Cinema Short Film Contest

Local filmmaking teams will compete to create short films celebrating the theatrical moviegoing experience. Filmmaking teams have until Friday, March 15th to make a short film. All creativity -- writing, shooting, editing and adding a musical soundtrack -- must be original work. Teams are allowed a maximum of 6 members.

The winning film will be shown before every regular first-run show for a month at the Cinema Arts Centre and the winning team will receive a $300 cash prize!

Each member of the top 3 teams will receive one year of CAC membership. The winning team will be announced at a special screening on Friday, March 29th, and will be promoted on the CAC website, social media, and email list as the Cinema Arts Centre’s Short Filmmaking Partner.

Films must explore the joy of seeing films on the big screen and the magic of the theatrical moviegoing experience. The should celebrate the feeling that only cinematic screenings can provide.

Films must be 1 to 5 minutes in length.

Films can be informative, narrative, documentary, abstract, or any other form. They can employee any filmic conceits or genre tropes, and can explore complexities or nuances of the wide range of experiences that a trip to the movies might inspire.

Films must also include the Cinema Arts Centre logo, clearly visible, at some point in the film.

REGISTRATION

To Register please complete this Registration Form

And purchase your team's pass online.

There is no in-person launch event at registration, so if you have any questions, please reach out to Ted Cavooris at (631) 423-7610, x. 11.

RULES: WHAT YOU MUST DO

• You Must complete The Registration form.
• The entire content of the Short film must consist of original content.
• The duration of your Short film must be between 1 and 5 minutes, including your titles and all end credits.
• Your submission must include a Team Intro at the start of your film as part of your single submitted film file. This must be LESS than 30 seconds. (This isn’t part of the 1 minute to 5 minute length.)
• Your Short film MUST include the Final closing credit: “This film was made as part of the Cinema Arts Centre’s Short Film Competition”
• The Entry must be in an mp4 or mov File format, 16:9 Aspect Ratio, submitted on a USB memory stick. (USB sticks cannot be returned).
• The file should be named with your Team Name (without spaces, punctuation or non-alpha-numeric characters) followed by ’2023'. Under Score _ is acceptable as a replacement for a space separator. Do not use your Film title – just the Team Name.
• Any featured music must be created specifically for this project. No licensed music is permitted. Composers and music contributors must fill out a release form.
• All teams must fill out the wrap sheet (when you drop off your film) before 7 pm on Friday, March 15th.
• All participants must fill out and sign a release form (signed by Parent/Guardian if under 18) that is to be held by the Team leader, including property release forms for identifiable or private properties, business buildings, or managed spaces such as Shopping Malls, Airports, Museums, schools etc. Even participants who aren’t official members of the team must fill out a release form.

RULES: WHAT YOU MUST NOT DO

• Don’t be late. Your film is due at 7pm on Friday, March 15th.
• Don’t include any unlicensed copyrighted material or sound in your short. This includes images and sounds that may appear in the background such as TV, radio, or music.
• Don’t submit Tapes, CD files or DVD’s of your film. They are not accepted.
• Do not screen your short prior to the screening. Do not upload your short to any file sharing network or website such as YouTube or vimeo until after the screening event.

Enter any time through Friday February 16th

Submit your completed film by Friday March 15th at 7 PM!

Registration Per Team:

$50 Public | $40 Members

(6 max members per team)

Screening of completed films:

Friday, March 29th at 7:00 pm