the Competition.

The DVDs submitted to the Competition will be retained by the French Film Festival office but will not be screened to the public, unless with prior permission from the filmmakers.

4/ Jury

The members of the Competition jury will be appointed by the French Film Festival office and shall be comprised of professionals and/or artists from the film industry, television, and/or the cultural sectors. The president of the jury will be selected either by the French Film Festival office or by jury vote. Jury members may be of any nationality but will be fluent English speakers.

5/ Prizes

Category 1 prizes:

• 1st Prize - a selection of 15 French films on DVD (PAL)
• 2nd Prize - a selection of 10 French Films on DVD (PAL)
• 3rd Prize - a selection of 5 French Films on DVD (PAL)

Category 2 prizes:

• 1st Prize - an 8-10-day all-expenses-paid trip to France in July 2008 to take part in a film programme/workshop.
• 2nd and 3rd Prizes - A selection of French films on DVD (PAL) and books in English on French film.

All winners will be given the opportunity to screen the films with which they have won as part of the 2008/2009 Festival of Festivals, New Zealand's annual French documentary film festival hosted by 10 museums and cinemas around New Zealand, and organised by the Embassy of France. The Embassy of France reserves the right not to screen one or more of the winning movie(s) in unique, unforeseen circumstances.

6/ Category 2 Prize-Winners

In the case of a film made by a team of 2 or more people winning Category 2, the prize-winner will be the team-member whose name is declared on Question 7 of the entry form. Should the appointed member not be able to attend the programme in France for any reason, the French Embassy reserves the right to resolve the situation and to make a final decision to reward another entrant from the same or another team.

The 1st prize winner of Category 2 will need to have at least a Basic User - Waystage (A2) Level* of French in order to attend the film programme/workshop in France.
If a beginner or refresher course is required by this winter, the Embassy of France will provide this prior to departure (with conditions). For more details on CEFRL, refer to www.coe.int
*Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL - Council of Europe).

7/ Notification

Prize-winners will be notified by phone and email before 1 May 2008 and the names of the prize-winners will be posted on the following websites:

www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz
www.ambafrance-nz.org
www.ilanz.ac.nz

8/ Entrants are required to fully comply with these rules and regulations.