1. The entire film must be shot on a smartphone or tablet, or a 360 camera for SF360. The only exception is a small amount of drone 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.
3. Films for our feature film category must be a minimum of 40 minutes in length, no maximum time limit.
4. All 360 and VR entries to SF360 must be a maximum of 20 minutes with no minimum time limit.
5. Films for the upcoming SF3 Mini Category must be a maximum of 3 minutes and the theme for 2023 is UP.
6. SF3 accepts any and all genres. The only exceptions are films with excessive violence or gratuitous R & X rated content – these will not be accepted.
7. You can use any software to edit video and audio.
8. You can use any software for colour correction or special effects.
9. External filming equipment is allowed to be used during the shoot and include lenses, external sound equipment, microphones, lighting equipment, tripods and other devices to hold the phone and/or tablet, etc.
10. You cannot use copyright material unless you have documentation to prove you have legal authorisation from the musician, artist, writer or record label. We may ask for this documentation at any time. This includes all music and sound effects in your film. You must have the copyright for these. 
11. You may also be required to provide Actor Release Forms to be signed by the people appearing in your film.
12. Foreign films are welcome in any language, but you are required to add the subtitles in English. These must be a part of the film and not on a separate file.
13. The festival is open to filmmakers of ALL ages.
14. Submission deadline is 11:59pm (AEST), September 1st, 2023.
15. All content submitted must be in accordance with the law and any perceived illegal activity will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
16. The judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
17. If your film is selected as a finalist for our SF3 Screenings, then you may be required to submit 30 seconds of RAW footage as proof that you shot your film on a smartphone or tablet. Your film must also be submitted in 16:9 ratio and in a non-compressed format. We recommend an MP4, Apple Pro Res or Quicktime file, the largest size possible, with a constant frame rate and Stereo 48kHz sound so it will look good on the big cinema screen.
18. Your film can have screened in other film festivals, just as long as you have never entered it into SF3 (unless approved by festival directors at their discretion).
19. The cost of entry to SF3 2023 is $20 standard fee and $15 student fee. Feature film entry fee is $40. And $10 for SF3 Mini. You can pay via credit card or Paypal. If you need another payment method or are having trouble with payment please contact us at sf3@sf3.com.au
20. You can enter as many films as you like.
21. SF3 Kids Flicks Category and Competition is for Australian and International filmmakers aged 16 years and under at the time of filming. A kids film for the purposes of SF3 is a film who’s director and at least one other key creative are 16 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 16 years and under and all concepts of editing, camera angles and all other relevant artistic choices must be primarily decided upon by the filmmaker 16 years and under who enters the film.
22. The SF3 Kids category has a maximum time limit of 10 minutes. However, if you feel that your film must be longer than 10 minutes but less than 20 minutes, then you may still enter your film of more than 10 minutes and it will be considered for our SF3 Kids Finals, however, the film must be exceptional and the extra time limit justified.
23. The WIFT NSW Award 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.
24. 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.
25. The Luma Touch Made on Mobile Award is for a smartphone film that must be both completely shot and edited on smartphones or tablets 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.
26. The SF3 First Nations Award is open to Australian filmmakers who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
27. For the #FILMBREAKER Award, this must be your first film you’ve ever made or the first film that has had a public screening.
28. If anyone is found to have broken any of the rules then you may be disqualified from the festival at the discretion of the panel.
29. By entering SF3, you agree to allow your film to be screened as part of our festival if selected as well as any subsequent tours of our program.
30. By entering, you agree to allow SF3 to distribute your film to a third party, such as Etihad’s inflight entertainment network which picked up our 2018 & 2019 Gala films. Your film’s producer will be consulted on any deals and we will never distribute your film without complete permission and agreeance to do so. If no suitable agreement can be found, then we will not include your film in the distribution. This in no way impacts your entry in to SF3 itself.

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