Mezinárodní festival animovaných filmů Třeboň Česká Republika 1. - 6.5. 2018

Pitching rules 2018

1. CATEGORIES
The VAF pitching competition is open for animated projects in development. There are two categories:

  • Short films (single film less than 20 minutes long)
  • Series and TV Specials (web and TV series of any format and single films over 20 min.)

An animated project is a project in which at least 50% of the film under consideration is executed using animation film technology or takes the form of multimedia audio-visual work with emphasis on the graphical aspect.

2. WHO CAN SUBMIT A PROJECT
Only producers or other project rights holders can submit projects to the competition.

Producers must hold the rights to the project including:

  • the right to present the project and any of its parts (including video in any form) to the public,
  • the right to publish information on the project and any of its parts in any form.

By submitting the project, the producer or the project’s rights holder grants the contest organizers the right to publish – within the scope of the VAF pitching contest – basic information about the project, its headline picture and /or its video presentation as well as use all these elements and information for the pitching catalogue in both paper and virtual / online version.

The producer and the author or director must both present the project in person at the VAF Pitching to be held 1 – 3 May 2018 in Třeboň / Czech Republic, in front of a jury and an audience comprised of film and television professionals.

The producer or the author of the submitted project must be citizens of the EU or of countries listed below */ (VAF is supported by European funds and must conform to their regulations).

3. SUBMISSION
By submitting the project the producer expresses his understanding of and agreement with the rules of the pitching competition.

Submission has to be done electronically via https://vp.eventival.eu/anifilm/vaf2018 in English and has to include:

  •  Title of the project
  •  Category
  •  Information about the director(s) and the producer(s)
  •  Logline (250 characters max)
  •  Description of the main story and poetics (600 characters max)
  •  Concept/Director´s statement (1200 characters max)
  •  Target audience (category Series / TV Specials only)
  •  No. of episodes (category Series / TV Specials only)
  •  Length of one episode (category Series / TV Specials only)
  •  Estimated budget (category Short films only)
  •  Estimated budget for whole series (category Series / TV Specials only)
  •  Estimated budget for one episode (category Series / TV Specials only)
  •  Director’s biography (400 characters max)
  •  Producer’s statement
  •  Presentation of the production company (400 characters max)
  •  List of partners on the project so far / amounts already negotiated (if any)
  •  Examples of visual style and main characters
  •  Visual headline for VAF catalogue, press and other media. (Horizontal orientation, resolution, ratio and page orientation: 1920 x 1080 pix/300dpi, jpg format. This file should be marked as HEAD_name of the project.)
  •  Samples of storyboard – if any (link to Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)
  •  Teasers and video excerpts – if any (link to Vimeo or Youtube)

Category Series / TV Specials: a teaser is not compulsory for VAF 2018 pitching competition.
However it is strongly recommended to bring one at the latest to Třeboň. Be aware, that in case the project wins in the Series / TV Specials category, it will be awarded direct access to Cartoon Forum (September 2018) where the trailer is an obligatory condition.

All electronic files must have names of max. 16 letters using exclusively basic international ASCII characters without any diacritics. VAF organizers have the right to refuse a project if it does not comply with these regulations.

4. DEADLINES
31 January 2018: Submission deadline via the online system and all attachments and files submitted
19 March 2018: List of projects selected for pitching to be published
24 March 2018: Accreditation and entry fees for projects from both categories to be paid
1 – 3 May 2018: VAF Trebon 2018

5. ACREDITATION AND ENTRY FEES
Category SHORT FILMS fee: 50 EUR per project, includes VAF Třeboň 2018 and Anifilm 2018 accreditation for 2 pitching participants (in amount of 2×70 EUR) and the airport transport.

Category SERIES/ TV SPECIALS fee: 150EUR per project, includes VAF Třeboň 2018 and Anifilm 2018 accreditations for 2 pitching participants (in amount of 2×70 EUR) and the airport transport.

For further pitching participants (not included above): the accreditation is 70 EUR per person. The “early bird accreditation” is 50 EUR per person – the payment needs to be made before 31 March 2018. Any VAF accreditation is valid for Anifilm 2018.

Projects and participants selected for the pitching (see Chapter 6) will be noted by 19 March 2018 and have to settle the due entry fees by 24 March 2018, otherwise the project shall be excluded from the contest. Payment must be made via bank transfer.

6. SELECTION PROCESS
Submitted projects conforming to these rules will be evaluated by two professionals from each country organizing the pitching (CZ, HU, SI, SK, PL – see article 9). The following point system will be used:
A) Short film projects:
1. Creative idea (1-10 points)
2. Story (1-10 points)
3. Design (1-10 points)
4. Producer’s skills (1-10 points)

B) Series/TV Specials projects:
1. Creative idea (1-10 points)
2. Characters and potential of the Series / TV Specials (1-10 points)
3. Design (1-10 points)
4. Producer’s skills (1-10 points)

Total number of points received from all evaluators will determinate the order of projects in both categories: 10 projects with highest point scores will be selected in each category and invited to attend the pitching.

7. PITCHING COMPETITION
The pitch will take place in the Czech Republic 1 – 3 May 2018, within the VAF Třeboň 2018– the industry section of the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm 2018 (1 – 6 May 2018).

The pitching sessions will be preceded by workshops led by expert tutors to discuss or fine – tune the strengths and weaknesses of all projects as well as best pitching strategies. After the pitch, each participating project team will have meetings with members of the jury (experienced film professionals and / or film and TV executives).

VAF production together with VAF board members will assist participants with transport to Třeboň and booking accommodation there.

8. AWARDS
The winning Short film project will receive 2,000EUR.
The winning Series / TV Special project will receive 2,000EUR.
A Special Mention is awarded as well.

The winning Series/TV Special project and the Special Mention will have direct access to Cartoon Forum (in special entry conditions) without the need to undergo competitive pre-selection, provided they adhere the rules of Cartoon Forum. This has no bearing in other organizational, legal and financial terms and conditions of Cartoon Forum.

The winning Series/TV Special project has to announce immediately its decision of the attendance to Cartoon Forum 2018 and its agreement with Cartoon Forum´s rules HERE.

By submitting the rightholders of the winning projects of both categories:

1) grant to organizers the right to use the headline picture (marked as HEAD_name of the project) for the VAF´s graphics presentation for the next year. Each time, all visuals will be accompanied by the title of the project and the names of the director and producer and will serve as a promotion of the winning projects,

2) agree that they will mention their projects was „Winner of Visegrad Animation Forum 2018“ in project´s materials as well as in the film credits.

9. ORGANIZERS
The organizers of the Visegrad Animation Forum are:

  •  ASAF, Association of Czech Animation Film
  •  APAF, Slovak Association of Animated Film Producers
  •  DSAF, Slovenian Animated Film Association
  •  MOME ANIM, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest
  •  SPPA, Polish Animation Producers Association

 For all questions regarding the rules and the submission form, please email to submission@visegradanimation.com.

Note:
*/ list of eligible countries:
• EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom),
• Acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidate countries taking advantage of pre-entry strategies corresponding with general principles and conditions for participation of these countries in programmes of the Union stipulated in respective general agreements and decisions of the Council on association or similar agreements (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo),
• ESVO countries that are members of the EEA, in accordance with regulations of Agreement on EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland),
• Swiss confederation on the base of a bilateral agreement that will be closed,
• Countries within European region complying with procedures set by these countries following general agreements and their participation in EU programmes (Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine).

In projects where one or more authors are not EU citizens, the assessment whether the work meets EU criteria will be made. In case EU regulations are not met, the project will be refused.