Screening/Judging/Notifications

You have already read about Schweitzer Lakedance's commitment to quality. Here, you can read how that commitment to quality and fairness extends to heart of our competition.

Screening

Screening is done by committee. Marketing materials have no impact, and are filed before a film is screened. The only item being screened for quality is the submitted film.

The film is screened in a cinema-type environment, projected using calibrated high-end projectors, and using calibrated 5.1 surround sound (or stereo spread over surround). This environment allows us to determine the technical suitability of a film for our audience.

If a DVD is found to be technically unplayable, the entrant will be notified via the supplied email address.

Once a film has begun the screening process, it is continued until the end of its total run time unless there is a disqualifying issue present.

If a filmmaker requests a review during entry, it will be done, summarizing each committee member's thought per category into a single review. To learn more about reviews, see our Reviews section.

At that point it is determined whether the film will proceed to round 1 for judging.

Judging

Every film that is accepted into Schweitzer Lakedance Film Festival is judged in its entirety by at least three trained judges, based in several states. They are judged on a ten point criteria basis and are given a score. This allows our judging to be completely objective, in each category and overall.

Notifications

Official Notifications will be sent by at least August 6th, 2008 and acceptances will be posted to our website, but many will be sent before then. We will notify first by the email address provided in the entry form. There will be multiple rounds of acceptances and non-acceptances sent out. Please do not contact us for the status of your film until after August 6th, 2008.