International Film Schools Festival in Uruguay

About

Organized by the Uruguayan Film School (ECU) and Cinemateca Uruguaya since the year 2000, Uruguay’s International Film School Festival (FIEC) is the only venue in the country dedicated exclusively to the exhibition of the best works of professional audiovisual training centers at local, regional and international level. Since then, the FIEC has brought together works from more than 130 film schools from all over the world, incorporating new countries and institutions in each edition.

Its mission, in the first place, is to allow public access (with free admission) to this type of non-commercial production that is not usually disseminated beyond the academic sphere. Secondly, to maintain a direct link with other training centers in the country and abroad through the diffusion of their best work, promoting the exchange of different experiences in audiovisual education and production, both among students and among teachers, professionals and the audience.

The FIEC takes place every year in August, during four days in which a selection of fiction, non-fiction and animation short films made by film students from all over the world are exhibited. An International Professional Jury chooses the best works in each category, including the best Uruguayan short film (the Musitelli & La Mayor Award). Since 2014 there is also a Student Jury (integrated by representatives of three audiovisual training institutions, both public and private) that select its own awards. At the same time, meetings, round tables and conferences are held with local and foreign filmmakers, producers, academics and industry professionals, aimed at students and graduates of all audiovisual teaching centers in the country.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was held for the first time online, through the ECU YouTube channel, reaching more than 38,000 views. In addition, an International Film Students Meeting was also held for the first time, in which participants from more than 22 countries exchanged their diverse experiences of film training and audiovisual production.

The call for entries is made through the member schools of CILECT (the International Association of Film and Television Schools) and FEISAL (Latin American Federation of Schools of Image and Sound), although it is also open to other non-member institutions. The call for entries opens in January of each year and closes in April. The selection of works is announced in July, approximately one month before the Festival.

Awards

• Best Fiction Film
• Best Non-Fiction Film
• Best Animation Film
• Best Ibero-American Film.
• Best Uruguayan Film.
• Special Mentions that each Jury considers to award.

Rules

• Participants may submit short films completed after January 1st, 2023 and made only by students from film and audiovisual schools or professional training institutions (tertiary level) from any country in the world. The student status must be properly demonstrated.

• Short films may be submitted in any of the following categories: fiction, non-fiction and/or animation. Each institution may submit up to 3 (three) short films in each category. If an institution decides not to participate in the pre-selection, students may participate individually; in this case, each student may submit up to 2 (two) short films in each category. The maximum duration of each work must be 30 (thirty) minutes.

• Films may be produced in any format but must be submitted for selection exclusively in digital format and in quality suitable for theatrical screening. The required format is: 2K Native (2048x1080), 2K Flat (1998x1080) or Full HD (1920x1080). Compression must be H264 (.mov or .mp4) with AAC audio.

• If the language of the short film is not Spanish, it must be subtitled in Spanish or English. In case the short film is selected and does not have Spanish subtitles, a list of dialogues in Spanish or English must be submitted (see section 5). Short films that are not spoken in Spanish and do not have subtitles or a list of dialogues in Spanish or English will not be selected.

Premiere Requirements

No premiere requirement