UFFO - www.uffo.org Universal Film Festival Organisation was set up to promote and monitor a new ethical film festival code of conduct. The code of conduct was written by filmmakers and festival organisers to help stamp out scam festivals. If a film festival has adopted the new ethical code of conduct through www.uffo.org (Universal Film Festival Organisation) a filmmaker can now be reasonably certain that they are not going to get ripped off and that the festival will actually view the submitted screener. UFFO will also have a history of the festival and contacts for the festival. UFFO is an open organisation for filmmakers and film festivals and the code of conduct is free, its easy and it works
Film Festival Code of Conduct (FFCOC)
The 10 Point Film Festival Code of Conduct was drafted with the collaboration of filmmakers and festival directors with a view to improving the relationship between industry professionals and acknowledging the importance of enhanced cooperation between filmmakers and film festivals
The FFCOC film festival code of conduct has ten guiding principles and the successful implementation of this code will largely depend on the acceptance by the film festival and filmmaking community as a whole. Although the Code of Conduct is completely voluntary it will help define the obligations and responsibilities that film festival organisers have towards the filmmaking community
The code of conduct will not only demonstrate a film festivals willingness to be transparent but in addition the code of conduct can also be used as a practical guide to assist filmmakers in determining the difference between a legitimate film festival, a fraudulent festival or those that operate dubious business practices
The code of conduct has a pragmatic approach to implementation that is based on rational and transparent working methods. It will promote good business practices and assist in the development of relationships between film festival organisers and the filmmaking community. In addition it will contribute to identifying and stamping out the criminal activity and fraudulent film festivals that have been to date operating with absolute impunity
It needs to be recognised that the film festival code of conduct cannot anticipate every situation and therefore the film festival and filmmaking community are invited to propose improvements and amendments to this Code of Conduct at any time
The 10 Point Film Festival Code of Conduct (by Tyrone D Murphy)
No 1: Film Festival organisers will operate a transparent and ethical selection process and publish details of the selection process and the names of the Jury/selection committee (publication can be after a festival concludes)
No 2: Film festivals organisers will provide full contact details for the festival offices including address and telephone numbers and the names of the festival directors and or committee
No 3: Film Festivals will publish a company registration number or charity registration number and must be clearly visible on the festivals website (this only applies to a registered entity)
No 4: Film festival organisers will not under any circumstances share any personal or financial data belonging to any filmmakers who submitted their films to their festivals with any third parties
No 5: Film Festivals will publish a year by year history of festival winners and films officially selected
No 6: Film festival organisers, committee and or jury will not show or demonstrate any favouritism to any film submitted to the festival or attempt to influence other members of the jury or selection committee
No 7: Film Festivals must declare the number of films sought out and or invited by the festival organisers to participate in the festival prior to and before the general call for submissions is sent out
No 8: Film Festivals will provide the names of the selection committee and or jury members who viewed the submitted film screeners to the festival (this can be after the festival has concluded)
No 9: Film festival organisers will provide a short comment of all viewed film submissions and the length of time the submitted film was screened or viewed by the festival selection committee or jury (in the interests of fairness it is recommended that at least 5 minutes of all submitted films should be viewed or screened)
No 10: Festival organisers must declare any interest they have in any film submitted to or invited to participate in the festival (if an interest is declared than he or she should remove themselves from the committee or jury)
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Tyrone D Murphy
