Rules and Regulations.
Visioni Incontra is a Forum for documentary filmmakers and producers to meet with broadcaster commissioners, sales agents, cinema circuits, national and international distributors, platform managers and Film Commission managers.
The goal of “Visioni Incontra” is to assist in the development and financing of high-quality documentary projects that are still in progress, whether they are feature-length films or documentary series.
Projects can be in final development or work in progress.
Visioni Incontra will favour the artistic quality of the project, the uniqueness of the content, the relevance of the subject matter, the stage of development, the estimated potential for the project to travel internationally as well as its financial feasibility.
Eligibility Requirements:
- The contest is open to italian and international independent productions and co-productions. It is considered indipendent a production not fully financed by broadcasters.
- Projects in final development must be in pre-production and already funded to the extent of at least 30% of the budget estimate (“Fundings” also includes self-financing and own resources).
- Work in progress projects must be at an advanced stage of filming and already funded for at least 60% of the budget (“Fundings” also includes self-financing and own resources).
- Must be Italian premieres: Visioni Incontra will not consider for the contest all works that have had already been pitched at other italian Marketplace.
- Screening formats allowed is: HD files.
- Language and subtitle: the sizzle reels of the projects officially selected for “Visioni Incontra” contest will be presented in the original version with english subtitles. For Italian projects: if the project or parts thereof are in dialect and / or in a different language from Italian, subtitles in both Italian and English will be required. Subtitles (Italian/English) must be provided by the production company, under penalty of exclusion from the competition.
Project Application
Project’s applications comprehensive of all materials should be sent within 31st May 2024.
The selected projects will be informed within June 30, 2024.
The teams of selected projects must participate in an online session dedicated to pitch preparation. Participation is mandatory.
Every project must be submitted through the online registration filling in the Entry Form available on the festival website and paying th Submission fee.
As indicated in the Entry Form, simultaneous submission requires the submission of video materials with Vimeo links and related passwords.
Participation in the pre-selection is considered complete only when the submitted title complies with the Regulations and requirements of the call, when the screener link has been uploaded, the Entry Form has been correctly and completely filled out, and the registration fee has been paid. The Festival will send a confirmation email upon successful receipt of the Entry Form.
Pitching Preparation
The projects selected for the Visioni Incontra Contest will be presented by the director and producer in a pitching session in the presence of the Industry Community enrolled in the Marketplace and the invited Decision Makers, in Italian for Italian projects and in English for international projects.
Selected projects will also be required to prepare a recorded pitch exclusively for decision makers’ use and online on the Visioni dal Mondo platform from the day following the in-person pitch.
The maximum duration of the pitch is set at 12 minutes for final developments and 15 minutes for works in progress and includes time for questions from the audience (Q&A).
After the official selection of the projects, the coordinator and advisory manager of Visioni Incontra, Cinzia Masòtina, will contact the selected pitchers to organize a preparation session for the pitch: during this mandatory session, the directors and producers of the selected projects will be informed about the presentation methods and materials.
SELECTED PROJECTS – FINAL DEVELOPMENT SECTION
After the pitch preparation session, they will have to prepare the following materials:
- In-person pitch: live intervention by the director and producer for a maximum of 5 minutes and a teaser of at least 3-4 minutes subtitled in English for Italian projects, subtitled in Italian for international projects. The total recommended duration is 8 minutes, to allow for the Q&A session.
- Recorded pitch for the online platform: edited video including a recorded intervention by the director and producer for a maximum of 4 minutes and a teaser of at least 3 minutes. The video must be entirely subtitled in English for Italian projects, subtitled in Italian for international projects.
SELECTED PROJECTS – WORK IN PROGRESS SECTION
After the pitch preparation session, they will have to prepare the following materials:
- In-person pitch: live intervention by the director and producer for a maximum of 5 minutes and footage (clips, edited sequences, etc.) of at least 7-8 minutes subtitled in English for Italian projects, subtitled in Italian for international projects. The total recommended duration of the pitch is 12 minutes, to allow for the Q&A session.
- Recorded pitch for the online platform: edited video including a recorded intervention by the director and producer for a maximum of 5 minutes and footage (clips or edited sequences) of at least 5 minutes. The video must be entirely subtitled in English for Italian projects, subtitled in Italian for international projects.
Visioni Incontra offers the possibility for projects to remain available on demand, with a password reserved for decision makers, on the Visioni dal Mondo platform for 30 days after the end of the Festival. This is to allow decision makers and potential financiers to see the projects and arrange further appointments with the directors and producers, even after the Festival.
Visioni Incontra staff will organize and manage one to one meetings between the producers/directors of the selected projects and the industry community attending the forum. Visioni Incontra will try to book as many relevant meetings as possible for all selected projects but cannot guarantee a specific number of meetings.
Submission fee
- Submission fee for the project’s pre-selection costs coverage is 30 euros Vat included. The fee covers the administrative expenses related to cataloging and previewing each film.
- Submissions fees are not refundable.
- The registration will be accepted if all the materials and information requested will be received within the required deadlines and will meet all the requirements. After filling in the entry form and sending it, together with the link for the screener, the applicant will receive an email confirmation of the registration.
- Incomplete applications will not be considered. Submissions not complying with the submission fee payment will not be considered.
No Project will be taken in consideration for preselection prior to the submission’s fee receipt.
Selection and Programming’s criteria
The main criteria for selection will be the artistic quality of the project, the uniqueness of the content, the relevance of the subject matter, the stage of development, the estimated potential for the project to travel internationally as well as its financial feasibility.
The selection of Projects is at the sole discretion of the Festival Management, assisted by a committee of experts.
The directors are not obliged to provide comments or feedback regarding the presented projects.
Once the participant has accepted the official invitation, the Project cannot be withdrawn from the official programme.
Programming choices such as screening times are determined by the Festival directors, whose decision is final.
If selected, the producer and director of the project must attend Visioni Incontra for all the duration of the event. Accreditation is free of charge for up to two team members pitching the project.
Additional accreditations for project related professionals to attend Visioni Incontra can be purchased on the Festival’s website.
The Festival will publish a catalogue of all presented projects.
Visioni Incontra will try to book as many relevant meetings as possible for all selected projects but cannot guarantee a specific number of meetings. Neither can meetings be guaranteed on the specific day the project will be pitched.
The authors of selected projects can modify the video material for the final presentation up to 15 days before the start date of the festival, and therefore until September 1, 2024, provided that the overall duration falls within the aforementioned limits.
Jury and prize
Visioni Incontra will award a prize of € 2500 offered to the project considered most deserving by a selected jury of industry experts attending the pitching session.
The selected projects will also compete for the following prize:
- Lo Scrittoio Subtitles Award, awarded to the project that best portrays globality and interculturality.
- Cinecittà Documentary Archive Award, consisting of the supply of Cinecittà Archive material, for up to 10 minutes, to the project deemed most interesting by Cinecittà responsible parties for its use of the Archive.
- La Compagnia Award, consisting of the selection of a project that, once completed, will be included in the programming of Cinema La Compagnia in Florence, the only cinema in Italy dedicated exclusively to documentary cinema.
- Bio to B Award, consisting of the selection of a project that, once completed, can participate in Bio to B, the annual event that the Biografilm Festival (Bologna) dedicates to business-to-business networking among audiovisual professionals.
The Festival Management reserves the right to appoint additional awards and juries for the Visioni Incontra 2024 edition.
The awards will be presented by a selected jury of decision makers representing commissioning editors, distributors, producers, and industry operators.
The prize should be taken as a contribution to be used for post-production or otherwise for the completion of the film and it will be delivered to the production company that submitted the application.
If and when the winning project will become a finished documentary, such documentary should be premiered at the next Visioni dal Mondo International Documentary Festival.
The Projects selected for the Visioni Incontra days and the awarded projects must obligatorily include in the opening credits the Visioni Incontra logo with the wording ‘selected project’, and the projects that will be awarded must subsequently include the wording ‘awarded project’. The Festival will provide the logo for this purpose.
General rules
In case of conflicting interpretation only the Italian version of the Rules and Regulations is considered valid.
Entry and participation of documentaries implies unconditional acceptance of the above Rules and Regulations. The Festival Directors could take all decisions on different subjects not provided in these Rules and regulations.
The Festival will not be held responsible for the unauthorized inclusion of any copyrighted materials within or relating to the submitted project. It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to secure clearance from the copyright holders of any copyrighted materials included in the submitted project. The Festival reserves the right to disqualify any project containing unauthorized inclusion of copyrighted materials.
In the case of faulty online projection, the Festival cannot be held liable for intangible losses incurred by director, producer, or distributor.
Any litigation will be judged by the Court of Milano, Italy.
VISIONI DAL MONDO
c/o Frankie Show Biz srl
legal address: Via Volturno, 47 – 20159 Milano
operative branch: Via Privata Maria Teresa 11 – 20123 Milano
www.visionidalmondo.it
e-mail: info@visionidalmondo.it
Hospitality
The festival offers hotel accommodation for the director and producer of each documentary project selected for the “Visioni Incontra” competition. After the selection, the Festival will inform the directors about all accommodation arrangements.
Hospitality is valid for one/two nights at the Festival’s partner hotel.
In case there are more than two directors/producers, the Festival Management reserves the right to communicate the opportunities and any discounts after the selection has been made.