1) General terms of participation:

– You can submit one video only to the film festival for consideration through the online platform on FilmFreeway, subject to the rules.
– Films must not exceed 3 minutes of running time, including credits.
– The period for submissions is from 12 February 2021 through 12 March 2021 at midnight EST.
– The content of all submissions must address gender equality and women´s empowerment issues.
– Every submission must meet one of the three categories outlined below.

2) Type of videos and categories for submission:

– Stories can be narrated in all genres: fiction, nonfiction or documentary, experimental videos, and animation.
– Films must demonstrate how change is being made or can possibly be made, showcasing the stories of those who are taking action to change realities, hearts and minds, for a more equal world.
– The competition categories mirror the themes of the Action Coalitions, which are the outcomes of the Generation Equality Forum. For the first part of the Film Festival, which will take place in Mexico, we are welcoming works on the following categories:
Category 1 – Feminist movements and leadership: Feminist Movements and Leadership promotes the resourcing, investing, strengthening, and enabling of feminist leadership, women’s rights, and feminist movements in their diversity, to scale and sustain collective action for gender equality, social justice, and human rights. It accelerates transformative feminist leadership that is inclusive in all aspects of decision-making, creates spaces for new, emerging feminist movements, and enables young feminists as drivers of inclusive change.
Category 2- Economic Justice and Rights: Economic justice and rights refers to how economic and political systems are designed, how their benefits or costs are distributed, and how institutions are held accountable for the economic outcomes they generate. This theme encompasses the full spectrum of paid and unpaid labor, including informal labor, and encompasses sub-themes such as time poverty, social protection, financial inclusion, and wage inequity.

Category 3- Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action: Women’s participation is vital for effective efforts towards prevention, crisis response, recovery, conflict resolution and sustainable peace. Commitments on protecting women’s rights and making women’s participation in peace, security and humanitarian action meaningful and sustained remain unfulfilled. As the world continues to be mired in conflict and humanitarian needs caused by violence, climate change, natural disasters and pandemics, among others, there is urgency for transformative action to ensure full implementation of the women, peace and security agenda and humanitarian action commitments.

– Filmmakers must choose one category from the three listed above.

3) Technical requirements:
– Videos submitted must be a final, edited product; sound-mixed, color-graded and optimized for online streaming. Rough cuts are not accepted.

– Films can be submitted in any language. However, all non-English dialogue must include English subtitles, and all titles and/or motion graphics must also be in English, or have an English translation on-screen, at the time of submission.
– A transcript of the dialogue in English must accompany the project. Transcripts will be used by the Festival for captioning in other languages in case the film is shortlisted. The Festival will be responsible for translating into other languages.
– Submissions must be send in full HD

4) Awards and selection process:
– Each of the three categories will have a cash prize of 1,000 USD. The prizes are non-transferrable.
– A jury composed of members of the film and storytelling industries as well as the feminist movement will review a short list of 9 films and select three winners.
– The decisions of the jury are final and binding. Criteria’s assessed are: relevance to the theme; technique; composition.
– Winners will be informed confidentially late March, prior to a public announcement and before the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico (29-31 March).
-All winners will be notified by e-mail after the judging is complete. If you receive a notification e-mail from UN Women, you must respond to the notification e-mail to accept your prize. If UN Women does not receive a response from you within seven days of the notification, UN Women reserves the right to reallocate the prize to another applicant.
-UN Women reserve the right to cancel, modify, suspend or delay the Competition in the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond their reasonable control. UN Women reserves the right to change, amend, delete or add to these Terms and Conditions at any time.
-UN Women 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.

5) Potential applicants:

– Submissions may be made by individuals 18- 30 years old.. You must use your legal name and provide valid contact details. You must provide your date of birth in the entry form.
– Every application must name the individual (or group of individuals), as the author(s) of the video and include the age. In case of a group of authors, all names and ages of all authors must be listed and will be considered as a single applicant in the copyright rules described below, as well as for the grant/ prize for winners.
– Every applicant or group can submit only one video.
– Applicants cannot be the staff of (or the family members of such staff) any United Nations system organization.

6) Content requirements:
– Films must not be disrespectful of the impartiality and independence of the United Nations, reflect adversely on UN Women; be incompatible with the aims and objectives of UN Women; be derogatory to any persons depicted in the film; contain any nudity, lewd, or otherwise offensive or inappropriate content.; –
– Films cannot be produced with funds from UN Women or any other United Nations institutions or programmes.
– UN Women shall not be responsible or liable for:
a) any problem, loss or damage due to 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.
-Submitted film must be original, unpublished work. Applicants represent and warrant that their Submission is their original work, it has not been copied from others, and it does not violate the rights of any other person or entity.
-Incomplete entries or entries that do not comply with these Terms and Conditions will be automatically disqualified at the sole discretion of UN Women.

7) Legal terms and conditions:
– It is the sole responsibility of the author who submitted the project to secure license or obtain permission from the appropriate legal rightsholder for any and all trademarked and/or copyrighted materials included in your project before you can exhibit it publicly. This includes music, stock images/footage, or any other elements that could violate an existing legal trademark or copyright. Projects that are accepted into the Festival will be required to sign a waiver stating that all materials contained within the project do not violate any existing trademark or copyright.

– Films must be the original work of the author. If a film is based upon another person’s life or upon a book or other underlying work, author must secure any necessary rights to make such adaptations. Copies of any such permission and consent shall be provided to UN Women together with the submission.

– All Competition entries become the property of UN Women and will not be acknowledged or returned. The copyright in any submitted film shall remain the property of the applicant, but entry in this Competition constitutes applicant’s irrevocable, perpetual permission and consent to the UN Women and others authorized by the UN Women without further compensation or attribution, to use, distribute, reproduce or otherwise utilize the Submitted film in whole or in part, and the applicant’s name, by any means or methods now known or hereafter devised in any and all media now in existence or hereinafter created, throughout the world, for the duration of the copyright in the film. The applicant also consents to UN Women doing (or omitting to do) any acts in respect of the submitted film which may otherwise constitute an infringement of the applicant’s moral rights. UN Women and/or others authorized by UN Women shall have the right to edit, adapt, and modify the submitted film.

– By entering your film in the Competition you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold and save harmless, UN Women, and its officials, agents, employees, consultants, sub-contractors and other representatives from and against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any third party against UN Women, 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 UN Women’ use of the film. The obligations under this section do not lapse upon closure of the Competition.