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First Run Festival Rules, Regulations and Application

Each Spring, the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television proudly presents the First Run Festival to showcase over 120 advanced projects in film, video, and animation. This annual festival culminates with the Wasserman Awards Ceremony featuring the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Awards. The upcoming festival is scheduled over two weekends, from March 22 – March 25, 2012 for Undergraduate work and from March 29 – April 1, 2012 for Graduate Work.  The Wasserman Awards will be held on Thursday, April 5, 2012.  All festival screenings will be held at the Cantor Film Center located at 36 East 8th Street. Note that each film will be screened only once, with the exception of the award winners on April 5.

2012 FIRST RUN FESTIVAL - RULES AND REGULATIONS
 


Application & Entry Procedures

Registration for First Run is online only. 

You must then submit a festival judging copy on playable DVD. This means burned onto a single DVD-R or DVD+R disc, with a simple paper sleeve, since it will be organized by us in folders. DVDs must be compatible with standard set-top DVD players-- do not simply burn a quicktime or AVI file to a disc as data. Please ensure that your disc plays in a standard DVD player before turning it in to us, we do not have time to check each project before judging!  There are standard decks available in the 9th floor film library for student use. We prefer that you give us an NTSC, Region 1 or region free (Region 0) DVD.  If you are submitting a PAL copy, please let us know.

There is a later deadline for the actual festival screener and these must be HDCam tapes, Digibeta Tapes, or if submitting digitally, DCP files.  Please note that all HDCam tapes should be formatted 1080p/23.98psf.

Here are the three main deadlines to mark on your calendars:
 
•    Wednesday, January 4, 2012:  Deadline to register for festival online.
•    Thursday, January 5, 2012:  Deadline to submit festival judging copy on playable DVD.
•    Thursday, March 8, 2012:  Deadline to submit final festival screener on HDCam, Digibeta or DCP file.


Please note that all projects must have school/departmental recognition as part of the credits.  An example of how this credit can read is as follows:

Year Produced

New York University

Tisch School of the Arts

Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television

Graduate Film/Undergraduate Film & TV

Name of Class, Name of Professor

Festival Acceptance, Judging & Awards

Recipients of craft and excellence awards in producing, editing, screenwriting, etc., as well as “Best Feature” will be announced throughout the festival week, at the head of each festival screening.



Wasserman Finalists will be announced on the closing night of the festival. Wasserman Finalists will be comprised of 90 minutes of work from Graduate Film and 90 minutes of work from Undergraduate Film and Television and 90 minutes from TischAsia.  These will be archived onto a departmental DVD that is distributed to industry professional and to school-curated film festivals. An announcement and screening of the top three Wasserman/King Award winners in Graduate Film and Undergraduate Film & TV will follow on the closing night of the festival.



A jury composed of outside industry professionals selects the top three winners in each department.  The top three Wasserman Award Winning films from each department will also be exhibited at our West Coast industry showcase, the Haig P. Manoogian Screenings in Los Angeles in June.

Project Eligibility and Length Requirements

Submissions exceeding curricular time limits for their categories will not be eligible for festival competition.  Misrepresentation of length information disqualifies the applicant.


Undergraduate Project Lengths, maximum including titles & credits:

Animation: 15 minutes
Narrative Workshop:
15 minutes
Narrative Television:  30 minutes
Advanced Production: 20 minutes
Advanced Experimental: 15 minutes
Broadcast Documentary: 30 minutes
*Intermediate projects are not eligible for First Run.


 Graduate Project Lengths, maximum including titles & credits:

Feature Films
 No time limit
Thesis 30 minutes
3rd Year Collaboration:    
20 minutes
3rd Year Documentary: 
20 minutes
2nd Year:   
15 minutes
*First Year films are not eligible for First Run.


Festival Publicity
A director’s photograph and a still image from the project should be emailed at the time of registration.  These materials will be used on a festival webpage and may be used for festival publicity.  All submissions should be digital and may be either jpeg or tiff, and high resolution (at least 300 dpi).  Files must contain your last name in the file name, and you must indicate whether they are a still image or director photo. The Special Events Office will provide printed festival schedules, however, all other information about the films, filmmakers & festival will be posted on our interactive festival website.

First Run 2012 Application

Please note, the information below will be published online. If you would like any portion of this information to remain private, please email your request to jm8@nyu.edu
Director First Name *
Director Last Name *
Preferred Email Address *
Preferred Telephone Number *
Title of Project *
Length (or estimated length) *
Synopsis (brief one-liner for program, limit 60 words/400 characters) *
Project Information
Project / Class *
Format of Project *
Type of Project *
Supervising Professor *
Budget *
Screenwriter *
Producer *
Editor *
Cinematographer *
Sound Location *
Sound Design *
Production Design *
Check if NYU Student *
None
Screenwriter
Producer
Editor
Cinematographer
Sound Location
Sound Design
Production Design
List of Actor Names and their Roles *
Please write the actor name followed by the role in quotes. For example Jane Doe as "Annie".
Original Score? *
Yes
No
If yes, name of composer
Director Biography (limit 800 characters) *
I have read the guidelines & misrepresentation (such as false running times) on this form will result in disqualification. *
Yes
I understand that production stills may be printed in festival publications and I hereby give my permission for such use. *
Yes
A director’s photograph and a still image from the project should be emailed at the time of registration. These materials will be used on a festival webpage and may be used for festival publicity. All submissions should be digital and may be either jpeg or tiff, and high resolution (at least 300 dpi). We accept both color and black & white images. The Special Events Office will provide printed festival schedules, however, all other information about the films, filmmakers & festival will be posted on our interactive festival website.
Please email one still photo & one director's photo to jm8@nyu.edu. Make sure that your files are titled with a combination of your last name and the type of image you are sending, for example if your name is John Smith, your files should be titled "Smith_John_Still" and "Smith_John_Director".