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Table of Contents

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Rules and Terms

Eligibility Requirements

Submission Requirements

Submission Fee

Submission Agreement

Rules & Terms

Rules & Terms

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By entering (submitting to)  any Touchstone Independent Film Festival competition you are acknowledging that you have read, understood and agreed to follow our Rules and Terms for festival submission and to abide by our Terms and Conditions of service.

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  • If the film is not in English, it must have English subtitles.

  • Every submission can add additional judging categories (via multiple submissions). The name(s) to be credited should be included in the cover letter.

  • Films that are submitted must be the entrant’s original work and shall not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of any third parties. The filmmaker/submitter agrees that they have obtained all required copyright permissions regarding music, sound & images, etc presented in their film.

  • All film category submissions are accepted with a maximum length of 60 minutes.

  • No film may be withdrawn from the festival program after its official selection.

  • By entering (submitting to) any Touchstone Film Festival competition entrants release and hold Touchstone Independent Film Festival, its Board of Directors, Officers, Staff and Volunteers harmless from and against all claims, demands, costs, damages, expenses (including legal fees), proceedings and losses resulting from the screening of the film at the Festival or from claims by any third parties.

  • Decisions of the management of the festival will be final and binding to the submitters regarding judgment, selection, screenings, awards, laurels, venue, dates, schedule, or any other activity related to the event. Filmmakers/submitters certify and undertake to abide by the decision of the festival management.

  • To enter into any Touchstone Independent Film Festival event or competition, the minimum age of participants must be 18 years of age or older.

  • Touchstone Independent Film Festival reserves the right to refuse service to anyone.

  • Festival dates are subject to change. All screening times and venues may be subject to delay or change

  •  Films submitted for competition may be deleted from our website after the competition ends at any time we choose without notice.

  • Failure to comply with Touchstone Independent Film Festival guidelines, rules, regulations, or eligibility may be cause for disqualification and result in having your film pulled from screening or competition.

  • By entering (submitting to) any Touchstone Independent Film Festival competition you are granting Touchstone Independent Film Festival the permission to use screen grabs, press materials, and stills from your movie on our advertisements, press materials, social media sites and website  

  • By entering (submitting to) any Touchstone Independent Film Festival competition you are granting the right for Touchstone Independent Film Festival to screen your film one time at our annual showcasing event.

  • By entering (submitting to) any Touchstone Independent Film Festival competition you are granting the right for Touchstone Independent Film Festival to screen your film trailer and intro/interview video publicly 

  • By entering (submitting to) any Touchstone Independent Film Festival competition you acknowledge that you are not entitled to any refund or damage claims of any kind if your film is unable to screen due to technical or operational difficulties or if your film needs to be rescheduled or delayed for any reason.

  • The festival does not offer screening fees for its films.

  • Touchstone Independent Film Festival is not responsible for films that are missing, damaged, unreadable, lost in transit, or stolen.

  • All fees are non-refundable.

Eligibility Requirements

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

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  • In addition to your entry, please include a brief synopsis, trailer and movie poster/publicity stills. Images should be high-resolution with a minimum of  72dpi. 

  • Shorts must be no more than 120 minutes in length including credits,

  • All non-English-language films must have English subtitles.

  • We consider films regardless of their premiere status. Even if your film has already premiered at another festival, whether it screened at a physical venue or online, it is still eligible for consideration.

  • We consider films regardless of their completion date. You can submit any film no matter when it was made.

  • Only completed films will be considered

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Touchstone Independent Film Festival does not accept the following:

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  • Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organizations.

  • Political films.

  • Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, video resolution less than 720p HD)

  • Films without English Subtitles(if in another language).

  • Films must be non-watermarked.

Submission Requirements

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

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  • Completed entry on film Freeway

  • Projects must be fully entered on FilmFreeway, including film stills, production pictures, downloadable poster, and trailer or teaser

  • If you aren’t uploading your screener via FilmFreeway, it may be submitted online via a link to a streaming copy (i.e. Vimeo of YouTube). Please note any necessary password and update us if it changes.

  • If officially selected you must allow screeners to be downloaded and available for playback by judges and programmers for the duration of the festivals submission season.

  • Submissions must be uploaded and submitted no later than the deadline date to qualify for the respective submission fees.

  • Every submission can add additional judging categories (via multiple submissions). The name(s) to be credited should be included in the cover letter.

Submission Fee

Submission Fee

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All submissions for Touchstone Independent Film Festival are to be paid through FilmFreeway platform.- Submission fee paid/Entry fees are non-refundable

Submission Agreement

SUBMISSION AGREEMENT

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By entering your film or video for consideration, you attest that you are legally authorized to submit the work to Touchstone Independent Film Festival and that all necessary releases, licenses and records have been obtained with respect thereto. You shall indemnify and hold Touchstone Independent Film Festival harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening rescheduling or cancellation, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered. Touchstone Independent Film Festival reserves the right to remove a work from festival consideration and/or programming for any reason or for no reason and shall not be liable for any refund or claims of any kind arising out of such removal. If your work is accepted, you expressly grant Touchstone Independent Film Festival the non-exclusive right and license to exhibit and utilize your film/video as described in these festival rules.

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By submitting your film to our festival you agree that your piece of work (trailer, stills, poster, etc) can be uploaded/embedded on our website. The filmmaker/institution that is submitting the film must own the rights to do so and is responsible for the content they are providing. By submitting, the filmmaker allows Touchstone Independent Film Festival to create a page for their film without infringing copyright of any kind.

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