Rules and Regulations for Film Submissions

Valletta Film Festival is an annual event held in June at the capital city of Valletta on the Mediterranean Island of Malta. Over 40 feature films and twenty four short films are screened annually at various indoor and outdoor venues around the city.

The fifth edition of the festival will be held from Friday 14th to Sunday 23rd June 2019.

For th first time the festival will be dedicating its competition selection to productions originating from thirty-four small nations in Europe, Middle East and North Africa.

Twelve feature films or documentaries will be competing for a number of awards in the feature length section of the festival and up to twenty-four short films will be selected to compete for best short film.

These are the countries eligible to participate in the Cinema of Small Nations Competition:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Bahrain, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Moldova, Norway, Northern Ireland, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, San Marino, Slovakia , Slovenia, Scotland and Wales.

The submission of films to the fifth edition of the Valletta Film Festival can only be made in accordance with the provisions set out in the Festival’s Rules and Regulations below:

1. Submissions are open to feature films, documentaries and short films completed after 1 July 2018 that have not yet been exhibited online or in Malta and that are produced or co-produced by companies registered in the list of countries made available above.
2. Fiction, documentary or animated feature films have to have a duration over 60 minutes. The duration for short films is limited to 25 minutes including credits.
3. Submission of the film represents agreement with the regulations of the festival. The call for submissions ends on 15 April 2019. The Festival is not obliged to offer comments or reasons for not selecting a film submitted for one of Festival’s programme and will only contact the selected film representatives.
4. The cost of entry for a feature film is €25 and €10 for a short film.
5. The submission fee is waived for films that have 50% or more of the film footage shot in Malta.
6. The screening format at Valletta Film Festival is DCP. A backup Blu-Ray DVD shall also be provided to the Festival. Other formats are only accepted upon request, depending on the theatre.
7. Once the film has been selected and the invitation to participate at the Festival is accepted, film cannot be withdrawn from the Festival programme.
8. All films must be presented in their original language and, where this language is other than English, the print of the film must be subtitled in English (if not otherwise specified). Subtitling expenses are to be met by the Participant.
9. All submissions must contain a duly completed Online Entry Form and a link to a screener of the film on an established streaming platform (Vimeo/Youtube) with a valid password open until 24 June 2019.
10. If the film’s original language is other than English, the Festival requires receiving on-screen English subtitles.
11. For films selected to be screened at the Festival, these materials must also be sent: photo of the director, director’s biography and filmography; two or more stills from the film; film clips / trailer and poster of the film in electronic form
12. Attendance by a key member of the team (director or lead actor/actress) is compulsory. The festival will cover accommodation for maximum 2 nights, ground transportation in Malta and travel expenses.
13. The Festival may use all materials cited above for promotional purposes and in order to compile the Festival Catalogue. The Festival bears no responsibility for published inaccuracies originating in submitted materials.
14. All SCREENING COPIES of selected films must arrive in Malta by Friday 31 May 2019 and must be made available for the entire Festival period, unless otherwise agreed. It is obligatory for the Participant to follow the Festival’s shipping instructions to be sent by email.
15. The Festival will cover shipping costs for all selected films, unless otherwise agreed. The Festival will be responsible for customs clearance in Malta.
16. All prints will be returned within four weeks following the Festival closing date. As far as possible, the Festival will respect the wishes of Participants concerning return shipment of their film. Where print is to be returned to an address different to that of the sender, this must to be clearly noted along with the desired date of arrival at the return address.
17. The insurance of film print goes into effect the moment the film is received by courier company in Malta. The insurance remains in effect until the film is re-shipped. Unless otherwise arranged, in the event of damage or loss of the screening copy during the Festival, the Festival is only responsible for the cost of producing a new screening copy based on current standard laboratory rates.
18. Damage to the film print must be reported to the Festival in writing within one month following the return of the print and prior to the film’s next screening. Any claims will be judged by the reported state of the print.
19. An international jury for competition programmes will be comprised of prominent representatives of culture, film theory, criticism as well as filmmakers, producers and, potentially, journalists. The majority of members of the jury will come from countries other than Festival host country.No jury member will be assigned if previously had taken part in the making of any film in the competition programmes.
20. Members of the Feature Film jury shall grant the following awards: Best Feature Film; Best Documentary Film and Best New Talent.
21. The short film jury will grant one award for Best Short Film.
22. All titles selected will be eligible for the festival’s Audience Award.
23. Whenever possible, award winners are expected to attend the Festival Awards Ceremony normally held on the last day of the festival. Award winners are obliged to mention the award as announced, nationally as well as internationally, in all publicity and promotional material.
24. The invitation sent for each film in competition programme selected by the Festival must remain strictly confidential between the Festival Management and the Participant until such time as the Festival decides to make an official announcement in this regard.
25. The representative of the selected film present at the Festival is obliged to promote the film through participating at official press conference, photo call, introduction prior to the film’s screening and interviews with selected VFF’s media partners. The participant will also be obliged to participate in any talks or Festival events intended to promote the film.
26. Participation in the Valletta Film Festival implies acceptance of all aforementioned regulations and pre-selection conditions. Valletta Film Festival Board of Directors has the power to settle all issues not covered by the present Rules and Regulations.

Please address all inquiries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.