Festival Rules:

Students must have been enrolled in a high school when the film was completed.  Films must have been completed within a year of submission.  So, a college freshman, who finished their film during their senior year, could also submit. No fee is required to enter the festival. Films must be in English or subtitled in English. All non-fiction works, other than news spot features, will be considered documentaries. Stop action, 2-D, and 3-D animations will be judged in the same category. Multiple entries may be made on the same screener, as long as each entry is preceded by its own slate of information. Films should be no more than 20 minutes long (under 10 minutes is preferable for programming reasons). Submissions may be made by uploading to a festival submission site. Once a nomination has been made, a physical copy of the film may be required to be submitted. All submissions must be preceded with a slate that contains: title of work, student(s) name(s), teacher name (if applicable), school name, category of submission, length of work, and the date created. Acceptable formats for physical submissions include: QuickTime movie file on a DVD-R, flash drive, or downloadable QuickTime master file. Submissions will be returned as long as the provider includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope with their initial physical submission.

Award winners, who are unable to attend the awards show, will be asked to create a video acceptance speech to be shown at the event.

Festival Terms and Conditions:

Each Entrant, and in the case of a Student Film Entry Team, each member of the team agrees that he or she will not: defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others; publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene, indecent or unlawful topic, name, material or information; and/or violate any applicable laws or regulations.

By submitting a Student Film Entry, each Entrant, and in the case of a Student Film Entry Team, each member of the team grants the SoCal Student Film Festival a nonexclusive license to use the Student Film Entry, or any part thereof, in all media in perpetuity. Each Entrant, and in the case of a Student Film Entry Team, each member of the team warrants that it or they holds or hold all applicable rights in the Student Film Entry to grant this license. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes the entire Student Film Entry. Each Entrant, and in the case of a Student Film Entry Team, each member of the team acknowledges that, by granting the SoCal Student Film Festival this license, the SoCal Student Film Festival can use these entries in any marketing or promotional material in all media in perpetuity without liability to the entrant, including liability to compensate the entrant for their use. Any costs associated with entering the competition and accessing the website are the responsibility of the entrant. The SoCal Student Film Festival assumes no responsibility for, and each Entrant releases the SoCal Student Film Festival from responsibility for, any failure to receive and entry or for inaccurate information or for any loss, claim, damage or injury to person or property (including computer systems and servers) as a result of the entrant’s participation in this festival or the conduct of the festival staff generally or as a direct or indirect result of an entrant’s error, any technical problem of any kind including communications or network failure, unauthorized access to, transferring or theft of data, whether caused by the entrant or associated with the equipment or programming used in the conduct of this festival. If, because of any such problem, this festival is not able to be conducted as planned and/or the festival's administration, security, fairness or integrity are compromised or affected, the festival administration may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the festival an/or disqualify any entrant involved in interfering or tampering with the conduct of this festival in any way. Any and all associated costs incurred by the category winners during the festival (including call costs, internet costs, travel) are to be paid by the category winners. Awards must be taken as offered and cannot be varied. Only one award will be given per category. Student teams will not receive individual awards. Awards are not exchangeable, transferable or redeemable for cash.