Part III — Timing, Required Elements & Production Documents
All creative work must occur between 7:00 PM Friday and a deadline we will not disclose until you have already missed it. Entrants who ask "when exactly is Sunday" will have their Sunday moved.
No creativity of any kind may occur before the festival begins. Entrants suspected of having had an idea in advance will be disqualified and their idea reassigned to someone who arrived with nothing.
Prior to the weekend, entrants may organise crew, secure equipment, and rehearse extensively, provided they can convincingly deny having rehearsed when asked by a jury member holding a stopwatch.
Generative AI may not be used to write, shoot, score, or edit your film, except in the "Most Ridiculous AI-Generated Film" and "Longest AI Film From the Shortest Prompt" categories, where it is not only permitted but the entire point. Confusing the two submission streams is grounds for automatic entry into both.
Each team will be assigned, at random, a genre they do not understand, a prop they cannot locate, and a line of dialogue that makes no sense in any context, including the one they are required to use it in.
All music must be either composed by the entrant or licensed at a cost exceeding the entrant's total production budget. Song parodies are strictly prohibited, regardless of how funny the entrant personally finds them, and they will still be asked to perform it once for the jury, off the record.
Films shot in a location hosting FFSFF for the first time must feature a recognisable local landmark. Films shot anywhere else must simply state, in the credits, that a landmark was present and was very moving.
No animal may be harmed during filming. Animals may, however, be cast, directed, given top billing, and subsequently blamed in the director's statement for a disappointing final cut.
Every film must open with 5 seconds of black, 5 seconds of a title card, and 5 seconds of the entrant quietly reconsidering their life choices. This sequence may not be shortened, skipped, or replaced with something more interesting.
Every cast and crew member must sign a release form. The form does not need to be legally binding, coherent, or written in a language anyone present can read, but it must be signed, ideally in front of a witness who will later deny witnessing anything.