World Food Forum | Film Festival - Terms and conditions

Terms and conditions

Background

The World Food Forum (WFF) is an independent global network of partners, created for and led by youth, to spark a movement to transform our agrifood systems. It was developed by the Youth Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. FAO’s Youth Committee was established in 2019 to tap into the potential of young employees as catalysts for change and to spark a global youth movement.

This Short Film Competition (the “Competition”) is part of the Culture Track of the WFF: we are looking for young – or young-at-heart – filmmakers to tell the world stories that will inspire change and become an essential part in spreading the message to transform our agrifood systems, achieve food security, and promote better nutrition.

Part I

Prizes

The authors of the five winning films will receive a cash prize and their films will also be featured during the World Food Forum flagship event in Rome in October 2024, allowing the artists to promote their work, gain visibility, and facilitate networking with other attending independent filmmakers and participants.

The five winners will be judged based on the following categories:

Best Fiction Movie – USD 1 000
Best Documentary – USD 1 000
Best Focus on Agrifood Systems – USD 1 000
Best Cinematography – USD 1 000
Best Focus on Innovation – USD 1 000

Eligibility

The Competition is open only to individuals or a group of individuals (“Entrants”) who have reached the age of 18 and not older than 40 at the time of entering the call for submissions.
WFF and FAO employees and their immediate family members (spouses, parents, children, siblings and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, whether or not related, are not eligible to enter the Competition. WFF will determine eligibility at its sole discretion. Partners or relatives of partner staff of the institutions involved in the launch of the Competition, and relations of the judging committee are not eligible to compete.
Entrants can only submit original works for which they are the sole creator and copyright holder. The term “original works” refer to new films produced for the Competition as well as films produced between 2021-2024, provided that the Entrant has full rights to the film. In case of a group of authors, the names and ages of all authors must be listed and will be considered as a single Entrant in the copyright rules described below, as well as for the prize for finalists and winners.
Entrants can submit up to 1 short film (between 5 and 30 minutes long) that tells a story related to agrifood systems (either under the fiction category or documentary category).
Films submitted must be a final, edited product; sound-mixed, color-graded and optimized for online streaming. Rough cuts are not accepted. Films shot with smartphones are accepted.
Films must be submitted through the FilmFreeway WFF Film Competition website in the following format: 720p H264 mp4. If your film is selected you will be requested to submit a high-definition file.
Language: Films in English or in original language with English subtitles are accepted.
Legal name, surname, email, film title, author(s) of the film, writer(s), country of origin of submitter(s), short-film category (1-Fiction Movie or 2-Documentary), short synopsis and date when film was recorded must be entered on the entry website when uploading the films.
Entrants must accept the Terms and Conditions described in this form when submitting a video.
Participation is free of charge.

Part II: General Terms and Conditions

WFF reserves the right to cancel, modify, suspend or delay the Competition in the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond their reasonable control. WFF reserves the right to change, amend, delete or add to these Terms and Conditions at any time.
WFF and their officials and agents shall not be responsible or liable for any claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature arising out of or in connection with your participation in this Competition or your acceptance or use of the prizes awarded.
WFF shall not be responsible or liable for:
a) any problem, loss or damage, misdirected or illegible entries, delay and/or failure in receiving and sending the entry as a result of any network, communication or system interruption or error, or
b) any error, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, site failure or unauthorised access to entries.
WFF does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any data, information or other material provided by any Entrant. WFF explicitly disclaims any responsibility for the content of any data, information and materials provided by the Entrants in the context of the Competition.
By entering your film in the Competition, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold and save harmless, the WFF, FAO and its partners against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any third party against the WFF, including, but not limited to, all litigation costs and expenses, attorney’s fees, settlement payments and damages, based on, arising from, or relating to the WFF’s use of the film. The obligations under this section do not lapse upon closure of the Competition.
By participating in the Competition, Entrants agree that personal data, especially name and country, may be processed, shared, and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the Competition, WFF institutional activities, and any other purposes outlined in these Terms and Conditions. The data may also be used by WFF in order to verify the Entrant's identity, postal address and telephone number or to otherwise verify the Entrant's eligibility to participate in the Competition.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions or in any rules related to the Competition, nor any acts performed or statements made in relation to the Competition, shall be deemed a waiver, express or implied, of any of the privileges and immunities of WFF and FAO.

1. Copyright and Permissions

1.1 By submitting works to the WFF you confirm that for each work submitted:
1.1.1    You alone are the author of your work and that it is your original work, and to the best of your knowledge, no third party can claim any rights to the material submitted.
1.1.2    You are the sole copyright holder.
1.1.3    You have not licensed any rights in the work that conflict with the usage rights required by the WFF.
1.1.4    You have the permission of any persons in the work, or if they are under 18, the consent of their parent or legal guardian, to be portrayed as shown in the film, and to grant the usage rights required by the WFF.
1.1.5    That it does not include trademarks, contract rights, or any other intellectual property rights of any other third person or entity. WFF will not seek additional approvals in connection with the use of the material and it will not be responsible for any claim or complaint alleging violation of the rights of third parties.
1.1.6    You will be responsible for any claim made by any third party in respect of your entry and to fully indemnify the WFF and its sponsors and partners in respect of all royalties, fees and any other monies owing to any person or entity by reason of your breaching any of the foregoing.
1.1.7    Music must be licensed and use a model release where necessary.
1.1.8    You agree, if selected as one of the five winners, to participate and showcase your film in an online and in person Premiere Film Festival Event organized by the WFF.
1.2 The WFF reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entry that is incomplete, not relevant to the theme, or does not comply with any of the Terms and Conditions and the WFF’s values and guiding principles, even after the entry is submitted.

2. Unacceptable Content

The WFF reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entry:
2.1    That is disrespectful of the impartiality and independence of the United Nations, reflects adversely on the WFF; is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the WFF; is derogatory to any persons depicted in the film;
2.2    That contains nudity, threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane content.
2.3    That contains any material that could constitute or encourage conduct which would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law.

3. Your Copyright and Moral Rights

3.1 The WFF respects your rights and do not claim ownership or copyright for works you submit to this Competition, you will retain full ownership and copyright to each entry.
3.2 In addition, your moral rights are respected. Whenever your work is published by WFF and its partners, you will be credited. Failure to publish a credit due to error or oversight shall not be deemed a breach of this condition.

4. Use of Works

4.1 By participating in this Competition, you agree that any work you submit may be used free of charge by the WFF and their partners for non-commercial marketing and promotional purposes. These uses may include, but are not limited to, the following:
4.1.1    Displaying the entries on the WFF website (and possibly websites of partners) and social media networks, and for the 5 winners, featuring the films in a live online premier of the WFF Film Competition Event.
4.1.2    Displaying the entries in any media for non-commercial use to promote the work of the WFF and its partners.
4.1.3    Cropping and re-sizing the work as necessary to fit pre-defined formats to promote the work of the WFF, and its partners.
4.1.4    Sub-licensing the entries to the press and partners for reproduction in connection with the Competition and the WFF and any related media release on the WFF, the WFF Organizing Team, and its partners.
4.2   You hereby grant the WFF, the WFF Organizing Team and its partners a non-exclusive, irrevocable, free and two-year license (from the date of submission) throughout the world for the non-commercial uses described in 4.1 above, for each Entry.
4.3 You acknowledge your responsibility for protecting your Entry against misuse by third parties. The WFF and its partners can assume no responsibility and are not liable for any misuse of works.

5. Process and selection criteria

Submissions will be accepted from 15:00 (CEST) on Wednesday, 17 April 2024 until 23:00 (CEST) on Wednesday, 17 July 2024. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.
All finalists and winners will be notified by e-mail after the judging is complete. If you receive a notification e-mail from the WFF, you must respond to the notification e-mail to accept your prize. If WFF does not receive a response from you within seven (7) days of the notification, WFF reserves the right to reallocate the prize to another Entrant.
The selection process is divided into three phases:
- Phase 1: Pre-selection. The first selection round will be done by the WFF Film competition organizers based on the following criteria: eligibility, quality and creativity of entries, theme, script, cinematography, editing, music.
- Phase 2: Jury Stage. The finalist films selected during Phase 1 will be assessed by the WFF Film Jury. They will then select the six winning films and award them with one of the corresponding prizes.
- Phase 3: Online Premiere Stage. The winners will be announced during the WFF flagship event in October 2024. The authors of the five winning films will be invited to screen their films at the World Food Forum Film Festival.

6. Acceptance

By submitting entries, the Entrant confirms that the Terms and Conditions for this Competition, as set out above, have been read, understood, and agreed to by the Entrant.

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