What is the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival
Online Application on KIDS FIRST! site |
The KIDS FIRST! Film Festival showcases new and classic children's films, TV shows and DVDs from studios, independent producers and youth filmmakers. It travels to more than 150 venues annually with a collective audience of more than One Million! All accepted titles will be considered for a KIDS FIRST! Best Award, granted once a year. Our festival changes its selections every quarter. Check the deadline schedule to find the one that works best for you and submit accordingly. The Festival accepts approximately 75 titles every quarter, 300 annually.
To qualify for the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival, your film or screenplay must
meet the KIDS FIRST! criteria and
be suitable for children between the age of 2 to 18.
The production quality must be acceptable for the large screen,
and the entertainment value suitable for a festival
audience. Programs lacking in these last two qualities
may be better suited for a KIDS FIRST! endorsement, particularly
if they have strong educational value and work best in a
face-to-face learning environment. Independent and student producers need to clear any copyrighted music or film clips for film festivals or not submit films without clearances for such material.
Application: Three, non-returnable preview screeners of films must be submitted in DVD format (NTSC) with your Festival application. For screenplays, 1 pdf is required with your application.
Upon acceptance for the festival, you must send an additional 10 non-returnable DVDs for our multiple screenings. If your film is 12 minutes or less in length, it will be featured in our online KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. Your application gives pre-approval to this condition.
Once you submit a title for Film Festival consideration, you may not withdraw it. Please be sure you have no conflicts prior to submitting it.
Acceptance notification
Acceptance notification will be emailed and mailed by USPS approximately 30 days prior to the start of the quarter for which it is accepted. Late submissions and non-acceptances will be notified slightly later. You will receive an acceptance agreement which specifies your deliverables and deadlines. Upon acceptance, you may use the "Official Selection KIDS FIRST! Film Festival" seal in all your publicity or box art for your film. Only the film that is accepted may use this. If it is part of a series, others in the series may not use it unless they too have been accepted into the festival..
Promotional Materials
Upon acceptance, you will be asked to send 300 dpi cover art (if available), production stills and post a promotional trailer (if available) to the KIDS FIRST! YouTube site. Your acceptance letter will specify size and format of files and instructions on how to send them.
Festival Bookings
Your title will be offered to every venue we partner with through our online booking system. We do our best to get your film as many bookings as possible during the quarter for which it is accepted. You can help increase your bookings by making sure that you post a trailer of it on YouTube. Independent films that have trailers available get 5 to 10 times the bookings as those that don't. You will be emailed notification of new bookings every Monday.
Beginning in 2011, all short films, 12 minutes or less in length will be featured in our online KIDS FIRST! Film Festival.
Once accepted
Your film or screenplay:
- Receives an "Official Selection KIDS FIRST! Film Festival" designation which may be used in any of your publicity materials.
- Is included in the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival program
- Is included on the KIDS FIRST! web site which receives 1 million hits monthly.
- Will be considered for the annual KIDS FIRST! Best of the Fest Awards
Every title accepted by the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival is eligible for a KIDS FIRST! Best Award, presented each fall to films that have played during the previous 12 months.
KIDS FIRST! Best Awards and the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival are projects of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media
Tips About Copyright Clearances
Independent and student producers need to clear the copyrighted music for film
festivals or not use copyrighted music at all. The music business regards the use of music at
film festivals as a violation of copyright unless permission has been
granted. They have provided a low fee of $250 to $750 for one year film
festival rights.
This also applies to film clips. To actually clear a film clip, you
need to clear the studio, every actor in the clip, music if there is any and
Writers and Directors Guilds. The studios consider the use of a clip
without clearance as a violation of copyright. And getting clearance is a
lengthy, tricky and expensive task.
Young filmmakers need to understand it is not their right to use
anything they want in their films. When they do, it
gives them a great and unfair advantage over films and filmmakers who have
not used copyrighted materials because they can't pay for them and
have chosen to not use them without permission.
This information was generously provided by
Barbara Zimmerman,
President,
BZ/Rights & Permissions, Inc. You may contact her at:
2350 Broadway,
Suite 224
New York, NY 10024
phone: 212-924-3000
fax: 212-924-2525
http://www.bzrights.com
Helpful Links
Daily Variety:
http://www.variety.com
Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com
Writing Treatments:
http://www.writingtreatments.com
Great American Pitchfest:
http://www.pitchfest.com
Publishers Weekly:
http://www.publishersweekly.com
Ed Silver Agency
http://www.edsilveragency.com
"I just wanted say how extremely helpful I found the jurors' comments on my screenplay "Is It Me?" While generally very positive, which was gratifying, the comments included specific suggestions to improve the screenplay overall as well as make it more appealing to the most appropriate age group, 8-12. I agree with all of the suggestions and they will certainly help me make this screenplay the very best I can.
Whatever happens in October, I am very happy I submitted my screenplay to KIDS FIRST! and will continue to enjoy visiting your website with frequency. Thank you."
Michael Fishman
"We are so excited to have been nominated for our short film 'Mbiya and His Cow' produced by Mindpool Productions. The children had so much fun with being part of the production of this film. We are really holding thumbs that it does well in the festival. Oh how I wish that I could be there as part of the award ceremony but being so far away from the States it is a real challenge for us. Be that as it may, we consider this a major achievement not just for the children of South Africa but also the children of the African continent. Please keep me posted on the progress and looking forward to the verdict in mid October." Jacqui Hlongwane-Papo, Executive Producer, Mbiya and His Cow
"It's easy to make the typical mindless junk that passes for entertainment these days - it is so much harder to make things that teach, entertain and have a message that sticks with you, that you want to savor and recall over and over, just like the special books that we'd
read over and over again when we were all kids ourselves. That's my mission and I know it's yours at KIDS FIRST! too Thanks so much for letting me be a part of this!"
Kelly Kennedy, Producer/Director, The Baseball Card Shop
