Guidelines

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DBGYFF GUIDELINES

Contestants must fully comply with the following Entry Rules & Regulations mentioned below including submission deadlines, film duration, hard-coded subtitles, film assets and other requirements, which in turn ensures acceptance of the entry.

CONTESTANT PROFILE

The current season features an exciting competition with two distinct categories: General Youth and Salesian Youth.

  • General Youth refers to any young person from any part of the world.
  • Salesian Youth refers to any young person affiliated to any Don Bosco institution within the Salesian Family such as school, college, technical school, social center, hostel, youth center, oratory, parish, etc.

CONTESTANT AGE LIMIT

DBGYFF welcomes participants between the age of 14 to 25 from any part of the world. Contestants, as defined in Article 1 above, must be between the ages of 14 (with the provision that minors must provide the necessary express authorization from the adult exercising parental responsibility) and 25 (as of January 1, 2024) to submit their films to the DBGYFF.

FILM PRODUCTION DATE

Submitted Films must not have been created before January 1, 2023 and must not have been screened or exhibited online.

THEME

“I HAVE A DREAM” Youth & Climate Change - Making Mother Earth Cleaner & Greener. All submissions should be based on the theme of DBGYFF 2024.

GENRE

The festival accepts all kinds of films except those showing cruelty to humans and animals, nudity and gory content. Films with discriminatory content or references to political movements are not allowed.

CATEGORY

DBGYFF 2024 welcomes all film entries in any preferred genre.

LANGUAGE

The short film can be in any language, but should be subtitled in English.

LENGTH AND CATEGORIES

Films must not exceed the indicated length for each specific category including end credits. DBGYFF 2024 welcomes all film entries in the genres specified.

SUBMITTING MULTIPLE FILMS

A contestant may present only one film at the festival. Each work must be submitted individually and accompanied by its own completed online registration form. Multiple entries by the same individual is not permitted.

SUBMISSION PERIOD

Submissions open on April 24, 2024
Submissions close on July 31, 2024

CONSENT DECLARATION

By submitting the film to DBGYFF, you are giving DBGYFF the permission to exhibit excerpts of your film in one or more DBGYFF festival websites plus in all other promotional events of this festival including television and social media promotions.

NOTIFICATIONS

DBGYFF commits to notifying contestants as follows:

  • SUBMITTED - the film has been submitted to the festival.
  • ACCEPTED - the film has been approved for participation in the festival.
  • NOT ACCEPTED - the film has not been admitted as it fails to comply with the rules of the festival.
  • SHORT-LISTED - after the evaluation by the Preliminary Jury ensures that the film has been entered among the films for screening.
  • NOT SHORT-LISTED - after the evaluation by the Preliminary Jury indicates that the film has not been selected or short-listed.
  • SELECTED - confirms that the film has been officially selected for screening in DBGYFF 2024.

FESTIVAL DATE

The screening of selected films will be on 17 & 18 October 2024.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Before proceeding with the entry, the contestant must ensure that he/she has complied with all the following technical features when making the film:

Frame Rate

The film should be encoded and uploaded using the same frame rate that was used during the recording. Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second.

Film Settings

Expected aspect ratio is 16:9, with Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel size, in mp4 format. The Video Codec should be H.264, and the maximum bitrate should be 8000 kbps, and the maximum size cannot be more than 1 GB.

Subtitles

All films must have English subtitles, including ones that are in English and should be integrated into the video. Subtitles as external/add-on files like .srt/.vtt/.ass/.ttml and similar ones are not accepted.

FILM ASSETS

The contestant must ensure that the film has all 5 main requirements below, otherwise its submission will not be considered valid:

Film Settings:

  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Video Format: .mp4
  • Dimension: Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels
  • Video Bitrate: Max. 8000 Kbps
  • Video upload File Size: Max. 1 GB

Synopsis

a brief summary of the film in English for the jury.

Film Thumbnail

1 horizontal JPEG image of less than 500 KB, size 1920x1080 pixels, optimized for the web.

Contestant Photo

to be used exclusively for the purposes of the Festival, each contestant may voluntarily provide 1 vertical JPEG image of no more than 100 KB, with a size of 900x1200 pixels, optimized for the web. In any case, contestants are invited to read the privacy policy published on the Festival website. (https://www.dbgyff.com/faqs)

Subtitles

ALL FILMS MUST have ENGLISH SUBTITLES, even English language ones. Subtitles should be integrated into the video. Extension files are NOT ACCEPTED.

Originality and Authorization

By registering, the contestant ensures that he/she has obtained all rights and licenses and assumes full responsibility for the film submitted.

SELECTED FILMS

The Selected short films will be announced by 24 September 2024. Only selected films will be screened at the festival.

WINNERS

The winners of DBGYFF 2024 will be announced on 18th October 2024. The decision of the JURY members is final and not subject to complaint and/or appeal.

SCREENING

The screening of all officially selected DBGYFF 2024 short films will take place in attendance in all the registered DBGYFF venues all over the world. All screening venues should meet all the local government safety standards and guidelines.

ENQUIRIES

All enquiries should be addressed directly to the email: info@dbgyff.com