CISFF-2020 seeks to enlighten, educate, and entertain the viewers’ community through the exhibition of short length cinema. We believe that cinema is a magical tool that speaks a universal language, enabling the ability to unite people across the globe in an instant.

The CISFF-2020, as an international short film festival, has the objective of creating awareness among the cine-viewers through the projection of short films. We aim to encourage filmmakers across the globe to share their passion for our platform. The CISFF-2020 primarily focuses on short films of the diverse genres and encourage the filmmakers to submit their projects.

The CISFF-2020 strives to bring filmmakers from all over the world under one set. We continue to represent filmmakers from all levels and experiences.

The members of our jury belong to a network of professionals, with years of experience in the industry. The quality standard of this competition is very high and only awards the best films, so winners of this competition can be very proud of their achievement. We believe our film festival will give filmmakers a chance to showcase their work to a very wide range of audiences.

We wish everyone the best of luck and hope to see you at our event this year!

The CISFF-2020 jury members will go through each submission to select the nominees and judge their films. All the nominated submissions will be screened to audiences in Kolkata (India) and will be given out certificates, laurels, and trophies in various categories for cinematic excellence. The only winner from each category chosen by the judges shall receive the awards.

All the selected nominees who cannot attend the awards ceremony of CISFF-2020 will be contacted by our team to have their Certificates/ Trophies/ Awards delivered to them.

The CISFF-2020 awards shall be given in the following Categories:
1. Best Short Fiction - National
2. Best Short Fiction - International
3. Best Short Animations
4. Best Experimental Shorts
5. Best Documentary Shorts
6. Best Director
7. Best Acting
8. Best Editing
9. Best Sound Designing
10. Best Cinematography

By submitting your film into competition in the CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2020 (CISFF-2020), you expressly acknowledge that you are the rightful authorized person to submit the film and agree that you shall be bound by the following Rules & Terms:
1. CISFF-2020 is open to any film completed after January 1, 2018, regardless of its content, subject, or origin.
2. Submission of a film to the CISFF-2020 does not guarantee its selection as nomination/ official selection/ award. All the film submitted to CISFF-2020 will be reviewed by our panel of jury and the announcement of the nominees/ official selections/ winners will be intimated to the individual filmmakers by email as well listed on our website/ social media profiles permanently. Any form of canvassing will lead to the disqualification of the submission at CISFF-2020.
3. All the official selections/ nominees will receive a certificate, laurels, and trophies. The only winner from each category, chosen by the judges, will receive the awards.
4. All the selected nominees/ winners who cannot attend the awards ceremony of CISFF-2020 will be contacted by our team to have their certificates/ trophies/ awards delivered to them.
5. All the submission must not be longer than 40 min (including credits).
6. All submissions must have English subtitles. Any submission received without English subtitled will be summarily rejected.
7. A filmmaker may submit more than one film in a category and more than one category at a time.
8. The CISFF-2020 reserves the right to refuse entries.
9. The CISFF-2020 is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the festival. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules, and regulations.
10. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the CISFF-2020, from and against all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred because of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, and publicity.
11. The CISFF-2020 will not refund any fees if the filmmaker fails to submit the film in the correct category. Films submitted without the correct fees or proper submission media may be deemed ineligible at the discretion of the CISFF-2020 festival director or programming director. The festival does not cover any of the expenses incurred by the filmmaker.
12. After a film has been an official selection, the filmmaker will be notified, and eventually, the film will be listed on the festival website/ social media profiles under Official Selections. The Official Selection status doesn’t mean that your film will be screened at the festival. It means that your film has been appreciated by our judges of the panel and you can use the festival logo on your poster.
13. A filmmaker’s submission fee will not be reimbursed if they decide to withdraw their submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
14. We require an official trailer or poster, synopsis and a screener link to your film. Please select the correct category while submitting to avoid disqualification. We reserve the right to re-assign films to the appropriate category.
15. CISFF-2020 may without advance notice amend these Rules & Terms from time to time. Each such amendment shall become effective immediately. It is the filmmakers’ responsibility to periodically check for updates of these Rules & Terms.

DISCLAIMERS:
1. All filmmakers understand and accept that if their film is nominated/ accepted for screening at the film festival, they grant full and unrestricted permission for CISFF-2020 to screen the film at times of the festival's choice and to charge an admission fee for the screening of the film.
2. The Filmmaker understands and accepts that they do not participate in receiving any funds from the Box-office proceeds which are fully retained by the festival to help cover the overall cost of the festival presentation. It should be noted for the record that box-office proceeds never cover the cost of presentation of the short film programs.
3. The Filmmaker accepts and understands that the festival will do everything possible to present the films in the best possible manner but the festival (CISFF-2020) is not responsible for any malfunctions during the presentation of the production at its festival screening. All entries are carefully pre-screened before the public showing to assure that the screenings do perform to the industry standards. The Festival (CISFF-2020) assumes no responsibility for any technical difficulties in the presentation of this video at the actual event.
4. The Film Festival (CISFF-2020) reserves the complete right to make changes in the program dates and times and to possibly not screen the film, despite its being selected for screening.
5. The Filmmaker understands that the festival will take every possible measure to protect and control the viewing of their entry/ screener link. The festival assumes no liability whatsoever for theft, copyright violations, or piracy of the entry.