There are separate rules for “Tie Up Loose Ends” competition here.

Regular submissions

Submission fee:

All 2021 submissions, including Tie Up Loose Ends films, MUST include a processing fee, used to defray the show production costs. Submit through FilmFreeway.

Fees depend on which deadline you use.
Early (February 28, 2021) $10
Regular (June 4, 2021): $20
Late (July 4, 2021): $20

Eligibility:

Any filmmaker may submit a short film (under 25 minutes) in the following genres:
Action
Cartoon
CGI Animation
Comedy
Documentaries
Drama
Horror
Music Videos
Romance
Science Fiction (Sci-fi)
Suspense
Shot on Mobile *new this year

*The MIFF is a short film festival. Productions longer than 25 minutes are only considered by special request from the MIFF organizers.

Productions that would be rated more restrictively than “R” will not be selected by the MIFF.

How to submit:

Our preferred method of submission is electronic through FilmFreeway. Click here to submit your film.

Deadline:

Regular films: A tiered deadline system for regular film submissions through FilmFreeway offers lower fees for earlier entries. The deadlines are February 28, June 4 and July 4.

MIFF delivery guidelines

2021 MIFF Delivery Guidelines for Accepted Productions

Goal: Provide us the highest quality practical of your production.

IF YOUR SUBMISSION IS ACCEPTED review the guidelines below and send us a copy of your production ASAP.

Audio levels: dialog normal (average dialog level) should be -20 dBFS⁽¹⁾.
Audio encoding: should be 48KHz 24-bit samples with no compression⁽²⁾. Mono to 7.1 is accepted.
Non-English submissions: must have English subtitles burned in (included in the video)
Resolution and Framerate: should be the same pixel dimensions and framerate used in production⁽³⁾.
Delivery format: preferred formats include ProRes 422, DNxHD, DNxHR, or another high-quality commonly available low compression CODEC⁽⁴⁾. DCPs* are accepted⁽⁵⁾. Mp4 video is accepted; if used, it should use low compression (high bit rate).
Delivery medium: preferred is via electronic transfer (FTP server, DropBox, WeTransfer, FileZilla, or other file transfer service); other delivery media are acceptable by special arrangement.

All material will be presented using a cinema projector from a 2K or 4K Digital Cinema Package (DCP).

NOTES:

Dialog normal will be adjusted to our best estimate of -20 dBFS if not provided that way.
16-bit audio and compressed audio is accepted, but limits audio quality.
Do not pillar box or letter box the video. Standard pixel dimensions are HD 1920×1080 or 1280×720, UHD 3840×2160, 2K Flat 1998×1080, 4K Flat 3996×2160, 2K CinemaScope 2048×858, 4K CinemaScope 4096×1716, and a CinemaScope image encoded from HD video is 1920×804 pixels. The standard framerate is 24 Fps (25, 29.97, and 30 Fps are acceptable).
All submissions are encoded to a DCP* for presentation at a very high quality (100 Mbps or higher, 10 bits per sample video and 24 bits per sample audio); DNxHR HQX and ProRes 422 HQ are the preferred CODECs when providing 10-bit video; providing highly compressed video is discouraged.
All features length movies will be shown in the flat or CinemaScope format. Shorts will be encoded to fit the frame size of the majority of submissions in the presentation grouping at the MIFF, which is CinemaScope or Flat (we will pillar box or letterbox as needed for presentation).

* DCP: Digital Cinema Package (the standard delivery format for encoding movies for display in theaters)

Send file links or technical questions to MIFF@ACutAboveVideo.com.

If shipping or delivering material, send it to:

A Cut Above Video
Attn: MIFF
4450 W. Eau Gallie Blvd., Suite 220
Melbourne, FL 32934-7214 USA

Phone number for shipping and technical questions: 321-253-5677

All other festival related questions should be sent to Contact@MelbourneFilmFest.com

Last Update July 28, 2021

Submissions