BITBANG International Animation, Videogames and Digital Art Festival opens its call and invites you to be part of its ninth edition to be held from October 7th to October 14th, 2023, in a hybrid format, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

BITBANG disseminates and promotes innovative, experimental and authorial proposals through projections, exhibitions and competitions. We promote audiovisual creation in Argentina, orientated towards the development and consolidation of the industry as a cultural contribution on a worldwide level.

We place special emphasis on training and capacitation, for that during BITBANG there are being held masterclasses, seminars, conferences and workshops. In addition to that, there are laboratories, spotlights, retrospectives, illustration contests, installations, exhibitions, game jams, escape rooms, arcades, making a film in 24 hours, and thematic parties. All activities are with free admission.

Since 2015 we have organized BITBANG, a unique experience that each edition allows all those interested in art, creativity and innovation, to meet with the most important referents in the country and the world. It is a meeting point between animation, video games and digital art that enables collaboration between artists from different disciplines and generates the construction of new languages and other perspectives.

In previous years, the venues were CCK, Planetarium Galileo Galilei, Espacio INCAA Km 0 Gaumont, C3 Museum, Recoleta Cultural Center, Cosmos Uba Cinema, Da Vinci School, Otra Historia Club Cultural, Local, Club Lucero, Bar El Destello, Arcade Club Social, in Buenos Aires.

In this 9th Edition BITBANG welcomes you to these artistic proposals and to the fans and professional audiovisual community.

CATEGORIES IN ANIMATION COMPETITION

• International Animated Short Film Competition
• Latin American Animated Short Film Competition
• International Animated School Short Film Competition
• Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition

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RULES

1. TERMS AND CONDITIONS

BITBANG 2023 opens its call for submissions of animation films in the 4 competing categories.

1.1 Participants can apply either in an individual basis or as a team; must be at least 18 years old and of any nationality. Submitted works must be done under this guideline and following the technical requirements demanded for their future exhibition.

1.2 Participation is free of charge for Latin America. The cost for the participation for International Short Films and International Graduation Short Films are: 3 USD (Early Deadline: April 30th) / 5 USD (Regular Deadline: June 10th) / 7 USD (Late Deadline: June 30th).

1.3 Submission is open for any animation technique artwork released after January 1st 2022.

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2. DEADLINE FOR APPLYING

2.1 Application period is from April 4th 2023 to June 30th 2023.

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3. CATEGORIES IN COMPETITION

• International Animated Short Film Competition.
• Latin American Animated Short Film Competition (Including Argentina).
• International Animated School Short Film Competition.
• Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition (including Argentina).

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3.1 International Animated Short Film Competition: Official selection oriented to the exhibition of International Animated Short Films. This category gives the winner the award to Best International Animated Short Film.

3.2 Latin American Animated Short Film Competition (Including Argentina): Competition aimed at exhibiting Latin American Animated Short Films, including Argentina. This category gives the winner the award to Best Latin American Animated Short Film.

3.3 International Animated School Short Film Competition: Competition aimed at exhibiting International Animated Short Films made within the institutional framework of Schools, Universities or Professional Institutions. This category gives the winner the award to Best International Animated School Short Films.

3.4 Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition: Competition aimed at exhibiting International Animated Short Films made within the institutional framework of Schools, Universities or Professional Institutions. This category gives the winner the award to Best Latin American Animated School Short Films.

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4. REGISTRATION, SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF ARTWORK

4.1 The artwork can be registered through the Free Application Platform FilmFreeway during the subsmission process.

4.2 Entries submitted will be evaluated by the Festival Committee who will judge and determine which entries will participate in each category. The committee’s decision is final and not subjected to appeal.

4.3 By entering the contest and submitting artwork, participants agree to abide by the Rules of the Festival. Furthermore, the participants confirm that they own the rights to the work submitted and that they authorize its exhibition at the Festival, which will be held in Buenos Aires. The participant also confirms that he or she has received full explicit authorization from the owner(s) of any copyrighted elements not in their property appearing either fully or in part on their artwork submitted that fall under Intellectual Property Protection, either National or International Law. Additionally, the participant agrees that any situation arising from the use of Intellectual Property of a third party fully conforms to the terms and conditions on this document. “Authorization of use of a copyrighted work” shall be understood as permission given by the author or copyright holder of said copyrighted work in any contractual form for the use of the copyrighted work according to the terms established by Intellectual Property Law.

4.4 The organization of the Festival reserves the right to make the decisions it deems pertinent regarding situations not expressly provided for in these rules.

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5. JURY

5.1 The Jury shall be composed of professionals from multiple areas of the field of animation, including filmmakers, producers, cultural managers, journalists, directors and members of national and international entities associated with the Festival.

5.2 Individuals directly related to any of the participant entries shall be disqualified from being part of the Jury.

5.3 The Jury’s decision is final and not subjected to appeal.

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6. OFFICIAL SELECTION

6.1 Official selection will be published on the website bitbangclub.com and will be notified by email.

6.2 When submitting the selected artwork, participants authorize the use of trailers or extracts of the work (supplied by the representative of the selected items), to carry out the promotion of the Official Competition of the Festival.

6.3 The artwork that becomes part of the Final Selection will receive the recognition as such by the BITBANG.

6.4 Finalists will be notified by email, where they shall receive the formal instructions regarding the formats, deadlines, place and manner of sending the selected artwork for public display during the days of the festival.

6.5 The final material must be delivered within the stipulated deadlines, otherwise the work will be disqualified.

6.6 The final version, if it is in a language other than Spanish, must be sent together with its respective subtitles in Spanish (or if failing, in English). Subtitles must be delivered separately from the video: in text file or subtitle format (Ex: * .srt)

6.7 For the finalists, the Festival will not cover transportation and/or accommodation costs to attend the event. However, the Festival may provide letters of support to manage the necessary resources before institutions that favor the assistance of those finalists.

6.8 The Festival will not pay for the right of exhibition (screening fee) of the final artwork selected. In turn, the festival guarantees that all functions have free admission for the public.

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7. VOLUNTARY AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN ITINERANT SAMPLE

7.1 BITBANG performs free activities of exhibition of animation, videogames and digital art during the year. The participants who register their artwork also accepts, except declared the contrary, their exhibition in traveling exhibitions of the Festival, Film Cycles, etc. These activities will always be free and respond only to dissemination and promotion of animated films, video games and digital art.

8. Participation in the Festival implies full acceptance of this regulation. The Festival will resolve according to its judgement and in an unappealable character, any eventuality not specified in these bases.