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Call For Entries: 9th Annual In The Palace International Film Festival

IN THE PALACE is an international festival for professional short films of up to 45 minutes in length. It is held each year in the second half of June in the Black Sea town of Balchik. Established in 2003, the festival had grown from a competitive forum for student films into the largest and most prestigious short film festival in Bulgaria and the region.

Nearly 250 short films from 44 countries, selected out of over 4000 titles, competed in the last edition of the festival.

Our goal is to present and contribute to the development of contemporary film art in Bulgaria, Europe and the world, creating a favourable environment and platform for young filmmakers and established professionals.

Traditionally the Festival’s core is the international competition programmes section, accompanied also by side screenings. The educational section Filmer Forge offers perfect ground for obtaining knowledge, experience and professional contacts with its training programmes, seminars, lectures and master classes. Continuing its activities in project development, film promotion and distribution, the festival features a qualified Market for short films and projects.

Collateral to the film festival is the Music Palace Fest, presenting live performances by contemporary Bulgarian and international musicians and bands.

Over the years, the festival was attended by both prominent Bulgarian filmmakers and many significant representatives of the world cinema as the Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi, the producer and former head of 20th Century Fox Sandy Lieberson, the Academy Award winner for best original screenplay Pierre Bismuth, the legendary British producer Barry Hanson, and others.

IN THE PALACE is organized by Format SFF Foundation and Community Centre Veshtina in partnership and with support of Balchik Municipality, the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, the Bulgarian National Film Centre and the State Cultural Institute – Cultural Centre “The Palace”, Balchik, and is the first and only short film festival in Bulgaria, funded by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

The 9th annual festival will take place June 18-25, 2011 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

March – April 2011

* Deadline for submission of entry documents and preview film copies for selection – March 25th for foreign participants and April 15th for Bulgarian participants

May 2011

* Final selection of authors and films
* Submission of screening copies deadline for selected films in the Competition Programmes – May 24th 2011
* Accreditation applications deadline – May 24th 2011 for foreign applicants
* Announcement of Festival Programme

June 2011

* Accreditation applications deadline – June 1st 2011 for Bulgarian applicants
* Launch of the Festival

July 2011

* Deadline for explicit requests for return of screening cassettes – July 9th 2011