TERMS & RULES

A) CICLOPE Middle East honors the most well-crafted in Middle East and Northern Africa. To be elegible, entries must have been:

1. Produced by professionals born or based in Middle East or Northern Africa to be broadcasted in any country in the world. Example: An editing company in Egypt cuts a commercial produced by a French production company to be broadcasted in Europe. The film can be entered into Editing. Or…
2. Produced by foreign professionals, as long as the production company and/or the director behind the project are based or were born in Middle East or Northern Africa. Example: A Spanish music company adapts a song for a commercial directed by a Iranian filmmaker. The film can be entered into Music.

The work must have been commissioned by a brand, including non-profit organizations. Pieces that have not been produced for advertising purposes, are only eligible to participate in the Special Categories section. In any case, only films up to 20 minutes can be entered at CICLOPE Middle East.

B) Are welcome to enter their work production companies, post production companies, editing houses, music production companies, digital production companies, independent professionals and advertising agencies from all over the world.

C) CICLOPE Middle East promotes the participation of all countries in the region, which gives the festival an international profile. Since the jury panel will be formed by professionals from all over the world, English has been established as the official language and we strongly encourage our participants to include English subtitles in their entries. Nevertheless, because the festival evaluates aspects related to the art and technique, the piece can be registered in any language.

D) The registration of the pieces, as well as the payment, has to be made exclusively through the online registration system of the festival. The piece/s will only be considered registered after the uploading process is complete and the corresponding payment has been done. Important: Entry fees are not refundable under any circumstance.

E) The registered pieces must count with the authorization of the advertiser, the agency and/or the owner of the reproduction rights of the work. With exception of the projects of public welfare or charity, all the pieces must have been made for a brand at a valuable cost. It is the participant’s sole responsibility to comply with this rule. The festival shall not be held accountable for any type of responsibility that may arise in the shape of legal claims of third parties for this or any other motive related to the intellectual property or screening rights of the work.

F) CICLOPE Middle East’s entry deadline is Friday, June 3rd, 2022. The pieces must have been broadcasted for the first time between June 3th, 2021 – June 9th, 2022.

G) The organization, and/or the jury, if necessary, will have the right to request proof of emission in any stage of the contest, and the participant will be complied to submit it in a maximum time frame of 72 hours. If the event proof is not provided before the deadline, the piece will be automatically disqualified.

H) Pieces that have been submitted for the last edition of CICLOPE Festival, the international competition held on November 2021, are able to participate.

I) For the New Talent in Direction category, directors must be up to 30 years old and they must have had less than two years of experience as directors. The organization will have the right to ask for a proof if necessary.

J) The organization and the jury, at its sole discretion and when considered necessary, will have the right to disqualify or change pieces to a different category from the one originally registered, without refund of any kind and without the need of communicating it previously.

K) The jury will only evaluate the film craft in single pieces, so multiple films in a campaign should be entered separately.

L) With the purpose of promoting the festival, and when considered appropriate, the organization is authorized to project and/or publish in public or private presentations the registered pieces free of charge, without the need of any type of compensation to third parties.

M) The participant declares to own the broadcasting rights of the work. Also, the participant holds the festival unaccountable from all third party claims (this includes individuals and/or companies.)

N) In case the organization confirms the piece does not comply with the before mentioned requirements, or any other expressed in the present rules and conditions, at its sole discretion it will exercise the right to automatically remove or disqualify the piece without the need of compensation or severance pay to the participating company or person.

O) CICLOPE Middle East’s judging process consists of two rounds. The first one is undertaken by the Executive Jury, who watch and rank the entries on CICLOPE’s online platform. The 5 (five) best-ranked entries in each category will be considered finalists. In the second round of judging, the Executive Jury personally discusses the finalist pieces on a Zoom meeting and awards the one best work in each category. In a second video conference call, the Executive Jury can also award one Grand Prix for the best work of the year in the competition.

P) The entries selected by the Executive Jury as the best in their categories and the Grand Prix will automatically become finalists at CICLOPE Festival 2022 on the corresponding category. The winning companies will not have to re-enter the piece nor pay any fee to compete as a finalist in the corresponding category.

Q) Only categories with less than 3 (three) entries can be declared vacant.

R) All entries will be judged, and all winners will be announced on Thursday, July 7th on CICLOPE Middle East’s website. Winners will receive their trophies by courier.

S) Every piece submitted to CICLOPE Middle East 2022 is eligible to participate in CICLOPE Festival, the international award show to be held on November 9th and 10th, in Berlin, Germany. Entries that are not selected by the Executive Jury as the one best in the category, will have to follow the corresponding steps and pay the corresponding fee to take part in CICLOPE Festival.

T) The Special Awards and the final ranking published by CICLOPE Middle East at the end of the event are based on a points system where a company receives 1 (one) point for a finalist submission, 7 (seven) points for a winner and 20 (twenty) points for a Grand Prix.

U) All schedules and lineups are subject to change without prior notice.

V) Countries participating include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

If you have any questions, please send us an email to info@ciclopefestival.com