Filmmakers Info
March 12-14th, 2010
The da Vinci Film Festival seeks imaginative, innovative, and entertaining original works. Submissions of any style are welcome, including narrative, animation, documentary, and music video. Our educated audience is especially appreciative of documentaries and well made short- and feature-length films.
If you can’t find the information you are looking for on the FAQ list below please contact us.
Selection
If I submit a film, will it be screened?
Not necessarily. As a juried event, we view all entries and select the best for the festival screening. We typically receive more than 100 submissions and screen approximately 30% of them.
How are films selected for the festival?
Submitted films are screened by volunteer teams of between four to six reviewers. The review teams rate the films according to several criteria. Most films will be reviewed twice to find consensus and to give filmmakers as much consideration as possible. The da Vinci Film Festival Programming Director makes the final screening decision. All films that the review committee considers award-worthy are screened.
What are the selection criteria?
Script/Storyboard: story, suitability, sequencing, and shots
Technical: camera controls & movement, composition, sound, and editing
Direction: blocking and casting choices
Do you jury Young Filmmakers Films differently?
Yes. Our definition of originality is more flexible, particularly for work submitted by the youngest filmmakers.
Judging
Da Vinci Film Festival judges are all professionals in the film industry or academia, including judges from other film-related competitions, film studies professors and instructors, local independent cinema owners, and film critic journalists. Each competition category is judged by three of these people.
Are judges also members of the screening committee?
No, the selection committee is completely separate. We do this to ensure objectivity and fairness in the judging.
How are the audience favorite awards determined?
Festival attendees vote for their favorite films at the screenings.
Awards
How many awards does the festival offer?
The Festival presents one “Best Film” award in six submission categories: Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Narrative Short, Narrative Feature and Young Filmmakers (K-12).
We also present two additional awards that are non-category specific: An Audience Favorite Award and the Spirit of da Vinci Award.
What is the Spirit of da Vinci Award?
The Spirit of da Vinci Award award is voted by the Festival committee and is presented to the film that best reflects the festival’s theme of innovation and creative risk, whether with new filmmaking techniques or methods of storytelling. All categories of films are open to this award competition.
Do the awards include prize money?
Yes. The prize for each category is as follows:
- Best Animated Film: $150
- Best Documentary: $200
- Best Experimental Film: $150
- Best Narrative Short: $150
- Best Narrative Feature: $200
- Best Young Filmmaker: $100
The Fast Film Project prize is $50
The Audience Favorite and Spirit of da Vinci Award winners will receive a certificate.
When are the awards presented?
Awards are announced on the final day of the Festival. Certificates and prizes will be mailed to the winning filmmakers at the conclusion of the festival.
Filmmaker FAQs
What are some of the special benefits for the filmmakers?
We value the work of independent film makers! The da Vinci Film Festival provides feedback on all film submissions, whether or not your film is an official Film Festival selection.
All filmmakers are invited to attend the Film Festival. Visiting filmmakers are treated like royalty at the da Vinci Film Festival and when scheduling allows, we invite filmmakers to participate in a post-screening Q&A.
For filmmakers joining us at the festival, we offer hospitality and special hotel rates and provide two complimentary All Access Passes to the Film Fest. Selected films will have encore screenings at the summer da Vinci Days festival in July.
Who are some of your past guest filmmakers?
We most recently hosted independent filmmaker Alex Cox at the 2008 Festival and have featured others including academy award winning sound editor Richard Hymns, and Oregon’s own Will Vinton.
Do you get many Young Filmmaker entries?
We’ve watched some young film makers progress in their skills from year to year. Some of these films have wowed festival filmgoers.
da Vinci Fast Film Project
What is the da Vinci Fast Film project?
The Fast Film Project is the way for da Vinci film fans to get in on the action! Filmmakers have 48 hours to write, shoot, edit, and submit a film to be screened at the da Vinci Film Festival. Filmmakers provide their own equipment and actors, we provide the big screen!
Films MUST be made between 6:30 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. At registration, each team will be given a line of dialogue and a prop which MUST be incorporated into the completed movie.
Completed films are 10 minutes or less. Films longer than 10 minutes will not be accepted. Films must be submitted on DVD.
Is it fun?
Very.
How much does it cost to register?
There is no cost to register for the Fast Film Project.
Sign me up!
Filmmakers must register in person between 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, February 19, 2010 at the Darkside Cinema.
Completed films can be returned between 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the da Vinci Days office at 568 SW Third St, Corvallis. Submissions arriving after 6:30 p.m. will not be accepted.
What is the award for the winning Fast Film?
The winning team will receive a cash prize of $50. Fast films will also be shown at the da Vinci Days Festival in July, and possibly on CCAT Channel 29.
How can I get more information?
Download General Rules and Application Form
Submissions
We welcome submissions from independent and student filmmakers. Submission fees are set according to category:
- Standard: non-students
- Student: college or film school
- Student: K-12
What are your submission dates and fees?
Our low-cost fees are set by submission date and filmmaker category. There is also a discount for films submitted online, using WithoutaBox.
| Deadline | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Bird | September 15, 2009 |
| Regular | October 7, 2009 |
| Late | November 1, 2009 |
| WaB Extended | Nov. 15 using WithoutaBox |
| Submit online using Withoutabox | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | Standard | Student | K-12 |
| Early Bird | $35 | $30 | $20 |
| Regular | $45 | $40 | $30 |
| Late | $55 | $50 | $40 |
| WaB Extended | $75 | $70 | $50 |
| For all other submissions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | Standard | Student | K-12 |
| Early Bird | $35 | $30 | $20 |
| Regular | $45 | $40 | $30 |
| Late | $55 | $50 | $40 |
| WaB Extended | $75 | $70 | $50 |
Not typically, but we have a limited number of waivers available. Please contact us by e-mail with your request.
We use the electronic application service run by Withoutabox. To submit a film, start here:
It’s free for filmmakers and efficient for us. Filmmakers fill out only one master entry form for our film festival and over 1,000 other WAB-partner festivals.
Qualifying Films
What types of films do you accept?
The festival is especially interested in works that incorporate themes of art and science, but all submitted films will be considered for selection.
We accept films in almost all genres and subject matter in the following categories:
- Animation (all styles)
- Narrative features
- Narrative shorts
- Documentary (shorts and features
- Experimental
- Young Filmmakers (K-12)
Feature films are 120 minutes or less. Films in the short film category are 30 minutes or less.
Filmmakers must have complete production control over their films or be authorized to act on behalf of the film’s owners. Cast members or other production support personnel may not submit a film on their own behalf.
Films submitted in the Young Filmmakers category must be the work of the students alone. Parents and mentors should be restricted to an advisory role only.
Is there film work you don’t accept?
We do not accept industrial or advertising films.
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