Feature Films in Official Selection – Regulations 2024

Article 1

The purpose of the Association Française du Festival International du Film, known as the Festival de Cannes, in a spirit of international friendship and cooperation, is to reveal and showcase high-quality works in order to contribute to the evolution of cinematic art and to promote the development of the audiovisual industry around the world.

Article 2

The Association Française du Festival International du Film has sole discretion in the choosing of the films that will be screened in the Official Selection.

Article 3

The Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes is made up of:

  • an opening film
  • a closing film
  • In Competition films
  • Un Certain Regard films
  • Cannes Première films
  • films in special screenings.

Article 4

To be chosen and invited to be a part of the Official Selection, films must meet the following criteria:

  • have been produced in the twelve months preceding the Festival;
  • not have been screened elsewhere than their home country;
  • not have been presented in another international film festival (if the film was screened in an international selection, competitive or otherwise, of a festival, it is not eligible for the Festival de Cannes – a selection is international once it screens films from different countries);
  • not have been screened on the Internet.
  • serve the purpose of the Festival as defined in Article 1;

Every feature film invited to be In Competition must be commercially released in French theatres, in adherence to French regulations, applicable notably in terms of media release chronology. Any rights-holder, producer or authorised representative who submits a feature film shall pledge to honour this clause.

Article 5

Rights-holders who submit a film for selection guarantee that they have the rights allowing for this film to be screened in the framework of the Festival de Cannes. Once selected, a film cannot be withdrawn from the programme by the rights-holder other than from a decision by the French courts.

The Festival shall not be held responsible in the event of a complaint from a third party. In the event of a complaint by a third party bearing on the screening of a film in selection, the Festival de Cannes cannot judge the legitimacy of said complaint, nor withdraw the Film in the absence of a decision from an enforceable judicial decision on French territory.

In the event of a rights dispute bearing on a film selected, the rights-holders of the selected film shall immediately provide, upon request from the Festival de Cannes, documents justifying their rights that are in question and their response to the third party who has made the complaint.

In the case of an exceptional event, the Festival de Cannes reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withdraw a film from its programming.

Article 6

Throughout the duration of the Festival, none of the films invited may be screened outside of the Festival’s theatres before its official presentation.

Article 7

All films must be screened in their original version and subtitled in French. By ‘original version’ what is meant is any language in which the film is or will be screened in its country of origin.

The Festival accepts that a version that does not exactly meet this definition may nonetheless be selected.

French films must be subtitled in English on the print. Subtitling costs are to be borne by the producer. Additionally, all films whose dialogues are in a language other than English or French shall be screened with electronic subtitling in English, the projection of which will be carried out by the Festival’s service provider.

Article 8

FEATURE FILMS in COMPETITION

The Jury must hand out the following awards:

  • the Palme d’or;
  • the Grand Prix;
  • the Award for Best Director;
  • the Jury Prize;
  • the Award for Best Screenplay;
  • the Award for Best Actress;
  • the Award for Best Actor.

The awards can only have one tie and this provision does not apply to the Palme d’or.

A single film can only receive one of the awards. However, the Award for Best Screenplay and the Jury Prize may be, upon dispensation of the Festival, associated with an acting award.

Article 9

Any producer of a feature film invited into Competition commits, should the film win the Palme d’or or the Grand Prix, to not presenting this film in competition at any other international festival.

Any film chosen for the Official Selection shall promise to have appear on any publicity media – and especially the official poster of the film – the Festival de Cannes’ “Official Selection” logo as well as, if the case may be, any awards that have been won. Similarly, it shall feature, in the opening credits, a title card mentioning its presence in the Official Selection and, if the case may be, any awards that have been won.

These logos and title cards will be made available by the Festival for each film, in the personalised My Account portal.

Article 10

The deadline to submit a feature film for the selection is 15 March 2024.

A submission sheet must be filled in online before this date on the My Account portal.

The feature films proposed for selection must be made available to the Festival or uploaded online before 22 March 2024, midnight, at the latest.

Article 11

In due course, documentation for each film selected must be sent to the Films Department and a royalty-free excerpt must be supplied so that it may be included in any clips that the Festival de Cannes provides to the public during the event.

The definitive print of each film must be sent to the Festival de Cannes via its accredited forwarding agent prior to the beginning of the Festival.

If the prints of films do not arrive by the deadline of the beginning of the Festival, they will not be screened. This deadline is mandatory.

An emergency subtitled print must be sent to the Festival de Cannes before the Festival’s opening.

Article 12

Customs charges (both importation and re-exportation) as well as fees for the screening and translation of films presented to the members of the selection committee, with the aim of their possible selection, are to be paid entirely by the producers or authorised organisations.

Transportation and insurance fees for the prints and/or cassettes for their shipments to and from the Festival are to be paid by their owner.

The Festival de Cannes is responsible for the storage and insurance fees for the prints of the films selected, in and between the official precincts of the Festival, in Cannes.

In the event of loss or deterioration of a print, the responsibility of the Festival may only be engaged up to the limit of the value indicated by the producer on the data sheet.

Article 13

The Association Française du Festival International du Film has the authority to settle all cases not foreseen in the present regulations.

Article 14

Participation in the Festival de Cannes implies adhering to the present regulations and prior compliance with the preselection conditions.

In the event of a disagreement on the interpretation of the regulations, the French text shall be taken as definitive.

The present regulations apply to the entirety of the Official Selection except for the Short Film Competition (cf. Regulations) and the La Cinef selection of film school films (cf. Regulations).

 

Download the regulations