Now at its 7th edition, the Caorle Independent Film Festival is a cultural event held annually in the beautiful city of Caorle, the little Venice (Italy), and brings for a few days the magic of independent cinema in the streets of a town without cinemas.

The festival was born out of the desire of the Caorle Film Cultural Association to promote that very niche of artists who create and produce their works without the help of a major production company, and who are rarely distributed in cinemas: the independent cinema.

Our cultural event has become a regular meeting for video makers, authors, artists and experts in this field coming from all over the world.

The Caorle Independent Film Festival (CIFF) is structured so as to always put all participants in the first place within a festive atmosphere of international flair. This creates unique opportunities for comparison and cultural exchange, along with the assignment of prizes and awards conferred by a jury of experts.

The visitors are also given the opportunity to become an essential part of the festival: besides attending all the screenings for free, they actively participate in the festival's collateral activities, such as meetings with the authors, panels and conferences where they can ask questions and curiosities, as well as attending free concerts every evening in the town's partner venues.

5 days of live screenings, panels, town tours, open and closing party, Award ceremony with red carpet set by the splendid Adriatic coast and for all winners a beautiful and original trophy exclusively created for the Caorle Film Festival.

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Il Caorle Independent Film Festival, ormai giunto alla sua settima edizione, è un evento culturale che si tiene annualmente nella splendida città di Caorle, la piccola Venezia, e porta per alcuni giorni la magia del cinema indipendente tra le vie di un paese in cui non ci sono sale cinematografiche.

Il festival nasce dalla volontà dell'Associazione Culturale Caorle Film di valorizzare proprio quella nicchia di artisti che creano e producono le loro opere senza l'aiuto di una grande casa di produzione e che difficilmente vengono distribuite nelle sale: il cinema indipendente.

Il nostro evento culturale è ormai un punto di incontro fisso tra videomaker, autori, artisti ed esperti di questo settore provenienti da tutto il mondo.

Il Caorle Independent Film Festival (CIFF) è strutturato in modo da porre sempre al primo posto tutti i partecipanti in gara in un ambiente festivaliero dal sapore internazionale,  costruendo occasioni di confronto e scambio culturale uniche, oltre all'assegnazione di premi e riconoscimenti attribuiti da una giuria di esperti.

Anche gli stessi visitatori, oltre a poter assistere gratuitamente a tutte le proiezioni, diventano parte integrante del festival partecipando attivamente alle attività collaterali del festival: incontri con gli autori, panels e conferenze in cui porre domande e curiosità, oltre ad assistere ogni sera a concerti gratuiti che si svolgono nei locali partner della cittadina.

--- Awards ---

The winners will be awarded with an original trophy created specifically for the festival, during the awards ceremony that will be held in Caorle, Ve (Italy), on September 21, 2024.
Best Work – Caorle Film Award –
Best Feature Film
Best Shortfilm
Best Webseries
Best Comedy
Best Drama
Best Thriller
Best Sci-fi / Fantasy
Best Pilot
Best Documentary
Best Animation
Best Actor in a leading role
Best Actress in a leading role
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Directing
Best Cinematography
Best Feature Film Screenplay
Best Shortfilm Screenplay
Best Webseries Screenplay
Best Story
Best Production Design
Best Editing
Best Sound Design
Best Original Soundtrack
Best Make-up
Best Costume Design
Best Visual Effects
People’s Jury Award

Additional Special Mentions may be awarded to the most deserving works.

Regolamento in Italiano a questo Link: https://www.caorlefilmfestival.com/regolamento/

** Contest Rules and Regulations **

CONTEST RULES AND REGULATIONS CIFF2024

ORGANIZERS
The Caorle Independent Film Festival is run by the Cultural Association CAORLE FILM under the patronage of the City of Caorle and by the Veneto County.
The fifth edition will take place from 17 to 21 September 2024 in Caorle, Venice.

APPLICATIONS
The competition is open to feature films, short films, web series, documentaries, pilots and animation films/shorts.

All feature films, short films, web series and pilot episodes selected compete indiscriminately for the technical awards.

1- Submissions for Caorle Film Festival 2024 will open on November 15, 2023 and will close on June 2, 2024.

1.2- The charge will differ according to the submissions period as follows:

November 15, 2023 – Submissions Opening
Early Deadline | till January 15, 2024 – 20€
Official Deadline | till May 11, 2024 – 30€
Extended Deadline | till June 2, 2024 – 40€

2- Submissions are accepted exclusively online from the following website: www.filmfreeway.com/CaorleFilmFestival;

3- The competition is open to feature films, short films, documentaries, animation movies, pilots and webseries produced since January 1 2022 until the present day. Works carried out before this date will not be considered;

3.1 Works that have participated in past editions of the Caorle Film Festival are not allowed;
3.2 School works are not admitted;
3.3- Works made and/or in which CIFF collaborators and staff members took part are not allowed;
3.4- Works of political propaganda, religious, incitement to violence and hatred towards any ethnic group, culture or religion are not allowed. Also, works against the laws in force in Italy and against human rights are not allowed.
3.5- No amateur works will be considered.

4- Works from all over the world are admitted. Foreign works must be subtitled in English or Italian at the time of registration; works in Italian must be subtitled in English;

5- To be eligible to register for the Festival, attendees must be at least 18 and must provide all rights to economic and visual use of their own work. They also have to declare that the work is original and that does not infringe or violate the rights of any third part;

In case of a false declaration, and in case of recourse by the real copyright holders, the authors relieve the Festival and the organizers from any legal and economic responsibility, and undertake to respond entirely for the consequences connected with the fraud;

6- Every author can subscribe more than one work, provided that the respective registration fee is paid;

7- To be eligible for the Festival, web series must have at least 3 episodes published; in the absence of this requirement, it will be eligible to participate to in the competition with the pilot episode;

7.2 – Each web series episodes must not exceed 15 minutes.
7.3 – Pilot episodes must not exceed 40m

8- The following files must be uploaded on FilmFreeway at the time of submission, with download enabled. Otherwise, they will not be considered.

STRICTLY COMPLYING WITH THE CHARACTERISTICS LISTED BELOW:*

– Digital copy of your work in .mp4 h264 format (720p or 1080p)
– A4 vertical Film poster, minimum 300dpi (29.7 x 21 cm / 3508 x 2480 px) in JPG or PDF format; the file must be uploaded to filmfreeway in the attachments section.
– Work synopsis of minimum 200 / maximum 350 characters.**

Important: when submitting please remember to carefully fill in the technical form of the work, indicating all the names and roles of the main artistic cast and the complete list and roles of the crew: Director, Screenplay and Plot writer, DOP, Lead Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, Editor, Sound Designer, VFX Supervisor, Production Designer, Make-up Artist, Composer.

It is your only responsability to ensure that you have properly filled in the required data and that the necessary files are not malfunctioning.

* If these conditions are not met, the Festival reserves the right to exclude the work from the competition, or to re-encode the video to make it conform to the parameters indicated. In the latter case, the authors will have no right to make any complaint, even in case of loss of audio/video quality or alterations of color palette, color spectrum, etc..

** The Festival reserves the right to edit synopses if they are written in incomprehensible and/or grammatically incorrect vocabulary.

9- By entering the contest, you grant the Festival permission to use your work and the material that will be requested for advertising, media and promotional purposes, as well as permission to screen your work during the days of the event;

10- The author agrees to provide a valid and working email address, to which all communications will be sent. In the case of works entered by festival distribution companies, the author’s direct email contact must be provided at the time of entry.
It is his responsibility to contact the organizers at info@caorlefilmfestival.com for any questions before submitting his work to the 5th edition.

Eligibility

11- The works submitted will be initially evaluated by a technical committee to certify that they meet the requirements of the regulations;

11.1- The official selections will be announced on July 6, 2024. A total of 75 works are selected.
11.2- Afterwards, the works will be evaluated by an external jury made up of professionals of the movie field who will decide the winners of the various categories according to their unquestionable judgement.
12.3- The Festival will not cover or reimburse travel and accommodation expenses for selected participants, but will offer conventions with partner hotels and restaurants.

The awards will be presented during the final evening of the festival on September 23, 2023.

Exclusions

Caorle Film Festival reserves the right to decline submissions for any of the following reasons:

– where failing to meet contest requirements;
– where required files are not received by expiration date, or contain wrong or missing information;
– where works violate the existing laws, incite racial and cultural hatred or violate human rights. In addition, political propaganda will not be allowed.
– where the minimum number of participants (3) is not reached in any of the following categories: Animation and Documentary. In this case, the registration fee will be reimbursed.

DISQUALIFICATION

- Any attempt to obtain information on the final results of the competition before the grand prizegiving evening's final announcement and/or the spreading of misinformation about your participation, will be punished with disqualification and the entry fee will not be refunded.

- Comportamenti indecorosi, violenti e/o irrispettosi manifestati nell'ambito e durante il festival, incluso il danneggiamento e/o l'utilizzo di qualsiasi materiale e attrezzatura di proprietà e responsabilità dell'Associazione Caorle Film e dei suoi collaboratori.

- Dichiarazioni non veritiere in merito all'opera iscritta.

If your work will not be selected for the competition, the entry fee will not be refunded.

If the Festival decides, at its sole discretion, to screen works out of competition, the authors of such works must fully accept the clauses indicated in these Regulations.

By entering the Competition, you confirm that you understand and agree to accept all Terms, Rules and Regulations.

AWARDS

The winners will be awarded with an original trophy created specifically for the festival during the awards ceremony that will be held in Caorle, Ve (Italy), on September 21, 2024.

Best Work – Caorle Film Award –
Best Feature Film
Best Shortfilm
Best Webseries
Best Comedy
Best Drama
Best Thriller
Best Sci-fi / Fantasy
Best Pilot
Best Documentary
Best Animation
Best Actor in a leading role
Best Actress in a leading role
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Directing
Best Cinematography
Best Feature Film Screenplay
Best Shortfilm Screenplay
Best Webseries Screenplay
Best Story
Best Production Design
Best Editing
Best Sound Design
Best Original Soundtrack
Best Make-up
Best Visual Effects
People’s Jury Award

Additional Special Mentions may be awarded to the most deserving works.

If a winner is not present at the awards ceremony to collect the prize, it will be possible to receive it by express courier service at the expense of the recipient within 6 months after the conclusion of the same edition.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • If you think about submitting to a festival, Caorle film festival is the one for you. Amazing communication, incredible hospitality, real support to independent filmmakers from all over the world. Plus Caorle is a gem of a seaside town, go and enjoy it! Thanks again to the festival organisers for the amazing experience.

    October 2023
  • Vincenzo Agosto

    Un bellissimo festival in una bellissima location (Caorle). Una grande opportunità per il cinema indipendente, una calorosa accoglienza da parte dell'organizzazione. Complimenti a tutto lo staff.

    October 2023
  • È stata una piacevole esperienza e ci tengo innanzitutto a ringraziare i direttori Andrea e Cristina, e tutto lo staff per l'eccellente organizzazione ed accoglienza. Durante le giornate vissute, qui al CIFF si respira davvero un'atmosfera che nuilla ha da invidiare a manifestazioni più blasonate, grazie anche al fascino della cittadina di Caorle. E sottolineo un aspetto importante; qui ci troviamo finalmente in presenza di un Festival 'Indipendente' che può realmente avvalersi con merito di questo termine, dove tutti i film in gara giocano sullo stesso piano, con il vantaggio oltretutto di conoscere sempre nuovi autori con i quali confrontarsi, condividere esperienze e, magari, collaborare in futuro. L'augurio migliore che si possa fare a questo Festival, quindi, è di crescere sempre più, mantenendo integro questo pregevole 'spirito' che lo caratterizza!

    October 2023
  • Sara Ceracchi

    Caorle Film Festival è un festival senz'altro più piccolo di altri più famosi e importanti, ma non ha davvero nulla da invidiare a nessuno quanto a organizzazione e offerta cinematografica. Tutta la città di Caorle si mobilita per far funzionare a perfezione una manifestazione che davvero è un festival di Venezia in piccolo (d'altronde Caorle è detta la piccola Venezia). Esperienza indimenticabile.

    September 2023
  • Silvia Luciani

    Un bellissimo festival realizzato da due fratelli che ci mettono il cuore e tutto l'amore che hanno per il cinema indipendente. Bravi!

    September 2023