Rules The Student Pitch powered by Sabam

Film is a beautiful but expensive medium and as a festival we want to encourage future filmmakers! Are you a film student (Bachelor/Master) and can you use a little push to produce your graduation film? 

For whom? 

• The competition is meant for graduating film students who are looking for additional financial means to finish their graduation film (BA3 or Master). 
• Film students at one of the recognized Flemish film schools, KASK/ RITCS/ LUCA (Narafi, Sint-Lucas and C-Mine) who have a graduation project in the pipeline can apply. 
• Also film students who follow an alternative trajectory, such as a Syntra-training, or who are active within an educational project such as Cinemaximilian, and who are not enrolled at one of the above schools, have a chance. Do not hesitate to contact us to find out if your training qualifies.
• All genres (fiction, documentary, animation and experimental) are welcome at The Student Pitch. 

How to participate?

To register, you need:

• A private link with download possibilities (youtube/wetransfer/filemail/...) of 3 minutes, consisting of one or max. 2 continuous scenes from a previous work that shows the student's potential. 
• A short synopsis (max. half a page) of the new project. 
• A letter of intent (max. 1 page) presenting the new project and the approach to directing. 

Project selection

The projects are evaluated by the heads of department of the film schools KASK/ RITCS/ LUCA (Narafi, Sint-Lucas and C-Mine). Of these, 20 projects are selected and invited to participate. 

Professional jury

The winners will be chosen by a well-balanced professional jury consisting of jury president, president of Ensors vzw, one representative of Sabam For Culture and three directors with different expertise (fiction/docu/animation). 

Pitch process

Please note: The Student Pitch takes 2 days! Please mark both dates in your calendar before registering. If you cannot be present on both days, you will not be able to participate.

Day 1

• 20 selected participants are expected at De Grote Post in the morning. Here they will follow a crash course in 'How to Pitch' with tips and tricks to present their project successfully. 
• In the afternoon the participants will get the chance to pitch their project for the first time to each other and to the professional jury. The pitch lasts +/- 2 min. per participant and is followed by 5 min. questions from the jury. No film fragments of a previous work will be shown during this pitch. However, the jury members have received and viewed these in advance.
• After the deliberation of the jury, the 10 most promising projects will be awarded with a cash prize of 500 EUR each. These projects can also participate in the next part the next day: a public pitch.

Day 2

• The students are free in the morning to prepare themselves optimally. 
• In the afternoon the 10 selected projects will be pitched again, this time not only in front of the jury but also in front of an audience. First the film clip of a previous work is shown (+/- 3 minutes), then the student pitches the future project in 2 minutes. 
• The pitch is followed by a short feedback from the jury. 
• After a short deliberation, the jury awards 4 premiums of 1,250 EUR in addition to the prizes awarded earlier.
• Friends, supporters or interested parties are welcome to join The Student Pitch in the afternoon. Each participant (10) is asked to invite at least 5 guests. Each of these guests as well as the audience can obtain tokens, worth 10 EUR, 20 EUR or 50 EUR* with which they can give one or more projects or filmmakers an extra push. This is an original way of crowdfunding.

*The cost of the tokens is equal to their value and is transferred in full to the filmmaker(s).

Prizes 

• On the first day, the jury awards 10 of the 20 nominated projects with a production premium of 500 EUR. 
• On day 2, 4 of the 10 awarded projects will receive an additional production premium of 1,250 EUR. 
• In total, no less than 10,000 EUR will be donated by Sabam For Culture on day 1 and day 2. 
• This amount is without any obligation of membership. The festival prize is separate from SABAM's regular support of student projects. So the one does not exclude the other. 
• In addition to the amounts mentioned above, the audience can, for its own consideration, choose to support the projects additionally. This is done by purchasing tokens that will be added to the filmmaker's prize pool in their entirety. 
• In addition, Camalux offers three winners of the pitch a voucher worth 4,000 EUR to rent audiovisual material. This prize will be awarded by the professional jury.
• Flow offers 1 of the projects a post-production package for the finishing of the short film in question. This prize is awarded by the professional jury.

The students who win one of the prizes, donated by Sabam For Culture, Flow or Camalux, undertake to: 

• To mention the logo of the Ostend Film Festival* on the end credits of the film with the additional message "This project was made possible with the support of the Ostend Film Festival, Sabam For Culture, Camalux and Flow".
  
  * Logo of the Ostend Film Festival will be delivered by mail after The Student Pitch but can always be requested later at the festival. More info: industrie@filmfestivaloostende.be