Baku, July 27, AZERTAC

Submission of films for the 11th Baku International Short Film Festival (BISFF), which will be held in Baku on November 13-17 this year, has begun.

Established by the Center for Young Cinematographers ”CINEMA”, the festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Nizami Cinema Center, The Guild of Producers, “02 MEDIA” and OZ FILM company are among the supporters of the festival.

This year, the festival remains committed to the principle of "35 years, 35 minutes." Directors under the age of 35 must submit the film that should not exceed 35 minutes to the festival by September 1.

There are international, local and Cinemobil competition sections at the festival.

Foreign and local directors can participate in the international competition with fiction, documentary and animated films.

The festival's programs for local directors are rich. Along with fiction, documentary and animation, social videos also join the local competition.

The Cinemobil competition, in which mobile phone films compete, is also intended for local authors. Unlike previous years, this year participants can submit a film to the competition which do not exceed 5 minutes.

Each author can submit his film on the festival website (www.filmfestival.az) and on the platform www.filmfreeway.com.

The films are reviewed by the Selection Committee and included in the competition program.

The official program of the festival will be announced on October 20.

Films competing for the key prize of the festival, the Golden Pomegranate, will be judged by a jury of local and foreign experts.

Always trying to support local directors, the festival will have newness this year. The festival will provide technical and post-production support for the next film project to the winners of the local competition for "Best Short Film" and "Best Documentary Short Film". The winner of the "Best Animated Short Film" nomination will be supported only by post-production works of the next film project.

Founded in 2004, the Baku International Short Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Azerbaijan, bringing to the country films that have won awards and success at Cannes, Venice, Berlin Film Festivals and Oscar award.

Each year, the most interesting of more than 1,500 films sent from around the world are selected and included in the program of the festival.

In addition, for five days at this festival the audience will have a chance to watch new films of local directors, who try to show the events in a different way and in interesting styles.

The Baku ISFF reflects the growing interest in short films, which are considered to be the foundations of cinema in Azerbaijan, also encourage and support young cinematographers.