Call for Submissions 2012 - CLOSED

The Toronto Nepali Film Festival (TNFF) thanks everyone for submitting films from all over the world. We recieved approximately 40 films. The call for submissions for the 2012 festival is now closed.  All late submissions will be considered as entries for its next festival, next year.

The call for submission can be found below or downloaded from clicking here.

Toronto Nepali Film Festival (TNFF) is now accepting entries for its 3rd Annul Festival to be held on March 17, 2012 at Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Toronto Nepali Film Festival (TNFF) is a not for profit community organization based in Toronto. The annual film festival screens films that are made in or on Nepal and Nepalis. The festival’s goal is to promote Nepali filmmaking and create a platform for intercultural dialogue between Nepali and non-Nepali filmmakers.

All films screened at the Festival will be paid an honorarium.

Eligibility

TNFF will showcase films that pertain to Nepal and Nepalis, and is open to filmmakers of all race, nationality, creed and gender. The Festival is open to all genres of films including fiction, documentary, animation, shorts, experimental and musical.  All films must have subtitles in English. TNFF encourages films based on indigenous languages such as Limbu, Maithili, Newari and Gurung. The Festival encourages participation of women filmmakers and filmmakers from marginalized groups. The Festival will only accept films in DVD format, either PAL or NTSC.

Deadline: December 12, 2011.

Any submission received after the submission deadline will not be reviewed for 2012, but will be forwarded to the selection pool for 2013.

Selection Process

The curatorial committee of the Festival will review all the submissions during January 2012. All the filmmakers will be notified via email by January 31, 2012. Film selection will be publicly announced on TNFF website and other platforms by January 31. The 2012 Festival jurors are:

Julie Bridgham is a Sundance Institute Documentary Fellow, and is the Director and Producer of the award winning documentary “The Sari Soldiers” for which she received the 2008 Nestor Almendros Prize for courage and commitment in human rights filmmaking. Over the past six years, she has lived for extended periods in Nepal where she produced and directed numerous documentaries. She has produced and directed numerous documentary series that have taken her around the globe, including "Exotic Islands”, and the series "Royal Families of the World” as well as documentary series for the BBC, CBS, the Discovery Channel and TLC. 

Richard Fung is a Trinidad-born, Toronto-based video artist and writer. His single channel videotapes and installations have been widely collected and exhibited internationally, and his essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies. Among several honours he is a recipient of the Bell Canada award for outstanding achievement in video art and the Toronto Arts Award for media art. He teaches in the Faculty of Art at Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto.

Surendra Lawoti is a Nepali photographer and lives and works in Toronto. His work has been exhibited in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Boston, Medellin, Colombia and in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has received awards from Ontario Arts Council, Artadia, Community Arts Assistance Program through City of Chicago and Somerville Arts Council. His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Boston Globe, Camera Austria, Spacing Magazine and NewCity Chicago. He is the Festival Curator of TNFF.

Selection Criteria

The curatorial committee will select films based on merit and the content of the films. The committee will consider relevant Nepali issues, methods of story-telling, new genres in the context of Nepali filmmaking, technical finesse and other attributes of filmmaking in the jury process. The committee will also take into consideration TNFF’s mandate of inclusion of indigenous languages and filmmakers from marginalized groups.

Instructions for Submission

All submissions must include the following:

1. Completed Entry form (2 pages).
2. Two copies of DVD, PAL or NTSC.
3. Brief description or synopsis of the entry (60 words or less in English).
4. Brief biography of the filmmaker. Include other films, previous screenings, awards and other relevant information (60 words or less in English).
5. Two high-resolution production stills (300 dpi, 1000 pixels on the long side, TIFF or JPEG format only) in a CD.
6. Label all the media with your name, title of the work and date of production.

Multiple entries are accepted, but each entry must have a separate entry form. Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed.

Shipping Information

You can send your submissions to Toronto, Ontario or to Kathmandu, Nepal.

To mail or drop off submissions in Kathmandu:

Toronto Nepali Film Festival

C/o Indigenous Film Archive

Anamnagar – 32, Block No. 18

P. O. Box: 10487

Kathmandu, Nepal

Attn: Ngawang Dolma Tamang or Sangam Pulami Magar

Tel: 410-2577

In Canada, please send your submissions to:

Surendra Lawoti

Toronto Nepali Film Festival

68 East Lynn Avenue, # 2

Toronto, ON M4C3X2

Canada

Tel: (416) 878-1526

Note for Canada-bound shipments:

All deliveries from international participants must be marked:

"NO COMMERCIAL VALUE" Please do not claim any monetary value over $50 on your package for insurance or otherwise. Otherwise you will be charged customs, duties and taxes.

TNFF will not accept or collect C.O.D. shipments and will not accept shipments incurring expenses for duties, taxes or customs brokerage.

Please carefully package your submission. TNFF cannot assume responsibility for damage or loss incurred during shipment.

Database/Usage

All films submitted will be retained by TNFF for its archives and for its educational programmes.  The retained films will not be used for any commercial screenings.

If you have any questions, please contact Sabin Ninglekhu at 981 843 3788 or info@tnff.ca in Nepal. Or in Toronto you can contact Surendra Lawoti at curator@tnff.ca or at (416) 878-1526.

TNFF 2012 Submission Form

Please clearly print

Film Details

Original Title:                ________________________________________________________________________

Title in English:             ________________________________________________________________________

Director:                        ________________________________________________________________________

Producer:                       ________________________________________________________________________

Duration (in minutes):    ___________________          Date Completed:          ________________

Category (circle one):    Fiction              Documentary                Short                           

                                     Animation         Musical                        Other   ________________

Language(s):                 _________________________________

English Subtitles:           Yes                  No

Submission Format (circle one):                        NTSC              or                     PAL

Do you have a high-resolution trailer of your film?          Yes                  No

Brief description or synopsis of the film (less than 60 words in the space below):

Brief biography of the filmmaker (60 words or less in the space below):

List any previous screening and dates in the space below:

How did you hear about TNFF?           ________________________________________________________

Contact Information

Name:              ________________________________________________________________________________

Address:           ________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Phone:              _______________________________                      Fax:      ________________________________

Email:               _______________________________                      Website: _____________________________