Regulations Bif&st 2024 – Bari, March 16-23

The Festival

The 15th Bif&st – Bari International Film&TV Festival will be held from March 16 to 23, 2024 in the Petruzzelli, Piccinni, Kursaal, and Margherita theatres in Bari, and it will be promoted by Apulia Region with the support of the Ministry of Culture and of the Municipality of Bari. The major aim of the Festival – under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic – is to promote, spread and highlight the best Italian and international cinema. Felice Laudadio is Bif&st creator and director, film director Volker Schlöndorff is president, and film directors Margarethe von Trotta and Ettore Scola are honorary presidents.

The program

The essential outline of Bif&st 2024 program is available at www.bifest.it. These Regulations only apply to the following non-competitive and competitive sections.

1. International Premieres – out of competition

Non-competitive section presenting 8 Italian and international fiction feature films, with minimum running time of 70 minutes, produced in 2023-24, preferably world premieres or absolute Italian premieres. Italian films must be world premieres. Selected films – with a gala evening screening in Teatro Petruzzelli from March 16th to 23rd – may have been presented at other major international festivals, excluding Italian ones.

2. International Panorama – competition

Competitive program – with afternoon screenings in Teatro Petruzzelli – presenting 12 fiction feature films with minimum running time of 70 minutes, produced all over the world in 2023-24 and absolute Italian premieres. Italian films must be world premieres. Selected non-Italian films may have been presented and also awarded at other major international festivals, excluding Italian ones. An international jury will confer the following awards:

  • Bif&st International Award for best director
  • Bif&st International Award for best leading actress
  • Bif&st International Award for best leading actor

3. ItaliaFilmFest 2023-24/The Best of the Year

Bif&st artistic direction – in collaboration with a jury of distinguished film critics – will confer the following 13 awards to Italian fiction feature films, selected among all those theatrically released or presented in international or national festivals or directly on platforms and eventually already awarded in other events:

  • Premio Franco Cristaldi for best producer
  • Premio Mario Monicelli for best film director
  • Premio Ettore Scola for best emerging film director
  • Premio Furio Scarpelli for best screenplay
  • Premio Anna Magnani for best leading actress
  • Premio Vittorio Gassman for best leading actor
  • Premio Alida Valli for best supporting actress
  • Premio Alberto Sordi for best supporting actor
  • Premio Ennio Morricone for best music composer
  • Premio Dante Ferretti for best production design
  • Premio Giuseppe Rotunno for best cinematographer
  • Premio Roberto Perpignani for best editor
  • Premio Piero Tosi for best costume designer

All awards – scheduled during the eight Bif&st evenings – will be conferred with winners in attendance, when possible.

4. ItaliaFilmFest 2024/Nuovo cinema italiano – Competition

A jury of 24 selected audience members, chaired by a film and/or culture professional, will confer the following awards reserved to Italian films – world or international or national premieres at Bif&st – selected by the artistic direction among works submitted by producers, distributors or film-makers:

  • Premio Giuliano Montaldo for best film director
  • Premio Mariangela Melato per il cinema for best leading actress
  • Premio Gabriele Ferzetti for best leading actor

The 8 films in this competition will be presented in Teatro Piccinni as scheduled by the artistic director.

5. ItaliaFilmFest 2024/Documentaries – Out of competition

Non-competitive program presenting 8-9 Italian documentaries produced in 2023-24, preferably world premieres or absolute Italian premieres. Selected documentaries will be presented in Teatro Piccinni as scheduled by the artistic director.

6. Submissions

Submissions are free of charge, and only feature films over 70 minutes are eligible for competition sections. Deadline is January 15, 2024. To submit:

  • send a private link for online preview. Please allow at least three viewings, with password valid until the end of the festival. Links must be sent to programmer g.lavolpe@bifest.it.

By sending links the submitters accept these entire regulations and agree, in case of selection, to the screening at Bif&st 2024.

Films already submitted and not selected in previous editions of the festival, will not be considered.

7. Selected films

Submitters of selected films will receive by email an official invitation letter, which must be accepted by the deadline indicated by festival direction.

Submitters of non-selected films will receive a brief communication by email. Bif&st direction is not compelled to disclose the non-selection reasons.

Producers or distributors of the selected films must provide the festival office with all the materials necessary for their participation in the official festival program, as detailed hereunder.

For Italian films selected in any section, no rental fee will be paid by Bif&st.

The artistic director of the festival is entitled to decide the screening schedule, considering the general programming of the festival and the engagements of talents, and commits to officially inform submitters and rights holder as soon as possible.

8. Subtitles for International Premières and International Panorama sections

All selected films for the International Premières and International Panorama sections – if spoken in any language other than English or Italian – must be presented in their original language version and with English subtitles on the screening copy provided by producers or distributors. The festival will provide Italian electronic subtitles (off-screen), if not already available.

Producers or distributors of selected films must provide the festival office with all necessary materials for the realization of the Italian electronic subtitles:

  • dialogue list in the original language
  • for non-English spoken films, also the list of English subtitles, with spotting list (time code in/out).
  • a secure link for the download of the film, with English subtitles if needed, with definitive editing and identical running time of the screening copy, exclusively for Italian subtitling work.

Dialogue/subtitles lists and the link must be sent by email not later than January 26, 2024.

9. Subtitles for ItaliaFilmFest/Nuovo cinema italiano

Films selected in the ItaliaFilmFest/Nuovo cinema italiano will be presented in their Italian version, preferably with English subtitles on the screening copy, to support the work of accreditated international press and the viewing of foreign guests. If films are spoken in any language other than Italian, they must have Italian subtitles on the screening copy. The festival will not take charge of any expense related to the supply of Italian subtitles on the screening copy or off-screen.

10. Materials for festival website and catalogue/program

For the promotion of all selected films on the official Bif&st website www.bifest.it and on other media, the following materials must be emailed by January 31, 2024:

  • link to the film’s official trailer (if available) and/or to the film’s official website
  • English pressbook (max 3Mb)
  • Vertical film poster, .pdf or .jpg format, light version for the web
  • 3 photos of the film, .jpg format, minimum 300 dpi

to the address: catalogue@bifest.it.

As an alternative, an official link can be provided, for the download of the above materials (trailers will not be downloaded).

11. Shipping and film formats

11.1 Shipping of the screening copies

Shipping expenses of the screening copies of selected films from and to their countries of production, if not by different agreement, will be borne by the festival. If screening copies are coming from, or are bound for other festivals, Bif&st will only take charge of a one-way shipping (either inbound or outbound). There will be no exception to the present rule; with regards to this issue, submitters must make specific arrangements with the other festivals involved. For Italian films, the festival will take charge of shipping expenses only in the country of Italy.

All screening copies of selected films – thoroughly checked by producers or distributors or other senders before their shipping – must arrive to the official Bif&st international courier in Italy, which will be indicated at the appropriate time, not later than February 16, 2024.

For customs matters, shipments from non-EU countries must be marked: “FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY – NO COMMERCIAL VALUE”, and must enclose proper pro-forma invoices.

11.2 Screening formats

All details related to the screening copy must be provided by filling in a specific online technical form, which will be sent to submitters of selected films.

As to the films selected for the International Premières, International Panorama and ItaliaFilmFest, the only accepted screening format is Digital Cinema Package – DCP (fully DCI/SMPTE compliant).

If the DCP is encrypted, it is mandatory that producers or distributors provide KDMs for all the festival servers. KDMs must be sent well in advance considering the test screening (in Bari only), and the official festival screening. KDMs of selected films will be at the submitter’s charge.

The only screening formats for films selected in all other festival sections are:

  • DCP – Digital Cinema Package (fully DCI/SMPTE compliant)
  • Blu-ray


12. Insurance of screening copies

The festival will cover the insurance costs for the screening copies of selected films against all risks, for the entire period they will be in care of the festival, between their arrival in Bari and their departure from Bari. Should a screening copy undergo any damage on the festival’s responsibility, Bif&st’s insurance will only cover the material costs of the damaged copy, based on average laboratory costs, and according to standard values.

13. Antipiracy

The artistic direction expressly commits not to duplicate selected films, nor to present them out of the official venues of the festival.

Should producers or distributors of selected films wish to adopt an anti-piracy service agency of their own choice, the festival will not take charge of the related costs.

14. Press and promotional materials

Producers or distributors of selected films are invited (not mandatory) to separately ship to the Press Office of the festival, the following promotional materials for Bif&st accredited press and media:

  • Pressbook (preferably English)
  • 5 to 10 stage photos of the film (high resolution 300dpi) with no embargo date nor distribution deadline
  • 3 promo clips with maximum running time of 3 minutes, in Full HD tv format, maximum 250 Mb
  • 2 film posters (on paper only), to be displayed in theatres (limitations apply)
  • Secure link of the film for selected press

All above promotional materials of selected films may be sent to the festival by courier shipping with the label “Promotional material for BIF&ST 2024”– starting from March 11, 2024 – to the following temporary offices of the festival:

  • Bif&st Direction
    c/o Hotel Oriente
    Corso Cavour 32
    70122 Bari, Italy

All costs related to shipping of the promotional materials, must be at sender’s charge.

For customs matters, shipments from non-EU countries must be marked: “FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY – NO COMMERCIAL VALUE”.

Each Festival participant and/or guest acknowledges that Bif&st will be covered on tv and radio by accreditated television stations and other media partners. By accepting the Bif&st invitation, each participant agrees that broadcasting rights will be free of charge, that the media partners may use such materials as they seem fit, and that Bif&st will be granted an automatic authorization.

15. General rules

The film submission and the shipment of the screening copy to the festival imply full acceptance of the Italian version of these regulations. Producers, distributors or any other submitter guarantee to have the legal rights to submit the film to Bif&st.

May any dispute not covered by these rules arise, the final decision is to the artistic director of the festival. Should any controversy arise regarding the interpretation of these Regulations, the Italian version is binding. The Court of Bari is the Competent Court.

Bif&st cannot be held responsible should the festival be cancelled due to pandemic or force majeure and/or similar events.

16. Contacts

Bif&st Artistic Direction
segreteria.direzione@bifest.it

Programmer for international films: Giuliana La Volpe, g.lavolpe@bifest.it

Bif&st Press Office
ufficiostampa@bifest.it
catalogue@bifest.it

www.bifest.it