Entry Procedures and Regulations

Overview

The NZ Mountain Film Festival is a competitive event bringing the best adventure films on the worlds remote places, extreme sports and their spirit of adventure from around the world to the alpine village of Wanaka, New Zealand.

The festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their work, receive merit and win cash prizes. We invite you to submit your film for pre-screening consideration. All films selected as finalists will be screened at our festival in 2023.

The theme is: Adventurous Sports and Lifestyles. 

Please be aware, the subject matter criteria is extremely broad. As long as there is a link with adventurous sports or people and is set in the world’s mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans or skies, the film will meet the theme. For example, mountain climbing, rock or ice climbing, caving, canyoning, kayaking, white water rafting, base jumping, paragliding, etc are all included as are films which portray wild environments or cultures of the people living within them. 

Festival dates June 23 to 30, 2023

Entry Fees  – There is a small handling fee of NZ$25 per film entered. Entry is free for films shorter than 10 minutes.

Entry Deadlines – 20th April, 2023 (later by special arrangement). Receipt of entries will be acknowledged by e-mail ONLY if requested.

Tips for First Timers – Make the film short. Better to have 10-15 minutes of great footage, than to loose your audience with 40-50 minutes of average footage.

Categories and Awards

Entries are judged in the following categories: Entrants need not specify a category unless they only wish to be considered for one.

  • Grand Prize – US$1000
  • Best Film on Climbing US$200.
  • Best Film on Adventurous Sports and Lifestyles US$200
  • Best Film on Mountain Culture US$200.
  • Best Environmental Film US$200.
  • Best Snow Sports Film US$200.
  • Best Solo Adventure Film US$200.
  • Best Short Film (10 minutes or less) – free entry if less than 5 minutes in length.
  • Best New Zealand made Film; The Hiddleston/MacQueen Award NZ$2,500.
  • Grass Roots Award NZ$500.
  • People’s Choice
  1. Films must either be in English, or have English subtitles..
  2. Entries MUST be accompanied by a short summary of the film.
  3. An admission charge will be made to the public in order to defray the costs of the festival. Short films (under 5 minutes) are exempt from the entry fee (just ignore the PayPal link after completing the entry form).
  4. Receipt of entries will be acknowledged by the festival organisers as long as the correct e-mail address is supplied and ONLY if requested.
  5. Finalists will be notified by June 1st, 2023.
  6. The entrant acknowledges and agrees that all matters not covered by these Regulations, and questions arising from them, will be decided by festival organisers or the festival jury at their sole discretion.
  7. Screening fees will not be paid, just the cash prizes.
  1. We prefer films to be supplied as .mov or .mp4 files with dimensions of 1920 x 1080. 1080p and h264 codec (2 x DVD copies of the film also accepted in PAL standard preferred (but NTSC ok).

By entering into the festival, the entrant represents and warrants that:

  1. It has the authority to enter the film in the festival
  2. It owns all right, title and interest, including the copyright and all intellectual property rights, in and to the film being submitted to the Festival and has the right to distribute, exhibit and promote the film in or through all media formats now known or hereafter devised
  3. No material in the film being submitted by the entrant to the festival is libellous or defamatory or violates the rights of privacy or publicity of any person and the full use of the rights in such film will not violate any rights, including copyright or moral rights, of any person, firm or corporation
  4. The Entrant grants the Festival licensees and assigns the right to copy and version the entry in its entirety to facilitate technical operations of the Festival, in and through any and all media formats now known or hereafter devised
  5. The Entrant grants the Festival licensees and assigns the right to use up to three minutes from the entry AND accompanying photos submitted to the Festival for promotional purposes of the Festival in or through any and all media formats now known or hereafter devised
  6.  All music licences (including, without limitation, all synchronization, mechanical and master-use licences, as applicable) have been obtained and all payments have been made that are required for the public performance of the music incorporated in the film
  7. By entering the NZ Mountain Film Festival’s competition, the entrant acknowledges and agrees to all entry rules and regulations of the Festival
  8. The greatest possible care will be taken to secure your films and ensure no unauthorised screenings will take place, but in saying this, no responsibility for loss or damage will be accepted by the festival organisers
  9.  Films that win cash prizes will be included in our National Film Tour.
  10.  Finalists will be screen via our Online Festival ONLY within NZ and Australia for a limited timeframe of one month unless the entrant requests to opt out via email before April 30.

The entrant agrees to indemnity the NZ Mountain Film Festival, their respective successors, licensees, and their respective officers, Trustees, directors, members, agents and employees and hold them harmless from and against any and all claims, liability, losses, damages, costs, expenses (including reasonable legal fees), and penalties arising out of, resulting from, based upon or incurred because of a breach by the entrant of any statement, representation or warranty made by the entrant in the entry form, these procedures and regulations.

  1. Fill in the online entry form. (Don’t forget to click on the Submit button at the end!)
  2. You will be sent a confirmation email with a payment link to pay the $25 entry fee. Note: if you do not receive this confirmation email please contact us to see if we have received your entry – you may have made a mistake in your email address.
  3. Ensure you have sent us your promotional images and a link to download your movie (preferred).
 

Any other questions or enquiries should be directed to the Festival Director:
Mark Sedon. E-mail: info@mountainfilm.nz

You can use this button to pay for your entry fee with a credit card via Stripe: