PARTICIPATE IN THE 25th ANNUAL
RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL • August 9-15, 2021

Discovering the New Voices of Independent Film

2021 Rhode Island International Film Festival Call for Entries is Now Open

This year's deadlines

January 15, 2021, early deadline with reduced rates; May 15, 2021, regular deadline; June 1, 2021, late deadline; June 15, 2021, final extended late deadline

Final Deadline for Screenplay Entries: July 15, 2021

The Rhode Island International Film Festival prefers paperless entries. Our 2021 partner entry portal provides cost-saving, online entry to major film festivals throughout the U.S. and in Europe with one master entry form, allowing you to enter your film more quickly and with greater accuracy. Online entry users enjoy the advantages of Extended Deadlines and Online Press Kit submissions.

WHY SHOULD YOU ENTER RIIFF:

Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival™ (RIIFF) for independent film and video, is calling for entries to its 25th Annual Festival. The Festival will take place August 9-15, 2021 in the capital city, Providence and throughout scenic Rhode Island.

Of special note, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® elected to recognize the Rhode Island International Film Festival as a qualifying festival for the Short LIve Action, Animation Short and Documentary Short Films category for the Annual Academy Awards. RIIFF was also notified in August 2015 that it is now a BAFTA-qualifying event and in 2016 that it is a qualifying event for the Canadian Screen Awards. With more than 7,000 film festivals worldwide, only 10 have this recognition.

For those interested in the Academy Awards®, we suggest you check out the rules page at the web site for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts an Sciences®.

Here is how a short film is defined under Rule Nineteen:

1. A short film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.

2. This excludes from consideration such works as:

1. previews and advertising films

2. sequences from feature-length films such as credit sequences

3. unaired episodes of established TV series

4. unsold TV series pilots

Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival accepts work of any type (dramatic, documentary, experimental, animation), on any subject matter, and in any genre. The Festival is accepting shorts as well as feature-lengthfilms and videos. Films and videos must have been produced after January 2019. Filmmakers may enter their films either in competition or out of competition. Films in competition will be judged by a jury of distinguished industry professionals, peers and film fans. Whether in or out of competition, all films will be eligible for Audience Fest Favorites awards (The Viola M. Marshall Awards).

The Festival offers an artistic exchange as well as opportunities for the global creative community that are not available in the established entertainment industry. It is designed to foster contact among film directors, producers, distributors, backers and audiences.The Festival's goal is to recognize achievement and innovation in a variety of filmmaking and storytelling disciplines while providing an opportunity to secure wider distribution.

Due to its unique geographic location and cultural-heritage linkages, one of the chief aims of the Festival is the encouragement of an artistic exchange between filmmakers from the New England region and the Canadian provinces. The Canadian sidebar goes back to the first year of RIIFF and has long played a significant role in programming.

The presence of Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Providence College, Bryant University, Johnson & Wales University, Roger Williams University and other institutions of higher education, and Rhode Island's proximity to New York and Boston, give the Festival a film-literate audience, and provide an ideal forum for filmmakers to show their work in a high-visibility environment.

The Rhode Island International Film Festival represents an ideal opportunity to test-market new product in an area with demographics that represent a microcosm of the filmgoing public: a unique mix of cultural, ethnic and educational backgrounds exist in a relatively concentrated area.

The Rhode Island International Film Festival, now in its 25th year, is created and produced by the Flickers, The Newport Film Society & Arts Collaborative.

Michael Drywa, Esq. is the Festival Advisory Board President.

FESTIVAL FACTS AT A GLANCE:

Due to the health restrictions imposed by COVID-19, the 24th Annual Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival was a hybrid event. The Festival took place August 4-9, 2020 online at at regional Drive-In theatres. A total of 263 films were screened from an entry base of over 6,417 entries with 83 World Premieres and United States/North American Premieres. The Festival received over 44,000 views on its online platforms and sold-out crowds at its Drive-In screenings.

Organizational Background
Flickers began life in 1982 as "The Newport Film Society." Its first film screenings officially took place in January 1983 at the historic Van Alen Casino Theatre in Newport, RI During its first five years exhibiting film, Flickers screened more than 475 titles, of which many were state and regional premieres.

Encouraging the celebration of film as an important part of our culture, the Society sponsored specialized film series, lectures and forums. For example: Cheslaw Kyanka, founder of the Polish Solidarity Union, spoke at a society screening of "Man of Iron;" Newport's first International Film Festival took place through Flickers in 1983; and the Society presented the first RI Japanese Film Festival in 1984.

Festival Structure
The structure for the 2021 Festival will include multiple screenings of both film and video over a six-day period. It will continue with an online component along with in-person regional screenings depending on directives from the Rhode Island Department of Health and the RI Governor's Office. Filmmakers will be available for discussion and commentary at an Opening Night Gala Reception, Awards Brunch, Filmmaker Lounge, Closing Night Gala, The Rhode Island Film Forum, A Conversation with.., master classes and colloquia. The Festival activities actually begin in early July with a five day kids filmmaking summer camp (now in year 15) called KidsEye™ for ages 8-17; then continues in early August with our Youth Film Jury Program, ScriptBiz™ a screenplay pitch forum which includes the reading of our Grand Prize screenplay winner. The Festival introduced its First Technology Forum in 2009, which will return in 2021.

If you have problems accessing any of this information please call, write, or e-mail:

Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival™

P.O. Box 162
Newport, Rhode Island 02840 (United States)
Street Mailing Address: 36 Rhode Island Avenue, Newport, RI 02840

Office: 83 Park Street, Suite 5, Providence, RI 02903
Tel/Fax: (401) 861-4445 / 490-6735
info@film-festival.org

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