PLEASE READ OUR GUIDELINES CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING
Bronx World Film is currently accepting submissions for Bronx World Film Cycle, Winter 2025, our flagship programme to be held at our Manhattan venue of La Nacional on January 5-7, 2025, with dates in our home borough of The Bronx to be announced soon. Please read these guidelines before you submit. Make sure that your film(s) are a good fit!
What Is Art House Film?
We define “art house” as film that serves the filmmaker or auteur’s artistic vision and aesthetic exclusively, as opposed to films made primarily for profit and which appeal to mass audiences. Art house film derives its luster from nuanced writing and performance, from artistic invention and persistence, and often, because of its non-commercial nature, from the ability to make much with little. Film as an artistic discipline has the demonstrated power to uplift communities and entire nations.
It carries forward a long tradition of freewheeling experimentation by masters from every corner of the globe. It played a lead role in helping post-World War II Europe recover from the devastation of war and re-build its economies, and films from that period remain timeless classics. It has done the same in our times for communities, regions and nations that have understood its value as an agent of development. It is high time for the work we have carried out advancing this vision since our founding to take its place among the models of new thinking so urgently required for our home borough in this uncertain age.
What Kind of Films We Seek
Our curated programmes are dedicated exclusively to art house filmmakers whose work embodies a deep-rooted sense of identity, place and culture coupled with a daring explorer’s spirit attuned to the creation of idioms that transcend established categories and conventions. We seek the widest range of genres such as dance film, animation, digital art, romantic comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, documentary and experimental, ranging from feature-length to micrométrage format (films lasting from 30 seconds to 2 minutes duration) and hailing from all over the globe. Within that great diversity, we also give primacy to works from Central America and The Bronx.
What is Bronx World Film Cycle?
The Cycle is our flagship film programme and dates back to our beginnings in 2011. For full information and galleries, see our Programme page.
The Cycle is neither a festival nor a once-yearly event. We run a different model altogether, with no juries or awards, rather our programmes are curated and the filmmaker receives personal attention. We have no headquarters of our own yet, so our programming is de-centralized. As circumstances allow, the Cycle presents a multi-arts event together with screenings. We operate year-round in Manhattan and The Bronx, offering filmmakers a wider range of screening opportunities.
The Winter Cycle at La Nacional in Manhattan gives filmmakers access to international audiences, media and industry professionals.
The Summer Cycle in The Bronx operates as a roving cinémathèque, traveling to underserved neighborhoods throughout the borough with works primarily of a lighter nature suitable for all ages and provenances, reflecting a blend of local demographics and the best of international contemporary art house.
Subtitling Policy
Bronx World Film is one of a very few, if not the only film presenter insisting that every foreign-language film it screens have English-language subtitles in accordance with the strictest standards and specifications of international art house, and that these be “burned” into the film.
Art house film often deals with complex subject matter and language nuances. Improper subtitling creates confusion and frustration, which in our day can snap the delicate bond between the work on screen and a foreign audience’s attention span. It can ruin great films in the audience’s eyes.
Proper subtitling, on the other hand, draws audiences into the heart of the film, makes all its shadings accessible and thus grants it longer life and greater possibilities. These are essential considerations for films that naturally command smaller audiences and often have a low or non-existing marketing budget.
NOTE: If your film has already been subtitled, please note that subtitles must meet the following specifications:
SUBTITLES [technical Specifications]
Font: Helvetica (or equivalent)
Font Size: 70
Tracking: 12 points
Line Spacing: 1.5
NOTE: When engineering subtitles on your computer screen, the 70-point font will look entirely too large. Long experience, however, has taught us that is the correct size for viewing on a large screen and from a distance. The large size of the font forces you to break subtitles up into smaller pieces, and to compact the language of the subtitles while omitting nothing.
SUBTITLES [General Specifications]
• Follow sequence and syllable count of original
• Match rhythm of action and do not jump ahead
• Use up to 2 lines per subtitle if needed, no more
• Read accurate, compact and smooth, like poetry
• Use language that matches tone of original (“register”)
• Use punctuation sparingly
• Do not fill the screen with text
• Research terms you do not know!
Subtitle Correction (An Added Value)
Bronx World Film will notify filmmakers if the subtitles need revision. We are particularly interested in working with experienced translators who wish to adapt their techniques and learn both the literary and the technical processes of subtitling. This skills transfer ensures that art house film is always building a body of translators who understand the specific requirements for this branch of translation. We aim to ensure through this process that your film has the greatest possibilities of success and an extended life, at no cost to you.
¡España Hoy!
We started presenting an annual showcase of contemporary Spanish cinema in 2017 as a gesture of gratitude to La Nacional and the Spanish community of New York for their support of our vision. As with all our programming, it runs the full range of styles and genres from Spain’s brightest up-and-coming directors. The series return in late 2024.
Other Screening Opportunities
Bronx World Film accepts submissions year round, and will continue to seek out new spaces for the films that we include in our programming, which become part of our permanent catalogue. In 2016, Founder Walter Krochmal screened selected works from the catalogue to excited audiences in San Pedro Sula, Honduras as part of a pilot international arts exchange with non-profit arts incubator San Pedro Sula [RESET]. Our Roving Cinémathèque Project, the umbrella project for our Summer Cycle, aims to provide local communities in The Bronx and throughout New York City with film screenings year round in a variety of non-traditional venues.
Submission Fees and Screening Fees
As a matter of policy and principle, we design our programmes to be accessible, streamlined and friendly to filmmakers, to offer a valuable springboard to an international audience and a solid credit. We do not charge registration or submission fees to hard-pressed filmmakers who have already expended so much on producing their films. While we cannot at this time pay screening fees, we offer as much added value in personal attention to the filmmaker as possible.
Screen With Us Without Disqualifying From Festivals
Festivals often demand all films on their marquée be premieres except for small, private screenings, billed as “avant prémieres,” “special audience screenings” or similar. Bronx World Film is happy to offer an avant prémiere to any film accepted in our program, should the director or producer allow it. For filmmakers this means a New York credit, screening before a sophisticated audience that can provide valuable feedback, protection of festival premiere status and another opportunity to make great connections.
Ready to Submit?
Once you’ve read through our guidelines and are ready to submit, simply send us an e-mail to the address below with a private online screener file. Don’t forget to include in the subject line the specific event for which you are submitting.
If we accept your film for inclusion in our program, we will send you an e-mail with a fillable .pdf Submission Form. Please fill it out completely, attach all the materials requested, e-mail it back to us and the process is complete, barring revision of subtitles or similar matters.
What format do I send my films in?
Send your film(s) in a Quicktime (.mov) or MP4 high-definition digital format, whether through a private link on Vimeo or a program like We Transfer, accompanied by the appropriate Submission Forms above. We cannot process DVD’s or Blu-Ray disks. WE DO NOT ACCEPT YOUTUBE LINKS.
Additional Screening Opportunities
We may want to screen your film(s) through other programmes, and if so, we will notify you. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE SCREEN ANY FILM WITHOUT THE FILMMAKER’S AUTHORIZATION.
Bronx World Film, Incorporated is a sponsored artist with The Performance Zone Inc. (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the performing arts community.