XIV Cinephages Meeting
Film-Art Festival on the Border 2025
– Open Call –
The sixteenth edition of the Cinephagus Meeting, born in 2011 from the conjunction of the Andes University Cinema Club and Bordes, an independent organization dedicated to study and promote arts and humanities in Venezuela, will be held in San Cristóbal (Venezuela), from August 7 to 9, with an online screen available for audiences around the world.
Experimental films are more than welcome: our festival encourages innovation and transgressing of format, genres, political and aesthetic borders. We are especially receptive of video-art and dance films, as well as animation and documentaries, considering it necessary for artists to have adequate spaces for the exhibition and critique of their work, outside commercial circuits and other formal demands that may limit creative exploration of contemporary languages.
We are also interested in films exploring the subject of frontiers. Táchira is located in the border of Venezuela with Colombia, and this has traditionally been the most active geo political limit in Latin America, but in the last five years activity has been more than unusual, deserving many different views to be displayed. The story of this and other borders from around the world may be valuable contributions to our festival, which encourages reflective discussion as well as aesthetic enjoyment of all works presented.
All artists interested in participating can submit their films until July 23, 2025, through international platforms:
FilmFreeway / Festhome / Tou Jiang
Awards and Prizes
Main international categories:
– Fiction
– Documentary
– Animation
– Video-Art
– Dance Film
– Musical Video
– Best National Film (Venezuela)
Borders Short Film**
A prize for a film submitted in any category, made in any country, be it by students, professionals or amateurs. It is awarded by the Festival Committee, every year, to a work that excels in its approach to the issue of Borders, be it through a treatment of the subject of frontiers in the content of the film or by an aesthetic expression of the transgression of limits in the art of audiovisual language.
Publics’ Favorite***
Elected by the general audience present during public projection, by a universal, secret and direct vote.
Special awards:
– Screenplay
– Cinematography
– Sound Design
– Art Direction
– Production
– Acting Direction
Rules & Terms
- Open call for submissions from September 14, 2024. The final deadline is July 23, 2025. The official selection will be announced on August 1.
- The event will take place in San Cristóbal (Venezuela) from September 4 to 6, with an online screening option available for audiences around the world. The verdict of the jury will be announced in the city San Cristóbal, on October 8 and immediately made public through our official social media accounts.
- The Cinephagus Meeting Festival does not require any restriction on the exclusivity of the submitted works. They may have been premiered or participated in other contests, festivals or screenings, be available online, etc. You are still welcome to apply.
- Short film production should not be before January, 2023.
- Time limit duration of each short film allowed for submission and previewing is 20 minutes (credits included).
- Short films that are not in Spanish must have subtitles in this language. English subtitles will be admitted when not available in Spanish, if the evaluation committee considers that the film may be projected to Hispanic public without significantly affecting the quality of the audience experience.
- Categories of submission are: Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Video-Art, Dance Film and Musical Film.
- Participants from any part of Venezuela and other countries are welcome.
- Professional film-makers are welcome to submit works as well as students and amateurs.
- All works must submit through Filmfreeway or FestHome or Tou Jiang, where you will find registrarion fees and several requirements for the purposes of warranting and adequate screening and promotion of each film.
- Films produced in Venezuela may qualify for waiver if submitted through a special registration form available in our site www.bordes.com.ve
- More than one work may be submitted by the same film makers (without additional fees). However, registration does not guarantee the projection of the film in the festival. The Organization Committee will make an official selection from all material submitted, and authors will receive a certificate acknowledging this distinction.
- The Organization Committee assumes the responsibility of presenting a curated program for the public, consisting of our official selection and special features as well as conferences and workshops. We are also responsible for designating a qualified jury and providing them with the material as well as evaluation criterion and any means necessary for the adequate completion of their task. We also guarantee adequate conditions for the projection of all works presented in the festival.
- All films that qualify as the Festivals Official Selection will be projected to a general audience in San Cristóbal, Venezuela, as well as an online option for audiences of other locations.
- Awards will be given in the categories of: Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Video-Art, Dance Film, Musical Film, National Film (Venezuelan), BORDERS short film, Best Student Film and Publics Favorite.
- Special mentions may be granted for: Best Direction, Best Photography, Best Sound Design, Best Production and Outstanding Acting Performance.
- The jury will be comprised of three principal members, each one an acknowledged authority in the cinematographic guild, with different areas of expertise. The inclusion in this group of one scholar, academic, teacher or critic is mandatory to enhance our view of film as an object of study for aesthetics and the result of an intellectual process as well as a work of art.
- Filmmakers will assume the (optional) cost of shipping of award statuettes, when awarded.
- After the Festival, further exhibitions of the films may be programmed in different platforms of public distribution for cultural and academic purposes.
- Registration implies the authorization of filmmakers for any further exhibition of submitted material programmed by the Festivals’ Organization Committee.
- The Cinephagus Meeting Festival reserves the right to use fragments of selected short films (less than 20 seconds) for the production of promotional audiovisual products.
- Submission implies the acceptance of all conditions stated above. Please read carefully and express any concerns by email: encuentroparacinefagos@gmail.com.
- You may give your contribution, donation or registration fee through PayPal or Zelle, to our account assigned to castillodigor@gmail.com
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