Fantastic Fest 2014 Open for Submissions

2014 isn't upon us yet, but it's already time to start thinking about next year's film festival season. Yup, Fantastic Fest is open for submissions for next year's festival, plus there's big news about the Fantastic Market. But before that, the last award winners from last year's gathering of the genre fans have been announced.

Earlier this Fall, the festival took eight movies from the 2013 roster out on the road as the Fantastic Fest Tour, and the crowds have now picked their favorites. First place went to Sion Sono's super-black, super-frenetic comedy about movies, Why Don't You Play In Hell, followed by the highly anticipated Cheap Thrills. Both movies are already on the 2014 slate for Drafthouse Films, the distribution arm of the Alamo/Fantastic Fest empire. Taking the bronze is Quentin Tarantino's favorite film of the year, Big Bad Wolves (read our interview with co-director Navot Papushado here.)

And now that's over, here comes the long process of selecting the 2014 titles, and that starts with film makers sending their work in.

According to the guidelines, online screeners are preferred, but selected films must be available in either a 35mm composite print, HD-Cam (no SR), Bluray, DVD or DCP. All foreign language films must be either subtitled or dubbed in English. Fantastic Fest is giving a discount and an extended deadline for films submitted via Withoutabox.

Feature Films (must be 70 minutes or more for jury and audience award contention)
Earlybird Deadline: February 20, 2014. Regular Price: $35 / Discounted Price: $30
Regular Deadline: April 24, 2014. Regular Price: $40 / Discounted Price: $35
Late Deadline: May 29, 2014. Regular Price: $45 / Discounted Price: $40
WAB Extended Deadline: June 28, 2014. Regular Price: $60 / Discounted Price: $45

Short Films (must be 30 minutes or less for jury and audience award contention)
Earlybird Deadline: February 20, 2014. Regular Price: $25 / Discounted Price: $20
Regular Deadline: April 24, 2014. Regular Price: $30 / Discounted Price $25
Late Deadline: May 29, 2014. Regular Price: $35 / Discounted Price: $30
WAB Extended Deadline: June 28, 2014. Regular Price: $50 / Discounted Price: $35

There's also news about the Fantastic Market. This year saw the first edition of the Spanish- and Portuguese-language co-production market, and it'll be back during the first three days (Sept. 18-20) of FF 2014. In addition to pitch sessions, there will also be work-in-progress screenings of genre films from Latin America. The festival will start taking submissions for projects and in-progress prints in March.

Fantastic Fest 2014 runs Sept. 18-25. For more info, visit www.fantasticfest.com, and keep up with our coverage at www.austinchronicle.com/fantastic-fest.