International Portrait Film Festival (IPFF) welcomes films featuring images and characters, telling stories, cracking the surface of perceptions and reaching the core.
IPFF is an independent project of Portret Films Ltd.
IPFF aspires is to bring together artists and viewers who sincerely long for enrichment with art, intellectual discussion and an experience of cinema through a new prism - that of the portrait film.
IPFF is a hybrid event. A symbiosis of intriguing live encounters and memorable virtual experiences. An interweaving of portrait cinema from around the world, debates, lectures, master classes.
The portrait is the focus of the films that will be screened at IPFF. We are looking for portrait films that have already been completed, as well as such that will be created with the concrete idea of 'portrait'. Of a person. A group of people. An object. Something invisible, but substantial. Of the self. Or of something else.
IPFF is for those profoundly needing art and excitement. And for the ones in search of their catharsis. For the unafraid to stare at the screen even when it is empty. The hungry - for experimental viewpoints. For those forever in love with cinema, caught in its loop.
The submitted films can be productions of independent directors, individual artists and institutional authors - film academies, film centers, film companies, distribution companies, collectives, creative associations, etc.
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Up to 3 film submissions by an individual artist are allowed. Up to 5 film submissions by institutional entities are allowed.
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The competition programme includes selected films that are to be screened live and online.
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1. Time and place - dates, locations, spaces
The festival is held in Bulgaria, in the cities Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna and online, in the period 15 - 25 November 2020.
Main location - Sofia – competition programme and accompanying programme of the festival - 20-22 November.
Other locations - Plovdiv and Varna - screenings of selected films - 23-25 November.
Online screenings and events – 15-25 November.
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2. Conditions for participation
2.1. Deadlines for submission
- Earlybird deadline - 25.05 - 30.06.2020
- Regular deadline - 01.07 - 31.08.2020
- Late deadline - 01.09 - 11.10.2020
- Notifying and announcing the selected films - 26.10.2020
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2.2. Film duration
Maximum accepted film duration is 30 minutes.
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2.3. Time when the films were made
The festival accepts films made after 1.01.2010.
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2.4. File formats
- Submission formats – popular digital formats - MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV or any other format that is accepted by the platforms FILMFREEWAY, FILMFESTIVALLIFE, CLICKFORFESTIVALS, FESTHOME.
- Selected films formats - BluRay, DCP, H264, МР4. After a film is selected to be part of the official festival programme, the organiser will contact each author in order to determine the exact technical requirements regarding the screening of their film.
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If the film needs to be sent as a hardware copy, the shipping fee is to be paid by the applicant(s).
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2.5. Language and subtitles
The festival’s working language is English. If an applying film is not in English, it is mandatory that it has embedded English subtitles.
For the films selected in the competition programme, the festival team will translate and produce subtitles in Bulgarian. In this case, the author must provide a timecode file in English.
For films in Bulgarian, if selected in the competition programme, it is mandatory to provide a copy with embedded subtitles in English.
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2.6. Materials from the authors of selected films
The authors of films selected in the competition programme must send video and photo material (trailer - up to 3 minutes, poster, film stills/screenshots, other appropriate material, photos of the creators - director, cast, others if applicable), brief presentation of the main production persons (director, cinematographer, producer, cast) and a list of the production team (credits).
When a film is selected to participate in the competition programme, IPFF is entitled to use the information provided in the previous paragraph by the film team for publicity and advertising purposes.
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2.7. Copyright
The applicant party must have full authority to submit their film to IPFF and to own the copyright of the work, including all rights to the music used. IPFF is not responsible for any claims made by a third party regarding copyright and related rights.
The applicant party agrees that the films selected in the competition programme will be screened within the framework of the festival programme in the cities of Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, as well as in the online edition of the festival.
The applicant party agrees that the films selected in the competition programme are kept in the archive of the festival.
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2.8. Submission fees
- Earlybird deadline - 25.05 - 30.06.2020 - 10 USD
- Regular deadline - 01.07 - 31.08.2020 - 12 USD
- Late deadline - 01.09 - 11.10.2020 - 15 USD
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Submission fees are not refundable
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2.9. Application procedure / platforms and notification
Submissions are accepted in the following platforms:
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The application will be considered accepted upon the cumulative fulfillment of the following conditions:
- the applicant has completed all the fields required by the relevant platform;
- the applicant has paid the relevant participation fee.
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When submitting a film, the applicant agrees, in the event that the film is selected in the competition programme, to give IPFF a permission to download a copy or to provide a link to access the film outside/beyond the application platform. The copy or link provided will only be used for access by festival jury members.
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By submitting an application through one of the platforms listed above, the applicant agrees to all the conditions in this RULES AND REGULATIONS section regarding participation in IPFF.
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3. Categories
The categories in which the candidate films fall are not determined by genre (comedy, drama, horror, etc.), type of film (feature, documentary), but by the type of portrait that is at the center of the work. All genres are allowed as long as the conceptual and content core of the film is a portrait.
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The categories are 6:
- Film portrait
- Film self-portrait
- Collective portrait
- Alternative portrait
- Portrait in motion
- Portrait-of-a-film
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4. Awards
The awarded films in each category are determined by an authoritative international jury.
Most Wonderful Film Award in each category - a special custom-made plastic
Digital laurels ‘International Portrait Film Festival - Most Wonderful Film Award’ in each category
Digital laurels ‘International Portrait Film Festival - Official Selection’ for all selected films
Audience Award - a favourite project chosen by the viewers in the online edition of IPFF
If financially possible, IPFF will pay up to 2 nights in a hotel in Sofia, per one representative of the film winners in each of the competitive categories. Transportation costs are borne by the film crew representative.
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5. Festival organiser
Portret Films Ltd.
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6. Funding
IPFF is an independent film festival that is funded and financed by Portret Films Ltd. and by submission fees from applicants. IPFF does not take advantage of any public resources, national funds or EU funds.
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Competition programme
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Film portrait
The personality of one human is at the center of the film portrait. The human being as a contradiction: a wandering creature whose existence is always absurd and meaningless, at the same time a creature-universe with no outline, no bottom, no beginning and no end. A film portrait can documentary, fictional or radically experimental. About a popular personage (historical figure, athlete, artist, prisoner...), or about an unpopular inspirer.
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Film self-portrait
A portrait of the ‘me, myself and I’. A film self-portrait. About the world of personal achievements, failures, fears, manias, adventures.
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Collective portrait
A portrait of a number of personalities. They can be a small group of people or a whole nation. The heart of the films in this category is the collective and the question of why is it such. This is a film about a society, a band, a company, a community.
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Alternative portrait
This is a portrait of a stray dog or of a pet. And of every living being whose language man has difficulty understanding. The inanimate portrait that cinema breathes life into is also an alternative portrait. This is the plant in the corner. And the umbrella on the hanger. And the exterior staircase of the building next to yours.
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Portrait in motion
A portrait in a specific form - that of the intersection of cinema and dance, the exciting art and practice known as screendance. The portrait is obligatory, but undefined. It can be of a person, of the self, of a collective or an alternative portrait. The condition here is that the means of expression within the work is through the symbiosis of dance and film, called screendance.
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Portrait-of-a-film
A film portrait of the film itself. The focus is the process of creation of the work. The unfolding of the interiority to which we usually have no access. That which we call ‘behind the scenes’ or the ‘making of’. The film itself as a personality with a life of its own.
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Most Wonderful Film Award in each category - a special custom-made plastic
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Digital laurels ‘International Portrait Film Festival - Most Wonderful Film Award’ in each category
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Digital laurels ‘International Portrait Film Festival - Official Selection’ for all selected films
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Audience Award - a favourite project chosen by the viewers in the online edition of IPFF
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Competition programme
Have a look at the full programme of the festival HERE.
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Accompanying programme
Look out for information about the accompanying programme of IPFF!
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Each year the accompanying programme of the festival places two obligatory accents:
- Dedication - screening of a film about a significant person, with a contribution to the development of humanity;
- Live portrait - lectures-discussions with people from the world of cinema and/or a workshop or master class in a specific field of cinema.
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BULGARIA, 1000 SOFIA
75 TSAR IVAN ASEN II Str.
+359 88 7331 067
