The SanMa Short Film Festival (SSFF24) is an initiative to promote creativity in filmmaking!
Anyone age of 18 years and above can register as director and build a team of artists to make a short film and submit for the competition. Short films will be evaluated by prominent judges from the field. All the submitted short films will be screened at a local auditorium/theatre in front of an audience of filmmakers, friends and families followed by an award function.
All participants should be a member of San Diego Malayalees Organization.
Age of directors should be 18 years or above.
There are no SanMa teams based restrictions, a SanMa member can join any short film team.
Registration, submission, and all communications with SanMa arts committee are to be done by the directors of the short film teams.
Directors should register theirs entry by January 14, 2024 by sending email with the name of the director at arts@sandiegomalayalees.org .
Directors can make their own team of writers editors, cinematographers and actors.
Directors are not allowed to create team with people outside SanMa members.
Two directors can collaborate to generate one short film.
Directors can choose any genre from the list provided in Genres section.
Actors and Technical Staff like cinematographer, editor, writer etc. are allowed to participate maximum of 2 short films.
Actors should not be in lead roles in more than one short films.
Dialogue or narration must be substantially in Malayalam. Intermittent usage of other languages is acceptable with subtitles.
The story for the short film can be based on entirely new concept or inspired by a real life or another literature work as long as you don't copy anything directly from it and your story reflects your own voice and perspective.
Duration of the short film should be a minimum of 4 minutes and maximum of 15 minutes without credits, and maximum of 17 minutes with credits.
Google drive location would be provided on due date to upload short films.
Upload one version of short film without credit on/before April 7th, 2024, and another version with credit on/before April 14th, 2024.
Copy of the short film with credit should be exactly the same (no major or minor edits) as that without credits.
Minor non-compliances of rules may not disqualify (subject to Arts Committee's decision) a short film. Directors following all the rules will be provided with an additional +20 bonus points for the Best Director Award.
Short film creation (shooting and editing) should occur between December 1st, 2023 - April 7th, 2024.
All creative work including following ones, but is not limited to, should take place during this period.
Writing the script
Rehearsing
Costume/Set Design
Shooting
Editing
Sound Design
Rendering
Uploading to Google Drive
Animation and special effects are permitted, but must be created during the Official Filmmaking Period.
Stock footage filmed/created at another time cannot be unless the footage is part of a post-production effect or on a background monitor, i.e., a television, as long as the team has rights to the stock footage and it is used along with content filmed during Official Filmmaking Period.
Teams are encouraged to work with a composer and/or musicians to write and record music for the short films. Pre-recorded music or sound effects can be used.
Video Codec: H.264
Media: Online Submission
File Type: MPEG 4 (.mp4) (preferred), MPEG 4 (.m4v)
Resolution: HD 1080 (1920x1080) (preferred)
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (16:9) (preferred)
Pixel Ratio: Square (1:1) (preferred)
Frame Rate: 24 FPS (preferred), 24 FPS (23.976), 25 FPS, 30 FPS (29.97)
Interlacing: Progressive / NON-Interlaced
Audio Codec: AAC (.aac), WAV (.wav), MPEG4 (.mp4)
Teams can look for external business or sponsors for production cost . They can thank these sponsors as part of the short filmcredits.
The Directors can choose any Genre from the list below.
Drama
Fantasy
Romance
Thriller/Suspense
Action/Adventure
Horror
Comedy
Best Film
Best Director
Best Editor
Best Screenplay
Best Story
Best Cinematography
Best Original music composition (original music mix, original lyrics, original vocals)
Best Background score
Best VFX/Special effects
Best Actor (male)
Best Actor (female)
Best Supporting Actor (male)
Best Supporting Actor (female)
Best Child Actor (male)
Best Child Actor (female)