The eighth edition of the Final Cut in Venice workshop will take place from September 7 to 9, 2020 during the Venice Production Bridge of the 77th Venice International Film Festival (Lido di Venezia, 2 – 12 September 2020).
The Festival’s purpose is to provide concrete assistance in the completion of films from Africa and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria; and to offer producers and directors an opportunity to present films still in the production phase to international film professionals and distributors in order to facilitate post-production and promote co-production partnerships and market access.
3.1 Workshop
The workshop consists in three days of activities, in which the working copies of a maximum of 6 selected films (see articles 5 and 6) are presented to producers, buyers, distributors and film festival programmers. Networking, encounters and meetings will allow directors and producers to interact with the workshop participants. One-to-one meetings between the selected film teams and professionals are organized on September 9, 2020.
3.2 Screenings
The workshop also includes screenings of material of the selected films. Only Industry Gold and Trade pass holders will be allowed to view the screenings: producers, distributors, operators, buyers, festival programmers, representatives of the institutions and others invited in advance by the Festival management.
The workshop will conclude with the awarding of prizes, in kind or in cash, for the financial support of the films in their post-production phase.
For the fourth year La Biennale di Venezia will give a prize of € 5,000 for the best film in post-production. The La Biennale di Venezia Prize will be attributed by a jury composed of three members named by the Festival Director, while the other prizes will be awarded by final and irrevocable decision of the Festival Director, in conjunction with the project supporters, the heads of the institutions, and the service companies providing the prizes.
The other prizes will be confirmed and communicated later, based upon availability of the subjects and supportres involved.
• € 15,000 for the color correction of a feature-length film, offered by Laser Film (Rome) for up to 50 hours of work (technician included);
• up to € 15,000 offered by Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris) for the sound mixing of a feature length film (up to 12 days of work, sound re-recording mixer not included);
• for feature fiction projects an MG of $ 10,000 or for feature documentary projects an MG of $ 3,000 for marketing, publicity and distribution in the Arab World for one Arab project, offered by MAD Solutions (except for projects already attached to MAD Solutions);
• up to € 5,000 for color-grading; up to € 3,000 for the production of a DCP master, i-Tunes, Google or Netflix files; up to € 2,000 for French or English subtitles (translation not included), offered by Titra Film (Paris);
• up to € 7,500 for the production of the DCP master and Italian or English subtitles, offered by Sub-Ti Ltd. (London);
• up to € 7,500 for the accessible contents of the film for audiences with sensory disabilities: subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired and audio description for the blind and visually impaired, with audio subtitles, in Italian or English, offered by Sub-Ti Access Srl (Turin). The SDH file and the audio described soundtrack for DCP will be provided;
• € 5,000 for the purchase of two-year broadcasting rights by Rai Cinema;
• $ 5,000 awarded to one of the Arab projects and an invitation to participate in the industry platform CineGouna offered by the El Gouna Film Festival;
• € 5,000 offered by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) to an African or Arab film from a member-country of La Francophonie;
• Prize “Coup de cœur de la Cinémathèque Afrique”, offered by Cinémathèque Afrique of the Institut Français (Paris). The prize consist of the acquisition of the non commercial and non exclusive broadcasting rights for 7 years with a value of € 4,000 – 6,000 depending on the genre, length and available territories of the film;
• participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500), offered by the Festival International du Film d’Amiens;
• participation in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,500), offered by the Festival International de Films de Fribourg;
• one of the selected films will have the possibility to benefit from the Eye on Films label, that will present the film to distributors and festivals affiliated to EoF and will contribute to the communication of the film for a value of € 2,500 during its world premiere in an A-category festival.
5.1 Eligibility criteria of the films
All works submitted must be in post-production and made exclusively by filmmakers from countries as specified in Art. 2. Only feature fiction or feature art-house documentary films (expected min. length of each film: 60 minutes) will be considered.
It is preferable to send a complete working copy of the film. Should the film still be in an initial editing stage, a series of edited sequences will be accepted (totalling at least one-third of the overall anticipated length of the film), accompanied by the director’s statement of intent and a film treatment.
5.2 Subtitles
Should the language spoken in the film not be Italian, French or English, the copy to be submitted should be subtitled in one of these languages.
5.3 Subsequent submission
Each film may participate in only two editions of the Final Cut in Venice workshop, and may participate the second time only if substantial progress in the production of the working copy has been achieved, and if the film was not awarded in the previous edition.
5.4 Submission to other sections of the Festival
Submission to the Final Cut in Venice workshop precludes submission to any other official section of the Festival that same year. However, it is possible to submit the film to official sections of the Festival the following year. Moreover, upon the discretion of the Festival Director, a film in post-production that was submitted to the official sections of the Festival but was not selected may be submitted to the workshop the same year.
6.1 Selection
The Festival Director, assisted by a staff of experts, is responsible for selecting the films; his decision is final and irrevocable.
6.2 Selection results
The selection results will be communicated to the submitted films by July 12th, 2020.
7.1 Materials to be sent for the selection
In order to be considered for selection, deadline June 21st, 2020, applicants must:
a) fill out the Final Cut in Venice submission form, in acceptance of the present regulations;
b) send a link with password (valid at least until July 12th, 2020) for online viewing of the film to finalcut@labiennale.org or send two copies of the film (accepted formats: DCP, DVD, Blu-ray) to the following address:
La Biennale di Venezia – Cinema Department
FINAL CUT IN VENICE
77th VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Palazzo del Cinema, Lungomare Marconi, 30126 Lido di Venezia
Tel. +39 041 5218878 / Fax +39 041 5218854
7.2 Informational material about the film
Informational material about the submitted film must be sent exclusively in electronic format to: finalcut@labiennale.org.
7.3 Return of the films sent
The Festival is not required to return the films submitted for the selection process.
8.1 Entry form
Invited films will receive an Entry form, which must be filled out and returned by July 21st, 2020. The Festival’s reception of the completed and signed form implies the legal acceptance of the invitation on the part of all those to whom it is sent; acceptance is considered final and binding. The film’s invitation to participate in the workshop must remain completely confidential until the Festival program has been officially announced; failure to comply will result in the film’s exclusion from participation.
8.2 Copies and materials
The representatives of the invited films must send by July 17th, 2020 all information required for the Venice Production Bridge brochure (synopsis, director’s statement, cast and crew list, director’s biography and filmography, photographs of the director and producer and stills from the film in color). A link through which to supply the information and the images will be sent with the invitation.
The screening copies in the original version with English subtitles, must be sent by and no later than August 18th, 2020.
Films which are selected and awarded one or more workshop prizes must indicate the authorized logo and the phrase “With the support of the Final Cut in Venice workshop” in the opening credits of the film (if other film partners appear in the opening credits), in the poster’s logos block and in all promotional material. As a binding condition, in the closing titles the authorized logo and the phrase “With the support of the Final Cut in Venice workshop” must appear in the foreground, with the logos of the workshop partners who gave the prizes smaller in the background. The film that will be awarded the La Biennale di Venezia Prize has to display alongside the logo of the Festival also the sentence “Biennale Prize Final Cut in Venice 2020”. The films selected for Final Cut in Venice and not awarded will have to report on the credits the logo of the Festival with the phrase “The film took part in the workshop Final Cut in Venice”.
Participation in the Final Cut in Venice workshop constitutes unconditional adherence to these Regulations. The producers, distributors or other subjects submitting the film must ensure they are legitimately entitled to enter the film. The Festival Director reserves the right to settle any case not covered by these Regulations, and to waive the Regulations in special and well-motivated instances. In case of dispute regarding the interpretation of the single articles of the Regulations, the original text written in Italian is to be considered final.
