Film Challenge Rules
Important: These Rules are supplemental to any posted Challenge-specific ones, which may be found on the respective Challenge web page.
Follow ALL posted Guidelines to qualify your entry for Theatrical screening And/or receiving awards!
The following is a legally binding agreement between the submitter (you) and Sunbelt Productions, LLC, the event management company and authorized agent for the Organization of Independent Filmmakers, a film community, hereafter collectively referred to as “OIF “.
By submitting content to OIF or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, or partners, you acknowledge and agree to all of the following Challenge Entry Terms and Conditions to qualify your entry for Theatrical screening And/or receiving awards.
Challenge Entry Terms and Conditions
- You confirm you are the authorized owner or agent for the production being submitted and hereby authorize OIF to screen your film in part, or its entirety, to the public.
- All productions are independent. Under no circumstance shall you state or imply that you are an employee, contractor, or a representative, for OIF.
- You certify that the script is based on an original story where you or a member of your production team is the creator of same story. No adaptations. No “Fan” films.
- The Challenge entrant is required to be an active member in good standing of the OIF community.
- You will inform the admins promptly if you will not be able to complete your film project prior to the deadline.
- You have obtained all necessary talent and location releases for the submitted production.
- Film project (script and production) must be submitted by, and rules must be accepted by, a real person. No pseudonyms or company names allowed for submissions.
- Please practice safe filming. No real weapons to be present on any set.
- Film entries not received by the deadline will not be eligible for awards. However; up to the producers’ sole discretion, may still be screened.
- Opening slate for all OIF Challenge Films can be found here: Cards. Use one of these required “cards” at the beginning of your film to identify the production as a Challenge entry as well as to indicate your self-rating. Please choose a rating in line with current industry practices.
- Maximum running time limitation of the film submission for a Challenge is 9 minutes and 5 seconds, unless otherwise posted on the respective Challenge material. Total running time includes credits and required OIF slate.
- Rating Limits: Please use good taste. Keep content to “PG-13” use swear words sparingly and where appropriate for the film’s story. No nudity. No more than 3 “F* bombs”! We normally have a general audience in the theater, keep it so the whole family can enjoy the screening.
- Unless otherwise posted on the specific Challenge page, films should be encoded in h.264, .mov or .mp4 format, 1920p x 1080p Full HD resolution (2K, 1.78:1 aka 16:9). Do not submit any other resolution for the screening. For other perspectives, you may use “black bars” (letter-boxing).
- When submitting films, the file names must match the film title exactly (all lowercase), using underscores to indicate spaces. Shorter names preferred.
Example: if title is “My Dog Is Great”, film file name should be “my_dog_is_great.mp4”.
DO NOT use any other file-naming sequence such as “My dog is great version 2.1” or “filmmaker-Darth-Thomas-My Dog Is Great (Final).mov”, “MDIG.mp4”, or “oif-film-24-mdig-series-b.mp4”. - Total stock footage or AI-generated content used must not exceed 15 seconds of runtime.
- Spoken word (synchronized dialogue) films must be presented in the English Language unless English Language text captions are used.
- Only directors and or producers are authorized to nominate candidates for OIF Awards.
- Award eligibility for directors and writers is limited to one credited entry per Challenge.
- OIF may show or post images, photos or trailers of your film, up to 90 seconds, via any distribution channel(s) for marketing and promotional purposes.
- During production, abide by all local laws and ordinances.
- Failure to provide the film according to the technical Challenge rules and specifications will cause a one, or more, point deduction to the offending award categories for each infraction (adherence to genre, missing required slates, wrong naming convention, sound issues, wrong format provided, or other technical issues).
- Once a film has been submitted, it cannot be withdrawn from screening.
- You hereby indemnify OIF, its staff, agents, and partners from any harm while participating in an OIF-sponsored event.
- Your OIF film may NOT be shown elsewhere prior to the OIF screening date for the Challenge you entered. Doing so will result in permanently being locked out of any OIF communities.
- Award nominations for actors as a lead and/or supporting role is limited to a total of three (3) films per Challenge.
- Writers or Directors are limited to such roles in 1 film per Challenge.
- You are allowed to make minor changes to your script during production, as long as the storyline is not materially changed and all the guidelines are followed, your film submission will likely still qualify.
- If your script was selected and your film qualifies by the aforementioned rules, you have a secured screening spot at the event. Your cast and crew are eligible for awards as long as the final film qualifies and is submitted by the deadline.
- The submitter of the film acknowledges their production team has followed the above rules. Please communicate these rules with your crew and talent to avoid jeopardizing your submission.
- Additional Terms and Conditions may apply and will be posted on the dedicated Challenge web page, or on the submission form itself.
Film Specs (READ CAREFULLY AND Be sure to Provide these to your editor):
Final Video Format: H.264 .mp4 format, 16:9 aspect ratio (1920x1080p) preferred. If using other aspect ratios, please letterbox the frames or they may be letterboxed on the screen.
If your film contains captions, be sure to show them at least at a distance equal to 10% of the frame height from the bottom so as not to be potentially cut-off due to theater screen formats.
OIF admins will export all films in default 2K FLAT DCP format, 24 fps, stereo unless otherwise posted. This is the normal theatrical format required by most lage commercial theaters today.
Submitting a film in other formats may cause you to receive an award penalty for each infraction (see rules). For more info on DCP standards, see box below.
Standard DCP Pixel Array Sizes and Frame Rates
2K Scope (2.39:1) Resolution: 2048×858 FPS:24/1 or 48/1
2K Flat (1.85:1) Resolution: 1998×1080 FPS:24/1 or 48/1
2K Full (1.90:1) Resolution: 2048×1080 FPS:24/1 or 48/1
4K Scope (2.39:1) Resolution: 4096×1716 FPS:24/1
4K Flat (1.85:1) Resolution: 3996×2160 FPS:24/1
4K Full (1.90:1) Resolution: 4096×2160 FPS:24/1
Suggested Audio Settings:
Audio format: AAC 48Khz stereo at 320kbps
Hard-limit Audio levels to -3db. NO PEAKING to “zero” db or above (In general, keep your audio output to -24 LUFS)
Normalize dialogue levels to about -6. Bit rate: 15 Mbps target for a 1080FHD file.
If you do not understand these terms or conditions, this is a friendly group, please ask someone within the group or one of the admins for an explanation.
Additional Considerations
- Do not wait until the last minute to submit your film project. In the past several films were not screened nor qualified for awards because of unforeseen events occurring near submission deadlines. Work with your editor to get the film in on time.
- For any Challenges or related events where submissions over 20 minutes in length are allowed, it is strongly recommended that a trailer be submitted. A trailer is not required for shorter films, however, you are free to post one in your local group’s Facebook page.
- You now have the option of having your film shown on Flixet.com, currently building up a large library of short films, an initiative to distribute films mostly from within the OIF library and increase exposure to the world. The site will be launched when its library has reached a suitable size.
Please visit the submission page at https://independentfilmmakers.org/submissions/ to send us the following:
Your Film for Challenge entry, the Film Poster, Film Trailer, Filmmaker Bio.
Additional resources may be available to you on this page as well. Forms are available according to the appropriate schedule.
Some of the OIF submission guidelines on this page are modeled after general Film Festival Submission Guidelines, furthering our members’ preparedness in the film industry. These guidelines are also established to foster greater general participation in film-making and to provide a broader environment to recognize local filmmakers, talent and crew. Guidelines are subject to change without notice. Please review them carefully prior to submitting your entry.
Failure to agree to and abide by all of the above guidelines may disqualify your entry.
These rules and guidelines were last updated on January 18, 2025.