Information for Filmmakers
The 2023 Festival in Wolfsburg
Underdog Film Festival is an annual competitive festival dedicated to the often unheard voices in motion pictures. It is a completely new festival, that is still carving out its niche. In order to do this right, we have listened to both our audience as well as the filmmakers to see what everyone hopes to take away from this experience.
As a result our event date wasn't the only thing we have adjusted, with the event now takingplace in June, but also the way we have organised our screening programme. These small adjustments enabled us to make our film selection process fairer and more transparent, whilst having the lucky side-effect of turning something that was more of a side-dish into a little event of its own.
Find out more below and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us!
How we roll
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
For our 1st year running we made the conscious choice not to have a feature competition, but to focus on the short form instead. We have reshuffeld the programme a bit, to make it easier for our audience to pick the programme they like. There simply are some people who prefer German language films. Whilst others are there for the international selection. Some people are all about docs, whilst others want to indulge in some fun underground flicks. Since most of our screening slots are roughly 90 min, we had to park some films that may have applied for narrative shorts in the underground segment ... and vice versa. This is down to the fact that the film a) has a length that we could not fit in the other category, as it was too full already, and b) it might just fit in the overall collection of storytelling. But our "Films" page will give information on each film, including what categories it has been nominated in for a potential award. The competitions are sorted are the following:
•Fort Time Filmmakers
• Underground Shorts (Ultra Low Budget)
• International Shorts
• German Shorts
• Short Docs
• Women / LGBTQ+
In addition to our "Best Film by" Award, the folliwing award categories will be introduced this year:
• Best Performer in a Leading Role
• Best Performer in a Supporting Role
• Best Director
• Best Cinematographer
SCHEDULE
We will be operating over the course of two days. The evenings are dedicated to our main event: the public screenings and awards ceremonies. During the day we will also operate the peep shows as well as some panels and talks. More information on those industry events will follow soon.
Saturday’s main event programme commences at 4 pm and Sunday's main event programme commences at 2 pm. Saturday is also the day of our opening ceremony and on Sunday member of the jury will announce the award winners.
SATURDAY
4 pm - Opening Ceremony
4:30 pm - Screening: German Narrative Shorts
6:30 pm - Screening: International Docs
8:30 pm - Screening: Internationale Underground Shorts
10:15 pm - Opening Celebration
SUNDAY
2 pm - Screening: International Narrative Shorts
3:45 pm - Screening - German Documentaries
6 pm - Screening: German Underground Shorts
8 pm - Awards Ceremony & Wrap
SPECIAL FEATURES
The daytime provides a range of rather unique offers for regular film buffs and ink enthusiasts. All programmes operate from 10 am till 3 pm on Saturday, and from 10 am till 12:30 pm on Sunday.
PEEP SHOW
Our peep show booths give spectators an opportunity for private viewing and a look behind the scenes of indie filmmaking. Guests get to see some behind-the-scenes coverage as well as some other little films about life in the industry. In addition to this people get a chance to see some films not included in the competition, as members of the jury were part of the crew or cast.
Guests can also watch a selection of films whilst getting their tattoo done by one of Culture Shocks resident artists in one of the peep shows. We recommend showing up early, if you are planning to make use of this service, as it is being operated on a "first come, first serve" basis and these kinds of highlights usually attract queues!
And viewers get to cast a vote on films in the competition.
RULES & TERMS
... yes, we need to keep this information online ...
1- In order to submit a film, you must own the rights or have power of attorney from the owner.
2- All fees are non-refundable.
3- The Festival relationship will exclusively be related to the film submitter.
4- Maximum length allowed is 30 minutes.
5- Any Foreign film that is not in German or English must have English subtitles.
6- UNDERDOG FILM FESTIVAL and its affiliates will not be responsible for damaged copies.
7- A DCP, BlueRay or DVD copy of the film might be required for the screening.
8- A screening copy will be requested for the live Events with English and/or German subtitles.
9- Students must present a valid Student ID in order to receive our student discount.
10- Not all the submissions are selected for the Official Competition.
11- UNDERDOG FILM FESTIVAL can consider any film to be disqualified if the festival considers the content inappropriate.
12- Filmmakers must submit their project in any of the Official Competitions (Female Narrative Shorts, LGBTQ Narrative Shorts, Immigrant Song, Underdocs, First Time Filmmakers, Underground Shorts). All films submitted in any OFFICIAL COMPETITION will be considered in all Technical & Performance Categories with no extra cost.
13- A fee is required for the official Competitions Submission. For our payment structure visit FILMFREEWAY.COM
14- Submitting your film, you authorize UNDERDOG FILM FESTIVAL to use, distribute and share the film poster, trailer, synopsis and movie stills in our social media.
15- The applicants (submitters) must accept UNDERDOG FILM FESTIVAL’s Rules and Terms.