T he first edition of the One People International Film Festival will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. It is conceived as a celebration of film, the discovery of new talents, and a unification of professionals and journalists from all around the world for the purpose of discovering and promoting new cultures, their people and their rights as human beings.
Feature films, documentaries and animated work will be selected based on their promotion of compassion, solidarity and humanism towards all peoples, especially the most vulnerable. Thus, the festival will contribute to the development of cinema as an instrument of communication with the power to cultivate respect for all by all.
This first edition will follow the year of COVID-19 which brought social, political and economic devastation to the world. The One People International Film Festival will showcase how “a people” had to work together globally to overcome the ravages of the pandemic. It will feature some of the great strides initiated by organizations, governments, and ordinary people to mitigate the virus’ impact, as well as to bring hope amid the despair of 2020.
The festival will present its Golden Table Awards on March 21. The Golden Table Awards refer to the Table Mountain in Cape Town. The mountain is believed to have been created by a powerful god to protect the South and its people.
The Golden Table Awards will be given in the main competition to the Best Film, the Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress. In the Author section the Silver Table will be given to the best film. In the Short Section the Emerging Bronze Table will be awarded to the best film. In addition, the director of such film will receive the prize of a professional camera to encourage the continuation of her/his work.
There will also be an Award honoring the Indigenous First Nation People of South Africa and their perseverance to be recognized globally.
• Filmmaker must be 18 years of age or older.
• There is no limit to the number of works a filmmaker may submit. The same work may not be submitted multiple times under different names. If so, such work will be disqualified.
• A filmmaker must not be an immediate family member of any of the members of the selection committee or the judges or their respective companies, without disclosing such. The absence of such disclosure will result in the disqualification of the submitted work.
• Entry fees will not be waived, reduced nor refunded for any reason.
• Works must be submitted no later than January 31, 2021.
• Feature length films must be over 60 minutes and short films under 60 minutes in length.
• Each work must have been made within the last 2 calendar years.
• All work must be submitted as digital streaming media. No DVDs or any physical format will be accepted.
• Works may be in any language, but if not in English then must contain English subtitles.
• All works must be either narrative, documentary or animation.
• All filmmakers must precise their right to submit their work to the festival.