• The festival is open to short films in various categories such as fiction, documentary, recording, and animation.

• Only directors who hold citizenship of Arab countries are eligible to participate in the festival competition.

• Directors can submit more than one film for the festival competition.

• The duration of the submitted film should not exceed 30 minutes.

• The film can be in any language, provided that it includes Arabic subtitles if it is not in Arabic, and English subtitles must be included for films spoken in Arabic.

• The film's production date should be after January 1, 2022.

• The film should not have been screened on any television channel, online platforms, or mobile devices.

• The festival management reserves the right to exclude any film from the festival if it contains technical issues that hinder its presentation, or if it includes offensive, racist, or violating materials against the customs and laws of the Ministry of Information's media department in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

• The submitted films will be reviewed by a selection committee to ensure compliance with the criteria for participating films in the festival competition.

• The filmmaker grants the festival management the right to screen the film to the jury and present live public screenings during the festival, as well as to use parts of it in promotional materials published on the festival's social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., during the promotion period, the festival duration, and after its conclusion. However, all other rights of the film remain reserved to the film's producer/director.

• The final deadline for film submissions is June 20, 2024, and any requests received after the specified deadline will not be accepted by the festival management.

• If a film is selected for participation in the festival, the director will be notified accordingly. The festival management reserves the right to announce the films participating in the festival, and therefore, the applicant should not disclose their participation until the festival management does so.

• Once the film is selected, the applicant is not allowed to withdraw, submit, or present the film in a way that affects its screening status during the festival.

• In the event that the applicant violates any of these terms and conditions, the festival management has the right to decide to withdraw the film from the competition.

Official Competition Categories:

• Short Fiction Film Competition: The film's duration should not exceed 30 minutes.

• Short Documentary Film Competition: The film's duration should not exceed 30 minutes.

• Short Bahraini Film Competition: The film's duration should not exceed 30 minutes.

• Short Animation Film Competition: The film's duration should not exceed 30 minutes.

• Student Film Competition:

• a. The film's duration should not exceed 30 minutes.
• b. To be eligible for the student competition, the applicant must be a university student (please attach proof of university enrollment and major).

Acceptance of these Terms and Conditions:

• The submission of an application to participate in the Bahrain Film Festival implies acceptance of all the terms and conditions governing the competition, and the festival reserves the right to add additional conditions as it deems necessary.

• The applicant acknowledges that they own all rights related to the film and all materials associated with it, and they have the right to submit the film and its related materials for participation in the festival.

• Participating films must be submitted through the official website of the festival.

• The applicant also acknowledges that these terms and the online registration form constitute an integral part of a single document, and therefore the registration form is considered included in this document, and what applies to this document applies to it.