13th International AIB / IFLA Short Film Contest about Libraries

The thirteenth edition of the contest “A corto di libri. Short of books: short films tell about libraries” is open! The contest is organized by the Italian Library Association (AIB) in collaboration with IFLA’s Metropolitan Libraries Section, AVI – Associazione Videoteche Mediateche Italiane, Gallucci publishers, MediaLibraryOnLine, and Del Vecchio publishers and the sponsorship of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.

The competition promotes the representation of libraries, librarians and librarians in the common imagination through the language of short films. Wings of Desire; Ghostbusters; Breakfast at Tiffany’s; The Name of the Rose; and Father Brown: these are just a few of the countless titles with which cinema and TV presented libraries and librarians protagonists or simple appearances, stereotypes and peculiarities of all kinds. In the age of the Internet and Artificial Intelligence we believe that the library world still offers a lot to tell, through the medium of the short film. Hence in February 2009 the first international competition for video artists – with no age or experience limits – was launched to narrate the microcosm of librarians.

During the 12 previous editions, more than 216 short films from all over the world were submitted.

Questions? Contact [email protected].

Rules and Terms

1. The contest has three sections: Fiction, Documentary, Advertising.

2. The competition assigns six awards:

a. Best film of the Fiction Section

b. Best film of the Documentary section

c. Best film of the Advertising section

d. Best film among the winners of the a., b., and c. awards (Best film of the year)

e. IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award, to the best film about public libraries in large cities and metropolitan areas.

f. People’s Choice Award, selected by the Web audience from 10 to 20 October for the best video of the year among all the participants.

3. The contest is free of charge and open to all. Entrants can submit only one film per Section. The main subject of the film must be libraries and/or the profession of librarian.

4. In order to register for the contest the form must be completed, signed and sent with each film . The film must be sent in digital format (mp4 or avi) via online file transfer (FTP) or similar technology to [email protected].

5. The film must be a maximum of 20 (twenty) minutes in length for the Fiction and Documentary Sections and a maximum of 2 (two) minutes for the Advertising Section.

6. Slideshows and videos assembled with single images are excluded.

7. If the film has been previously submitted to other contests, participants must indicate in the entry form the name of the contest, place and year. Films already submitted to this contest in the previous years cannot be submitted again.

8. Works must be licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY4.0 license. Each participant must use music, images and films in the public domain or created for the film or include a signed permission from the rights holder; the entrant must obtain permission from each under-18 years old person who appears in the film.

9. In order to be selected for the IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award, entries in languages other than English must have English subtitles.

10. The deadline for entries is: 31 August 2024

11. A jury, headed by critic Fabio Melelli, will select by 30 September the best film for each Section; one of the winners of the three Sections will be assigned the award for the best film. The awarded films will be screened during the ceremony which will take place on November in Naples

12. For the IFLA Metropolitan Libraries short film award, up to three films will be selected for each section; they will be presented to the IFLA Met Lib committee. The winner will be announced at the Metlib IFLA Conference (8-9 October in Barcelona) . Films in the MetLib category can also compete for the other competition prizes.

13. The winners of each Section will receive a certificate, books, a subscription to MLOL Plus, and a reimbursement of travel expenses for the awards ceremony. The winner of the Best Film Award will receive 500 euros. The winner People’s Choice Award will receive a certificate and a subscription to MLOL Plus e-book platform.

14. The winner of the IFLA Metropolitan Libraries short film award will receive:

a. If a library, 1,000 euros as a contribution to travel expenses to the IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2025.

b. If a single filmmaker, 1,000 euros in film-making equipment.

Prizes can be varied by the organizers.

15. The jury’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

16. The winners of each award will be notified in advance so that they can attend the award ceremony

17. All the received files will be collected by AIB’s and IFLA’s repositories and will be available on websites including Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Films will be screened during not-for-profit events so to promote libraries and reading, citing the sources.

18. The entrant is the person solely responsible for the content and creation of the works.

19. The organizers shall decide on all matters not covered by these rules.

20. Entering this contest implies the full acceptance of these rules.

SOURCE: aib.it