Odyssey is the biggest film festival of its kind in the UK, as en engagement space to encourage conversation and constructive debate with Chinese communities worldwide and Greater China. The festival is accredited by the British Council and recently recommended by Screen International, as one of the festivals to look forward to in 2024 in the UK.

Now in its 4th edition, Odyssey showcased 72 films in 2023 online and offline across the UK in 6 cities. The 2024 edition will expand and cover more cities and independent cinemas.

Theme of 2024: Food and Travel

We now call for film submissions from around the world, if they meet the following criteria:

1. Any short of feature film that focuses on food or cooking (from Greater China, diaspora communities or international co-productions)

2. Any short or feature film that focuses on travel (from Greater China or to Greater China; open to all regions)

3. Any short or feature film with a meaningful scene of Chinese food, cooking or restaurant (open to all regions)

4. Any short of feature film that proposes solutions to food waster reduction (from Greater China, diaspora communities or international co-production)

5. Any short or feature film that proposes solutions to carbon footprint reduction (from Greater China, diaspora communities or international co-productions)

6. Any short or feature film that raises awareness of eating disorder (from Greater China, diaspora communities or international co-productions)

Awards for 2024

The Jury Panel will decide for the following award categories this year:

▪ THE BEST SHORT

▪ THE BEST UK-CHINA COLLABORATION

▪ THE BEST MADE IN UK PRODUCTION

▪ THE BEST MADE IN CHINA PRODUCTION

▪ THE BEST FILM FOR INTERNATIONAL CONVERSATION

▪ THE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR FOOD

▪ THE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR TRAVEL

▪ THE BEST SDGs CAMPAIGN (Food waste reduction/carbon footprint reduction/ED Healer Campaign)

Commitment to UN's 17 SDGs and 2030 Agenda

Since the 2023 edition, we took the initiative to connect our festival’s mission with UN’s 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By focusing on the theme of “Global Sustainability”, Odyssey was the first international film festival that fostered a conversation space for rising Chinese filmmakers and audience to learn more about topic of sustainability. Each of the official selected film responded to the 17 SDGs in its own creative way. It was also the first time for many filmmakers to look at their work from a new perspective.

For our 2024 edition, we will continue this commitment. The specific SDGs that we focus on for the 2024 edition include SDG 2: Zeron Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being & SDG 13: Climate Action.

Submission Guidelines

1 | Submission Fee

The submission fee for the Open Call is £20/film per submission.

2 | Premiere Requirement

There is no UK or international premiere requirement for all submissions. The premiere status will not be used as a selection criteria.

3 | Genre & Production Date

All genres are welcomed for this call, we will be selecting films according to how a specific film responds to the festival theme as a referenece. Your film should be completed or released after the year of 2020.

4 | Language & Subtitles

All submissions require English subtitles if the original language is not in English.

5 | Originality

All submitted films should be original work, the entrant is the legal holder of the copyright of the work. There should not be any dispute over intellectual property rights and, when required, relevant supporting documents or authorisation will be provided as required by the organisers.

6 | Programming

The festival reserves the right to place entries into alternative strands if the curatorial team feels it is to the benefit of the title. Each submission must be entered separately. Entries will be assessed and successful submissions will be programmed for screening/enter the festival competition. If your film is selected we reserve the right to show your film at a date and time of our choosing.

7 | Formats

For the selection process, all submission must be made via FilmFreeway.

Successful submissions that are selected for the festival programme must submit a DCP for offline screening and a High Res. mov./mp4 for online screening (minimum 1080)

8 | Selection

The festival’s curation team reserves the right to invite films for the competition and programme. The screening schedule will be announced after the selection process. The final award winning entries will be selected by a festival jury and audience votes.

9 | Screenings

It is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that films for both online and offline screening are deposited with the festival organisers at least 28 days before any scheduled screening.

10 | Publicity

The festival reserves all the right to use extracts from submissions for festival publicity and marketing purposes. Press kits are not required, but are useful, so please feel free to send these with your submissions.

11 | General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

UK-China Film Collab follows its GDPR compliance which can be found here for the festival submission process.

Submission Date

Open Call: Now – May 5 2024

Final Selection Date: May 31 2024

The organisers and the curatorial team will make a final decision based on a comprehensive review of the quality of the production, the narrative (aesthetics) and the thematic fit. Selected entries will be notified by email after the final selection date, so please check your submission mailbox and spam box in time.

The Rights and Obligations of the Organisers and the Entrants

1. The rights and obligations of the organisers:

1) The organisers are obliged to keep the content of the submissions confidential, but an overview of the submission contents, confirmed by both parties, may be displayed on the official public account.

2) The organisers have the right to promote and screen the content during the event.

2. The rights and obligations of the entrants:

1) The entrant undertakes that he/she is entitled to the full intellectual property rights of the submitted content worldwide or has been authorised by the intellectual property right holder and can exercise said intellectual property rights by all submission rules and that the intellectual property rights of the entry are owned or exercised by the entrant.

2) Entrants undertake that their submissions are legitimate, do not violate the relevant laws and regulations of the UK and China, do not contain content that infringes on the copyright and other rights of others, and do not infringe on the legal rights of any third party.

For any enquiry about the submission, please feel free to contact the festival’s curation team via: odysseycuration@ukchinafilm.uk

We look forward to receiving your films!

Source：ukchinafilm.com