Rules and Terms

LGBTQ-Unbordered is granted the right to use an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for competition at the Festival for promotional purposes.
A brief clip of winning entries may also be streamed on the LGBTQ-U website and WRPN.TV.
The number of awards granted at any level will fluctuate based on the total number of entries received for each competition deadline. Just as entering major categories does not insure selection or award, entering sub-categories also does not insure selection or award; Filmmakers who enter sub-categories only (without entering a major category) may be rejected if the judges do not feel the submitted sub-category is of merit, even if the film itself is of merit and could have been award-worthy. Conversely, films may also receive awards for sub-categories written in by the judges, even if the filmmaker did not submit for them.
Also, your film name will appear in the Official Selection list only if you have submitted the entire film into one of the 20 Major (full-price) Categories (films submitted for judging in reduced-rate, production value sub-categories only, will not be listed).
Submitting your film to LGBTQ-U automatically puts you on our mailing list, to receive emails from LGBTQ-U and WRPN.TV, so we will inform you of developments regarding the status of your film. This mailing list is private and will not be shared with any third parties. You may unsubscribe at the risk of missing pertinent information regarding your film.
The individual or corporation submitting the film warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations.
The Competition reserves the right to refuse entries, and there are no waivers.
DVD's WILL NOT BE RETURNED!
Submissions in other than English must be subtitled, dubbed or include an English transcript.
If there is insufficient competition within any category, LGBTQ-U reserves the right to withdraw a "Best Of" presentation in that category.
To ensure that each film and screenplay is studied and rated at an individual basis, we instituted a system to ensure that entries do not compete against each other but are recognized for their own individual merits. For all intents and purposes, they compete against themselves: we judge each entry on individual merits and scored on an inherent value system. We want to ensure that the judges’ focus is on you when it is your turn to be tested, not on all the other films that are in cue: this insures that they will not have comparisons going on in their minds when they should focus entirely on YOU.
Judges score entries on a performance scale and winning entries are recognized and awarded not only for Best of Festival and Best of Show but also for two Awards of Excellence levels, two Awards of Merit levels, a Kudos Endeavor Award, or no award.
Best of Festival and Best of Show honors are granted to the top scoring entry/entries for each season; Awards of Excellence are granted to entries with exceptional artistic and technical achievements; and notable achievements are recognized at the Award of Merit and 'Kudos' award levels.
The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, WRPN.TV, and ROMAN PICTURES against all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

What makes us different?......

What makes us different?......
Top-winning films at our other successful festivals have already received distribution through our exclusive distributor relationships:
- Guaranteed distributor review by Adler & Associates for features and shorts, and “Cardinal XD Distribution PLUS Polaris Pictures (for Screenplays) among others that visit our on-line network, WRPN.tv, every so often.
All for selected: Best of Festival.
- Other festivals claim to invite distributors to a venue: We Deliver Them To You Directly, Guaranteed.
- A festival that runs as a web-based competition PLUS, a few TOP Awards will screen at WRPN.tv sponsored Multi-Festival Event Rehoboth Beach, DE 2021 and Berkeley Springs, WV (At our discretion and by invitation and dependent on COVID-19 status)
- LBGTQ-U, with WRPN.TV Entertainment Network, will also offer a unique opportunity to show your film to a world-wide community of video fans from dozens of countries that filmmakers would not normally have access to, in the form of an optional on-line video exposure opportunity. This feature will be available for "Best Of festival" “Best Of Show,”
“Outstanding Excellence,” “Excellence,” and even some “Exceptional Merit” winners.
- We give any film NOT accepted a free synopsis of the judge’s notes, at the filmmakers' request, for free
-Opportunities for Sub-Category Awards include cinematography, score, original concept, direction, SFX, acting, writing, editing and many more!
- FREE Early bird entry of any rejected film, into LBGTQ-U’s next competition, upon completion of the suggested corrections outlined in your rejection letter
- $30 flat fee for ALL STUDENT FILM ENTRIES regardless of deadline status (proof required of student status at the time of filming: no refunds if your ID is not legitimate)
- Unique Category distinctions:
“Dust Collector” category for pre-2009 films
“Tight Shorts, ” and “Loose Shorts” distinction between running time of less than 15 minutes and those between 15-59 minutes
“Horror” and “Sci-Fi” separated into two distinct categories
- Finally, our founders are registered Committee Members of the Universal Film & Festival Organization (UFFO.ORG). The UFFO is a nonprofit operating out of the U.K., which exists for promoting best business practices for film festivals. This guarantees that your film will enjoy a fair and thorough judging process.

Awards & Prizes

LGBTQ-U, in cooperation with our distribution colleagues, is proud to offer guaranteed
distributor review to Best of Festival winners in the Major categories*:
"Best of Festival Award: Presented to an outstanding entry from among the Best of Show Winners."
"Best of Show" selected by genre, category and domestic/foreign, so there will be over one BOS, i.e. BOS Documentary (Domestic), BOS Documentary (Foreign) and so on.
* (Please note: If there is insufficient competition within any category, LGBTQ-U reserves the right to withdraw a "Best of" presentation in that category.)
Other award levels include:
“Outstanding Excellence,”
" Excellence,"
" Exceptional Merit,"
"Jury's Choice Award,"
" Merit,"
"Kudos Endeavor,"