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Rules

The rules are simple

Our SF3 film festival rules:
1. Your film must be shot entirely on a smartphone or tablet. The only exception is we will allow a small amount of drone or archival footage. The amount is discretionary but must be an insignificant amount of your film and used only sparingly.
2. Films for the SF3 Gala Finals Official Selection must be no longer than 20 minutes including titles and credits. There is no minimum time limit. Films for the SF3 Mini Mobile Category must be a max of 3 minutes. SF3 Kids has a 10 minute time limit. There are no minimum time limits.
3. Films for our feature film category must be a minimum of 30 minutes in length, no maximum time limit.
4. If your film is between 20-30 minutes them please write to us at sf3@sf3.com.au to discuss how you can enter and still screen at SF3 as we have screened films of this length in the past.
5. SF3 accepts any and all genres except X Rated films and graphic violence.
6. All scripts and ideas must be your original material.
7. Copyright material can only be used if you have written permission to do so, and we can ask at anytime to see this permission.
8. You can use any software or apps to edit your video and audio, and can edit on any device.
9. You can use any software for colour correction or special effects.
10. You can use external microphones, lenses, lighting, tripods, etc.
11. Your film must meet all the terms and conditions of the festival to be eligible.
12. The judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding film selections and prize winners.
13. SF3 Kids Category and Competition is for Australian and International filmmakers aged 18 years and under at the time of filming. This award is designed to nurture kids, tweens and teenage filmmakers. A kids film for the purposes of SF3 is a film who’s director and/or screenwriter are 18 years or under at the time of filming. All other roles on the film, including the DOP and actors and editors may include people of all ages, however, the film must be the idea of a filmmaker 18 years and under and all concepts of editing, camera angles and all other relevant artistic choices must be primarily decided upon by the filmmaker 18 years and under who enters the film. SF3 Kids films must be a max of 10 minutes in length however there is room for longer films if they are of an exceptional standard and you can write to us at sf3@sf3.com.au to discuss this.
14. SF3 is open to filmmakers from every country.
15. Films will be accepted from filmmakers of every age.
16. The SF3 WIFT NSW Award for Best Female Creative is for the best female creative, decided by our judges, who worked on one of our Official Selection films in a crew capacity, not limited to the producer, writer, DP, etc. The director of each film will be asked to nominate an outstanding female that worked on their film, and this can include themselves.
17. The SF3 Community Award is for a film which showcases stories, actors and/or people that are under-represented on our screens and showcases them in a moving, positive, or special way. This will be decided by our judging panel. People from CALD backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ filmmakers, First Nations and Indigenous Creatives, people living with a disability and female filmmakers are encouraged to enter.
18. The Luma Touch Finished on Mobile Award is for a smartphone film that must be both completely shot and edited on a smartphone or tablet only. You may use any editing program, but you must show us evidence that it was edited on a device; evidence includes screenshots of you editing or a short BTS of you editing the film.
19. To be eligible for the SF3 Best Feature Film Award, your film must be a Sydney public premiere, but it is allowed to have screened in other cities and countries. It is not allowed to have screened online.
20. Archival footage may be used in a very minimal amount to add context or needed substance to your film.
21. The SF3 First Nations Award is open to filmmakers who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or Indigenous from around the world.
22. For the #FILMBREAKER Award, this must be your first film you’ve ever made or the first film that has had a public screening as we are celebrating first-time and emerging filmmakers shooting on a cellphone with this award.
23. For the SF3 & Spineless Wonders Best Adaptation Award, you must have selected and adapted one of the Micro-Fiction works from the SF3 website. You must have shot this film on your mobile device and this film can be for our Mini Category or our Gala Category.
24. You can shoot your film using any mobile device including iPad, iPhone, Oppo, Samsung, Huawei, Nokia, Sony, Google, any other tablet or more.
25. The AI award is for films made using AI and must be made on a mobile device but can be edited on any device. It must be written by a writer and made using AI.
26. The SF3 & Blackmagic Camera Award (for a film shot using the Blackmagic Camera App) is a film up to 20 minutes for our Gala Awards Category or up to 10 minutes for our SF3 Kids Awards that is shot on a smartphone in the Blackmagic Camera App. You can edit this film on any device and with any software and it is also eligible for all of our Gala Awards or SF3 Kids Awards. NB: We have three prizes in this category – one of our Gala and two in our Kids Category (for a Primary School and a High School Film).