Aan Korb Film & Documentary Festival: Terms & Conditions
Aan Korb: BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival is presented by the BBC Arabic Service in partnership with the British Council. It will be held over four days at the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House and aims to showcase the very best work from Arab and non-Arab film and documentary makers, journalists and non-journalists, that focuses on the situation in the Arab world since the start of the uprisings in December 2010.
Terms and Conditions
1.For a work to be eligible it must meet the following criteria:
1.1.It must have been made since the start of the Arab uprising in December 2010;
1.2.The subject matter must concentrate on an exploration of the underlying issues that have created a need for change in the Arab region or a focus on the revolutionary events started in December 2010 or a focus on the aftermath of the Arab uprisings;
1.3.The work must be either a feature film, a short film, documentary, a piece of investigative journalism or citizen journalism and satisfy the criteria for each category set out below.
1.4.Anyone being considered by the judges for the BBC Arabic Young Journalist Award must be between 18 and 30 on 18 March 2014.
1.5.The judge's decision as to the eligibility of individual entrants or their work will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The BBC is keen to broadcast a selection of the final winning entries on BBC Arabic TV and will endeavour to do so with the agreement of the entrants.
There is no obligation on the BBC to broadcast the winning entries.
2.Entrants must submit:
2.1.An entry form that is available on the website. Submissions will not be accepted without an accompanying entry form.
2.2.Submissions can be either in the Arabic or any non-Arabic language and are open to those resident in all countries and all nationalities.
2.3.All submissions must be sent in their original language, with English subtitling. For the Citizen Journalism category, this is preferable but not essential.
2.4.Submissions will not be accepted if sent without English subtitles - this excludes the Citizen Journalism Category where English subtitling is preferable but not essential.
3.Entrants should clearly mark the category for which their submission is to be judged and the following criteria must be met:
3.1.Feature Films must be over 40 minutes in duration and a work of fiction.
3.2.Short Films must be between 3 minutes and 40 minutes in duration and may cover fiction, experimental and animation films.
3.3.Documentaries must be a work of non-fiction and be between 25 minutes and 90 minutes in duration
3.4.Investigative journalism reports must be a work of non-fiction and must be between 10 and 50 minutes in length.
3.5.Citizen journalism reports must be a work of no- fiction. Work submitted must be between 3 minutes and 30 minutes in duration. The Citizen Journalism category will recognise non-professional reporters, journalists and film makers whose reports or video footage of a current affairs story are ground-breaking and reveal something new.
This category is not open to professional journalists or reporters working for major broadcasters or news organisations. BBC employees are not eligible to submit entries.
4.Submission for entries opens on 24th March 2014.
5.Entries must be submitted via Vimeo or as a DVD or USB stick to the address provided below. If submitting through Vimeo, your submission must be given the same title as that specified on your entry form so that we can find it on your entry form.
If you are sending your submission as a DVD or a USB stick, please allow enough time to ensure the submission arrives by the closing date of Wednesday 28 May.
DVD or USB sticks must be clearly labelled with the same title that you specified on your entry form.
Shipping costs of the submitted material must be met by the sender.
DVDs or USB sticks will not be returned.
Submissions should be sent to the following address and must clearly state 'Aan Korb Arabic Festival Submission on the envelope;
Aan Korb: BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival 2014
Fourth Floor, Peel Wing
BBC Broadcasting House
2-22 Portland Place
London W1A 1AA
7.Closing date for entries is 23:55 on 28 May 2014. Submissions received after this time and date will not be considered.
The BBC cannot accept any responsibility for any problem with the postal service which may result in any entry being lost or delayed. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.
Entries will not be returned so please remember to keep a copy. As there will be a number of entries, we will not be providing feedback on any entry.
8.Entrants can apply for more than one category of work.
9.All entries must be the original work of the entrant and comply with the Terms and Conditions. Entries must not infringe the rights of any other party (including privacy rights) and must not be defamatory or unlawful.
The BBC accepts no liability if entrants ignore these rules and entrants agree to fully indemnify the BBC against any claims by any third party arising from any breach of these rules.
10.If an entry is shortlisted, the entrant will be asked to complete a screening licence to enable the BBC to screen the winning entry and use clips. The shortlisted entry cannot proceed to the next stage unless the BBC has received a screening licence, which has been completed to the BBC's satisfaction.
Only the winning entries in each category will be screened at the BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival at the BBC Radio Theatre.
11.Clip Usage for Winning Entries: the BBC will show clips of winning entries at the awards ceremony at the BBC Radio Theatre and may include clips on BBC Arabic TV and online services.
12.The BBC reserves the right to make changes to the subtitling if it is necessary, should the subtitling not meet with standards expected by the BBC.
13.By submitting their works, entrants agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.
14.Stage One - Shortlisting
The criteria for assessing the shortlisted works will be as follows:
14.1Feature Films and Short Films
- Freshness: Is this a new subject? A fresh perspective? A new voice? Have we seen this before?
- Theme: How has the filmmaker tackled their subject? Is the theme relevant to our festival?
- Craft Skills: How is the film structured? Are the production values good? Has the filmmaker used difficult footage in an interesting way?
- Audience response: How does the film make you feel when you watch it?
The documentary category covers non-fiction films on a social, cultural or political subject with a focus on the Arab world since the Arab uprisings.
The films should be driven by strong narratives, visual storytelling and compelling central characters, and should reveal an original and authored view of Arab society or culture. This category aims to showcase the talents and skills of film-makers and the creative treatment of reality in the Arab world today.
The investigative journalism category is for hard-hitting, well-researched, accurate and journalistically balanced investigations into a Current Affairs issue in the Arab world covering the period since the Arab Spring.
We aim to showcase journalistic clarity, precision, balance, fairness, in-depth research and detailed analytical skills in documentary investigations. We will reward films that show courage in dealing with difficult subjects, films that challenge power and authority, seek justice or reveal something new about an issue of public interest in the Arab world.
The citizen journalism category will reward non-professional reporters, journalists and film-makers whose reports or video footage of a current affairs story are ground-breaking and reveal something new.
This category is not open to professional journalists or reporters working for major broadcasters or news organisations.
This category aims to showcase the work of citizens whose courage helped to expose a story which professionals are unable or unwilling to cover.
15.All entries will be reviewed by a team of experts from the BBC and the British Council (including film curators, producers and documentary film makers) who will assess the works against the criteria outlined above and select a shortlist of up to ten (10) entries per category.
The shortlisted entries will then be sent for consideration by the judging panel. Shortlisted candidates will be notified the week of 2 June 2014.
16Stage Two - Judging Panel and Final Winning Entries
16.1The judging panel will watch and discuss the submissions.
16.2Up to five entries per category will then be selected for final screening as part of the Aan-Korb festival. Selected entrants must provide a full dialogue script and other materials specified in the screening licence.
16.3The scheduling and programming of all winning entries rests with the BBC and its festival management team.
16.4The winning entries will be screened at the BBC Radio Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House London.
16.5Winning entrants will be notified the week of Monday 23 June 2014.
17. BBC Arabic Young Journalist Award
BBC Arabic Service will also award an exceptional young person (aged 18-30) who, in its view, has submitted the most promising and original piece within the Documentary, Investigative or Citizen Journalism categories.
The award should be taken up within the 12 months of the announcement in November 2014.
The award will include training, mentoring and access to equipment up to the value of £10,000 to create a project in development. There is the potential for this project to be commissioned by the BBC.
18. The names of all entrants whose works will be screened at the Festival will be made public.
Entrants must agree to take part in any festival publicity if required.
All selected entries may be used for private press screenings prior to the festival.
The BBC will invite a number of the selected winners to attend and participate in the festival and reasonable costs of travel and accommodation will be met. All invitees will be responsible for securing their own visas and meeting their own visa costs.
19. The BBC's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
20.The BBC reserves the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these Terms and Conditions.
21. The BBC reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions at any stage, including changing or substituting the selection process or the judging panel or the development opportunities for the BBC Arabic Young Journalist Award. In this event, a notice will be posted on the following website: www.bbcarabic.com/aankorb.
22. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.