The spirit of The Irish Surf Film Festival (ISFF) is that it is for the Irish surf community –riders, filmers and photographers – as such, entrants should be living in Ireland (ROI or NI), for at least 6 months of the year.
DETAILS OF RULES FOR THE 2025 COMPETITION TO BE ANNOUNCED
The submission deadline for all competitions is the 31st of October 2024.
Please submit using the submission form link below.
The finalists of each competition will be decided by the selection panel/judges and will be announced on the ISFF website and on social media. Due to limited capacity, finalists will receive a maximum (including cases of entry to multiple competitions) of two free tickets to the event (main event and after party).
On submitting to the festival the applicant understands that he/she/they has a legal right to submit the film including ensuring all clearances have been obtained. By submitting to the festival the applicant agrees to the rules and terms.
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
AMENDED 2025 RULES TO BE ANNOUNCED
1. Films should be a maximum of 10 minutes in length.
2. Films should, generally speaking, feature Irish surfers/ Irish waves. This is not a strict condition.
3. If a short film’s main protagonist is a rider living in Ireland, there is no requirement for the filmmaker to be living in Ireland also.
4. The film should solely include footage taken no earlier than April 2019.
5. We would strongly encourage film makers to submit a fresh edit, with a general preference, but not a requirement, for unseen footage. Although older footage (rule number 4 above) is allowed, the short film should not be/not have been available to view online publicly prior to the night of the festival.
6. See below for guidelines on file formats as advised by the projectionist in the cinema.
7. A preview of the short film of maximum 30 second length should also be included. See technical submission guidelines below.
8. A maximum of two films can be submitted per film maker.
9. Films will be judged on a range of criteria at the judges discretion, these may include, but are not limited to, cinematography, quality of surfing, quality of storyline, etc. Each judge will make choices based on their own preferences.
10. The film should be suitable for a younger audience as U18’s will be in attendance.
11. Each submission must be accompanied by a high res still image (not a poster image) a logline and a short synopsis. A headshot of the film maker and a short bio should also be included.
12. A submission fee of €30 will be charged per film submitted, made payable via the paypal link: paypal.me/irishsurffilmfest.
13. The finalists will receive two free tickets to the event (main event & after party).
14. The finalists (as decided by the selection committee) of the short film competition will be featured on the night of the festival. The total number of finalists will depend on the number of short films submitted. A maximum of 8 short films will be screened on the night of the festival, but this may be subject to change.
15. A cash prize of €1,000 + product will be awarded to the best short film, as decided by the judge(s)
WAVE OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
AMENDED 2025 RULES TO BE ANNOUNCED
1. There will be six categories for the Wave of the Year competition: bodyboard, paddle surf, women’s, tow surf, under 18’s girls and under 18’s boys.
2. Riders in women’s and U18’s categories may submit into other categories if they wish. Riders in under 18 categories must have been under 18 on the 1st of January in year of festival (this year 2024), ie the same rules as the Irish Surfing Association for competitions.
3. Each rider can have a max of 2 entries per category (video entries only), although only 1 wave (at the judge’s discretion) will be considered as a finalist. If submitting to more than one category the waves must be different. There is no requirement that the wave is unseen, ie not published online prior to the festival.
4. The wave should be caught from (and including) the 1st of November 2023 to the 31st of October 2024.
5. Generally speaking, rides that have been completed (a tube that is made, or maneuver that is landed) will be favoured over waves that aren’t, similar to general rules in livesurf competitions. The judge(s) decision will be final.
6. The video must be submitted in the format set out in the submission guidelines.
7. The submitted video must be a maximum of 30 seconds (only the waves, we will add introduction name of rider and filmer, etc) and have a maximum of two angles (one land angle and/or one water angle and/or one drone angle, if available).
8. The clips should only include raw audio or no audio.
9. The top three waves (as decided by the judge(s)) in each category will be featured in the festival. Other runners up may also be featured on ISFF socials. This may be subject to change.
10. A submission fee of €30 will be charged per wave submitted, made payable via the paypal link: paypal.me/irishsurffilmfest.
11. The finalists will receive two free tickets to the event (main event & after party).
12. All submissions made via the submission form link above and below
13. In adult categories, a cash prize of €500 + product will be awarded to the winner as decided by the judge(s). In under 18’s categories, a cash prize of €250 + product will be awarded to the winner as decided by the judge(s).
BEST PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION
AMENDED 2025 RULES TO BE ANNOUNCED
1. The competition for best photograph will be based on a theme "Farraige cháite" which is what is referred to as the bit of the wave that lifts or sprays off the top when the wind catches it, when its breaking. Its origins are based on the traditional 'winnowing' process, when oats were thrown into the air to separate the wheat from the chaff. See pinned instagram video for more insight. The theme will be open to interpretation.
2. Only 1 photograph may be submitted per photographer.
3. All submissions made via the link to the submission form at the top and bottom of this page.
4. Photographs should be taken from (and including) the 1st of November 2022 to the 31st of October 2024.
5. No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning. Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches, are allowed. Stitched images are not permitted. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Colour images can be converted to greyscale monochrome. Video frame grabs should not be entered.
6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated images or composites shall not be entered.
7. Entrants may be asked to provide evidence that the photograph was taken within the timeframe outlined in rule 4 above, along with evidence that the submission adhered to rules 5 and 6 above.
8. Submitted photographs should be at a resolution large enough to print at A3 size. Image file type must be .tiff.
9. A submission fee of €30 will be charged per photograph submitted, made payable via the paypal link: paypal.me/irishsurffilmfest.
10. The top three photo finalists will receive two free tickets to the event (main event & after party).
11. The finalists (as decided by the judge(s)) will have their entries displayed in print at the festival. Finalists will have a chance to sell prints at the event if they wish.
12. Entrants agree that their work may be published on ISFF socials with due credit.
13. A cash prize of €1000 + product will be awarded to the best photograph, as decided by the judge(s)
VIDEO FORMATS FOR SUBMISSIONS
(both short film and 30 second preview, and wave of the year submission)
Advice from Palas cinema projectionist:
• For a DCP (digital cinema print) conversion, it would be best that we receive the master files as Quicktime ProRes (422 HQ is best). We can convert other .MOV and .MP4 codecs, but there could be a noticeable drop in quality.
• 24FPS is preferred frame rate and ideally in 2K or 4K resolution, however full HD is also workable.
• DCI-P3 colour space with 2.6 gamma would be best, but if you only have it in rec709 then that is fine.
• The Palas cinema is set up for 5.1 surround. Anything below that is ok (stereo, mono, ect), however 7.1 and above would not be compatible.
Submissions for all competitions are made through the following link: