Lumière International Film Festival & Awards

About

Lumiere International Film Festival & Awards, Los Angeles Formerly known as SFFA (Standalone Film Festival & Awards) is in its 3rd Season. In the 1st season, Founder & Chairman Kumaar Aadarsh brought independent filmmakers together from all across the world. 1st time, in a 7 days festival 143 independent films from all over the world were shown at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood from August 06 to 12. On August 12, 2021. In spite of COVID, we facilitated 43 categories of Awards. Being an independent filmmaker Kumaar understands the problems of standalone makers. Producing films and making money from those are different. On August 12, 2021, during the Award show, he promised to assist all filmmakers who participated or who will participate in the future in releasing, exhibiting, and distributing by providing them a separate dashboard for their movie exploitation all over the world. We are working continuously to empower independent filmmakers. We created the marketplace for them to MONETIZE their films. We are now more powerful with the creation of our digital-theatrical marketing tools. Standing alone has limited power but when all standalone unite, they Rise-Together. All filmmakers who would be part of Standalone are able to operate independently of our marketplace software.
Therefore, in 2nd season, LIFFA has a transparent dashboard for each selected film.
We created history. This is a unique kind of film festival for independent filmmakers/content creators where there are no barriers to borders, languages, genres, etc. This festival has an online Award Nomination Festival, live screenings, and the Standalone Award Show.

LIFFA is consolidating filmmakers around the world for a beautiful presentation of cinematography and the unveiling of new talents. A committee comprising members from the film industry preview submitted films and select good works of motion pictures for the Award Nomination Festival.

Films screen through this secure server screener where visitors and guests from around the world can witness and vote for the film. On the basis of viewers' choice and votes, films are nominated for 42 categories of Awards that screen live from the last week of May in Hollywood and to honor filmmakers, actors, and technicians at The Standalone Awards Show in Los Angeles on the 7th day of live screenings.

Awards

• Best Film (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best Director (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best writer (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best Actor - Male (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best Actor - Female (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best Cinematographer (Feature Film / Narrative)
• Best Film (Short)
• Best Director (Short)
• Best Actor - Male (Short)
• Best Actor - Female (Short)
• Best Writer (Short)
• Best Cinematographer (Short)
• Best Cinematography IN A MINI FILM
• Best Writer IN A MINI FILM
• Best Director IN A MINI FILM
• Best Actress IN A MINI FILM
• Best Actor IN A MINI FILM
• Best MINI Film
• Best Writer In A HORROR FILM
• Best Actor In A HORROR FILM
• Best Actress In A HORROR FILM
• Best HORROR FILM
• Best Film (Documentary)
• Best Director (Documentary)
• Best Cinematographer (Documentary)
• Best Show (Series)
• Best Director (Series)
• Best Actor - Male (Series)
• Best Actor - Female (Series)
• Best Writer (Series)
• Best Cinematographer (Series)
• Best Film (Student)
• Best Director (Student)
• Best Film (Animation)
• Best Song (Music Video)

Rules

FEATURE FILM

• Films that have been produced not before 2020
• The film must be more than 60 minutes long.
• Films that have been released or have not been released.

SHORT FILM

• Films that have been produced not before 2019
• The film must be less than 60 minutes long.
• Films that have been released or have not been released.

STUDENT FILM

• Films that have been directed by a student within his / her school curriculum
• The film must be more than 10 minutes long.
• Films that have not been presented at major film festivals except festivals of their country of origin.

DOCUMENTARY / WEB SHOWS

• Documentaries/Shows that have been made not before 2019
• The documentary must be of more than 5 minutes long.
• The Shows/Series must be of more than 15 minutes per episode.
• Documentary or Shows or series that have been released or not been released.

MATERIAL

Irrespective of the equipment used for shooting the film, the material of the film should be in the following format:

1. Feature Content (Movies/Series) *

Accepted Media Formats: MPEG 4 / QuickTime (ProRes) with embedded audio in .mp3 or .wav format Video: Resolution 1920×1080 and above (use codec H.264 for .MOV / .MP4)

2. Content Subtitles

Preferred: Media Formats: VTT or.SRT with Timecodes

Also, accept English Subtitles burnt on the video

3. Trailer – Same as feature content

4. Poster Image with Title *

Portrait Image in 1080 x 1920 (width x height) pixels

5. Banner Image *

Landscape image in 1920 x 1080 (width x height) pixels

NOTE: A Dropbox Link will be provided after the submission of the online form. Upload all the materials in the checklist above to the Dropbox link. (Max 50 GB can be uploaded at once.)

SUBTITLING

The Selection Committee will accept films:

Without subtitles, if the original language is English

WITH English subtitles for all other original languages

LANGUAGE: All

Premiere Requirements

No premiere requirement

Jury and Organizers

Founder & Chairman: Kumaar Aadarsh

 Jury President: Holmes Stoner

LIFFA Chief Advisor: Dr. Stan Foster

Chief Selector: Dr. Ali Gooyabadi

Festival Director: Shameem Ahuja

Festival Director: Prakash Thapa

Festival Asian Director: Seema Pimple

Festival Curator: Shailendra Mishra