Bilbao City Hall, in cooperation with the Bizkaia Provincial Council, the Basque Government Department of Culture and the Ministry of Culture (ICAA) and the Foreign Ministery (AECI) announce the staging of the 50th BILBAO INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILMS.

The 50th BILBAO INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILMS will be held in Bilbao from November 21th until November 29th 2008.

The 50th Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films is recognized as an international event of a competitive nature by the International Federation of Associations of Film Producers (F.I.A.P.F.). The articles of these Regulations are in accordance with the provisions of the International Regulations of the FIAPF for 2008.

Only the following may take part in the Festival:
1) Foreign films and video productions completed after to January 1st 2007.
2) Spanish films and video productions completed after to January 1st 2008.

Films and video productions entered for the competition may last no longer than 45 minutes. The Selection Committee reserves the right to accept longer films and video productions in special cases

Before being accepted by the Festival all films and video productions must be viewed by the Selection Committee. No more than 6 hours per day will be given over to showing the films in the competition.

The Selection Committee will be appointed by the Festival Management, and will be charged with selecting films and video productions to take part and programming them.

Films and video productions must be entered by their producers or their legal representatives.

Entries should include the entry form with the synopsis of the film plus a biography and filmography of the director, the complete dialog’s lists and stills from the film. The documentation should be in basque, spanish, english or french. Copies for selection purposes are acceptable on DVD.

The documentation must be sent by September 1st 2008 to the Festival address at Colón de Larreátegui, 37 - 4.º dcha. 48009 BILBAO, Spain.

Copies of films and video productions for public showing should be on 16 or 35 mm, Beta SP/PAL, Beta Digital, DV, DVCAM. Allocation of sound tracks. Mono: identical phased sound on tracks 1 and 2. Stereo: left channel on track 1, right channel on track 2. Tracks 3 and 4 must be cleared of any audio signal.

Video productions and film print should be sent to the Festival’s postal address at Colón de Larreátegui, 37 - 4.º dcha. 48009 Bilbao, Spain, or to Apartado de Correos (post box) 579.

The insurance company insures prints from the time of their delivery by the carrier to the time of their return to same to be sent back to participants.

Once the Festival is over, prints will be returned to the address given on the entry form. Freight expenses for print both ways will be payable by participants. The video supports are not returned automatically. The licensor must ask for the video supports to be returned by six months after the end of the festival. In this event, teh cost of shipment will be incurred by the licensor. Without any request from the licensor within this period, the video support will be erased.

INTERNATIONAL JURY PRIZE:
This prize is awarded by an international Jury appointed by the Festival Management. The Jury will number at least five and always and odd number, with Spanish members accounting for more than 40% of the total. The Secretary will be appointed by the Festival Management and will take part in deliberations, though with no vote.

The International Jury will lay down its own internal rules in accordance with the Festival Management. Its decision will be final. The prizes listed below may not be left void:

Prizes will be shared equally between the producer and the filmmaker in each case.

The Festival will ask the producers of the award-winning films for permission to keep a print in the Festival archives. Such copies will be used in accordance with the contracts for film library deposits established by the International Federation of Associations of Film Producers (FIAPF).

These regulations are published in French, English, Basque and Spanish. In case of any discrepancy the Spanish version prevails.

The entry of a film implies acceptance of the terms of these REGULATIONS, which will be construed and applied by the Board of Directors of the Centro de Actividades “Teatro Arriaga”, in compliance with the provisions of the International Regulations.

Download Regulations (PDF 65 Kb)
Download Registration Form (PDF 65 Kb)