Rules

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

2. DEADLINES

• 2.1 Submissions to HaHaArt Film Festival will be open until July 12, 2026. The festival does not ensure the viewing and consideration of films received afterwards.
• 2.2 All applicants will be notified of the official selection by August 31, 2026.

3. ADMISSIONS

• 3.1 The HaHaArt Film Festival competition admits short comedy films with a maximum running time of 40 minutes and feature-length comedy films with a minimum duration of 60 minutes.
• 3.2 The HaHaArt Film Festival admits to competition films produced between 2024 and 2026, which may compete in the following categories:
  • a) Feature Films;
  • b) International Short Films;
  • c) National Short Films;
• 3.3 Regarding c) in the previous point, National Film is a film majorly Portuguese.
• 3.4 Each director may submit up to three short films in the competition.
• 3.5 The competitions accept films in any language as long as they are subtitled in either English or Portuguese at the moment of their submission.
• 3.6 The competitions do not accept works connected to the members of the organisation or to the members of the jury.
• 3.7 The Feature Films Competition is dependent on the quantity and quality of films submitted, with a minimum requirement of four films that fulfill the criteria.
• 3.8 The National Short Films Competition is dependent on the number of Portuguese films in the official selection, with the requirement of at least five different films for the category to be considered.

4. FORMAT

• 4.1 The submitted films can be filmed in any format. They should, however, be submitted in a digital format as close as possible as to a final version for film screening. The accepted formats are: 2K Native (2048 x 1080), 2K Flat (1998 x 1080), and Full HD (1920 x 1080). These files must be compressed in codec H264 (mov / mp4), with AAC audio, with a maximum file size of 15gb.
• 4.2 There can be submissions in DCP (Digital Cinema Package) format as well. The conditions of these submissions must be discussed with the festival organisation through geral@hahaartfilmfestival.pt or info@cineclubepombal.pt.

5. SUBMISSION

• 5.1 The submission of films in the HaHaArt Film Festival should be made through the official festival website ( hahaartfilmfestival.pt) or through the following platforms, following their specific conditions:
  • a) Click for Festivals, em https://www.clickforfestivals.com/;
  • b) FilmFreeway, em https://filmfreeway.com/HaHaArtFilmFestival.
• 5.2 Your film can also be submitted, if adequately identified (film name, film credits, phone number and e-mail address), through mail, to the following address:
• CCP-Cineclube de Pombal Apartado 000018 EC Pombal 3100-999 Pombal
• 5.3 The costs of the submissions through mail or the aforementioned platforms is a responsibility of each participant, as well as the information needed for the respective registration.
• 5.4 If you have any questions, please contact the festival staff at geral@hahaartfilmfestival.pt or info@cineclubepombal.pt.

6. SELECTION PROCESS

• 6.1 The selection committee of the HaHaArt Film Festival will analyse and discuss all the films submitted until the stipulated dates in order to get to the official selection of the festival. This will be done according to the following parameters:
  • a) Use of the mechanisms of comedy;
  • b) Narrative/Concept;
  • c) Technical and artistic execution;
  • d) Originality.
• 6.2 Members of the selection committee and responsible programmers must not be contacted directly by the participants. That kind of contact may be seen as an unfair advantage and that may be used as an exclusion criteria.
• 6.3 The organisation owns the right of not sharing information on whether or not the films may be selected during the analysis period.

7. JURY

• 7.1 The Jury team will be composed of cinema professionals. The team has the authority and is equipped to evaluate and grant the awards to the films in competition.
• 7.2 Jury members will have been officially announced by the end of September 2026 on the festival’s official website and respective social-media.
• 7.3 The Jury team will consider, in the evaluation of the works and selection of the winners of the festival competitions, the parameters highlighted in 6.1. The Jury team may also choose to consider other aspects of the films that seem relevant to their final decision.
• 7.4 To the Jury team is reserved the right to award honorable mentions, as well as to refrain from granting all the prizes mentioned in 8.1, as long as a justification is presented.
• 7.5 There is no possibility to contest to Jury’s verdict.

8. AWARDS

• 8.1 The Festival seeks to attribute 5 different awards:
  • a) Best Feature Film: 750,00€, trophy and certificate;
  • b) Best Short Film: 500,00€, trophy and certificate;
  • c) Best National Short Film: 300,00€, trophy and certificate;
  • d) Prize of Artistic Merit: 300,00€, trophy and certificate;
  • e) Audience Award: 300,00€, trophy and certificate.
• 8.2 The award described on c) is dependent on the conditions described on rule 3.7 of this manual.

9. TERMS OF PARTICIPATION

• 9.1 The HaHaArt Film Festival will be a live festival with sessions at Teatro-Cine de Pombal and Auditório Municipal de Pombal.
• 9.2 Selected films will be invited to send a representative to the Festival, who will be asked to confirm their presence in due time.
• 9.3 The representatives of selected films will have free access to all sessions, masterclasses and workshops.
• 9.4The participation in Workshops or Masterclasses during the dates of the official competition of the festival will be subject to registration and limited to the available number of seats.
  • a) The promotion of the contents produced in the Masterclasses and Workshops will require authorization from the Festival, the participants and lecturers.

10. FINAL NOTES

• 10.1 The official selection will be composed of 30 short films and 5 feature films. The number of this selection can vary according to the quantity and quality of the submitted films.
• 10.2 If the screening rights of a film have been transferred to an entity different from the one at the time of its submission, they must notify the new rights holders of the festival regulations.
  • a) The festival organisation must also be informed of any transfers of screening rights so that the process of selecting and screening the film can be carried out promptly and transparently.
• 10.3 The selected films may be streamed online during the festival dates. The distributors/authors will be informed if such a screening takes place.
• 10.4 All selected films will be included in the HaHaArt Film Festival archive and must grant the respective legal authorizations for screening in this edition of the festival.
  • a) After the conclusion of the festival, the films included in the official 2025 selection may be used to create a “Best-Of” extension of the HaHaArt Film Festival, to be distributed nationally by the festival organization. The distributors/authors will be contacted in advance if there is an intention for such screenings.
• 10.5 For advertising or promotional purposes, the festival may use excerpts from all submitted films. For other purposes, the use of films not included in the official selection will require authorization from the respective authors.

11. EXCEPTIONS AND CHANGES

• 11.1 The HaHa Art Film Festival organisation has the right to change any of the aforementioned terms for the adequate running of the festival.
• 11.2 The situations that are not stipulated in this document will be analysed individually by the festival organisation.