River Film Festival ()

Festival start: 01 July 2021      Festival end: 30 June 2021

The 15th River Film Festival is an international festival of shorts that will be held in Padova (Italy) from 1st to 30th June 2021. The Festival is organized by the Associazione Culturale Researching Movies and is sponsored by the Comune di Padova Assessorato alla Cultura (Padua City Council - Cultural Office) and the University of Padua. The festival is totally free entrance.

The films will once again be shown on the screen on the raft moored in the middle of the 16th century fluvial port used for trade between Padua and Venice at the city gate of Porta Portello. This enchanting setting is just one of the many features that attract people to RFF year after year!

The international festival jury will select the best film for the awards (Laurels, certificates and a River Award (Murano glass sculpture made by Venetian artist), in each of the following 6 categories:

Best Film Schools short
Best Italian gazes short
Best international short
Best documentary short
Best animation short
Best Queer/LGBTQ short
However, the public decide which films will receive awards (Audience Laurels, certificates) in the following categories:
Best VR Cinema
Best Film Festival in Focus

Films must have been completed after 1st January 2020.

Films can be documentary, student, narrative, fiction, animation, Queer/LGBTQ+, experimental, fantasy and VR Cinema

Total running time must be from 100 sec. to 30 minutes in length, including front and back credits.

All non-English films must have English subtitles.

Shipping and insurance costs for viewing copies are entirely the responsibility of the sender, as are any other costs incurred such as Customs duties etc. Films that are not selected will not be returned unless they are specifically asked for and the postage costs of returning the film are to be borne by the sender. All screener DVD or digital file of the film sent from outside Italy should be accompanied by a declaration stating: “for temporary use; only for cultural purposes, no commercial value”

Entry for the Festival implies unconditional acceptance of the published regulations.

Should any dispute arise, the festival organizers will have the right of final decision on all that is not specified in the Regulations. Should there be controversy, the Padova Law Courts are competent to deal any litigation.

Selection
All films selected receive Official Selection Laurels.

The Films will be selected by a panel of judges nominated by the Festival. The decision of the selection committee is final.

No work or artist will be either discriminated against or favored by their country of origin, language, age, race, education, gender, ideology, or by their economic resources. Every content, every form, every technique will be admitted with no censorship of any kind except
that enshrined in current Italian Law.

Finalists will be notified on our website or by email the 05th May 2021. The River Film Festival will do its best to announce the selected films and winners at the designated time, but will not be held liable for any unforeseeable delays.

The catalogue listing the films selected will be published after the 15th May 2021.