GUIDE TO APPLY WITH AN ALMOST FINISHED FILM – EN | 8ª MECAS: 25 al 30 de abril 2025

MECAS GUIDE TO APPLY WITH AN ALMOST FINISHED FILM

MECAS is a meeting place for independent filmmakers and producers making fiction, non-fiction, narrative and non-narrative or experimental films, films with a strong personal vision.

MECAS is committed to talent and to the creation of a cinema that is born without a commercial vocation, proposals that move away from labels, trends and conventionalisms, stories with their own identity, that move the viewer.

If you think your next film would fit in with MECAS, we invite you to participate in MECAS Almost Finished Film. You can also take a look at the selection of projects from our past editions.

TO PARTICIPATE IN MECAS ALMOST FINISHED FILMS

(READ BEFORE SENDING YOUR PROPOSAL)

Your project must be ALMOST FINISHED, this could mean you have just started editing, you have a first cut or a final cut, you are already in the post-production phase or you are still in the final stages of filming.
For the first evaluation, we need to see a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes of your film. If you are still in the editing phase, you can send us a long teaser or prepare a montage with one or more clips of that length.
For those who have finished editing or have a complete first cut, please indicate this and also add this link. If we pre-select the 30-minute cut, we will move on to viewing the completed film or the wholel rough cut.
During the MECAS festival we will only screen a segment of approximately 15 minutes (you can select a part of the film or prepare a clip with several different moments).
Your finished project must have a minimum duration of 60 minutes. ● It can be fiction, non-fiction or something in between. ● It must be a European and/or Latin American production.
It is a requirement that the film does not yet have a distributor or sales agent.
All applicants must complete the form for ALMOST FINISHED FILMS at: ENTRY ALMOST FINISHED FILMS (link to form)

ABOUT THE SELECTION

The MECAS 2025 projects will be selected by a committee made up of the MECAS team and external advisors.
The MECAS team may request meetings with the projects after final selection, as well as request additional material.
A maximum of 10 projects will be selected for participation. In this 7th edition of ALMOST FINISHED FILMS, one of the participating projects has already been invited through the collaboration between MECAS and FICXProSEMILLERU Lab 2024 of the Gijón International Film Festival.
One of the selected projects will be directed by a filmmaker from the Canary Islands or produced by a production company from the Canary Islands.
One of the selected projects will be eligible to be filmed in the Canary Islands or will have the potential to be co-produced by a local production company.
Each selected film will be notified individually and the final selection will be published in April. This official invitation will only be sent to the selected projects to the contact indicated on the Entry Form.
MECAS reserves the right to invite projects it considers of interest for this edition of MECAS Almost-Finished Film.

HOW IT WORKS ONCE THE PROJECT IS SELECTED

INFORMATION ON PARTICIPATION

Once the project has been selected and prior to the event, the MECAS team and the team of each project will hold a meeting by videoconference to clarify any doubts and communicate what will happen during the participation. This meeting will serve to detail the following points:

MECAS will cover the cost of accommodation for a maximum of three (3) nights in a hotel and per diems for one representative from each project, preferably the director or producer. However, we suggest that more than one person from the team accompanies each project to MECAS.
For LATAM participants, the organization may offer assistance for air travel, but cannot cover all travel expenses. Each case will be studied individually.
All participants will present their project to MECAS experts, who will be: representatives of international festivals, markets and laboratories, curators, production and distribution companies, sales agencies and representatives of film funds.
The language of presentation of the projects will be English.
The presentations will take the form of a conversation in front of a professional audience (MECAS experts), with each project team and a MECAS moderator taking part in the conversation.
Each team will have the same amount of time for the introduction of their work, the conversation and any questions from the audience.
MECAS will prepare a schedule of meetings. Each participant will have the opportunity to meet with the experts who can best support their project.
Representatives of the selected projects must attend the activities organized by MECAS.

ABOUT THE PRIZES

MECAS Almost-Finished Film Prize: A jury hidden among the experts will award a cash prize of €8,000 (including taxes) that can be used in the process of completing the work.

At the end of MECAS, the winning projects must submit all administrative documentation to receive payment plus an Expense Plan for the cash prize.

The following prizes will be awarded by collaborating companies or laboratories:

Music Library & SFX Award: An award consisting of access to all the music in the production music catalogues sub-edited by the company, with unlimited downloads for synchronisation on the winning project. It also includes synchronisation of the music for up to 2 promotional contents of the project (teaser/trailer). It includes value-added services through the services offered by our 360º Acorde music supervision division. Prize valued at €2,000.
Blackout Films Prize for the creation of the project’s DCP, includes subtitles in copy and/or version files (the production company must provide the subtitles already laid out) to add the file to the DCP and distribution by fiber optic for one year.
Cinema Pendent de l’Alternativa PRO Award: consisting of the dissemination of a project, materialized in the participation of that same project in the

edition of Cinema Pendent 2025. This award considers both the projects selected in Almost-Made Films and Films-in-Progress.

SEMILLERU Lab Award: consisting of the dissemination of a project, materialized in the participation of that same project in the SEMILLERU 2025 edition. This award considers both the projects selected in Almost Made Cinema and Cinema Yet to Be Made.

OTHER SPECIFICATIONS ABOUT THE AWARDS

No special mentions or ex aequo prizes will be awarded.

TAX WITHHOLDINGS ON THE AWARDS

Financial prizes will be paid upon presentation of an invoice dated in the year of the market edition and presented within the calendar year of the market edition. These prizes will be subject to withholding taxes according to Spanish law. A deduction certificate may be issued upon request by the interested party.
In cases where these payments are made to foreign individuals or companies resident in a country with a double taxation treaty with Spain that would allow the declaration of monetary prize payments with the corresponding deduction in the recipient’s country, the foreign individuals or companies must submit, together with the invoice, a certificate of tax residence in that country. In cases where the country of tax residence of the winning individual or company does not have a double taxation treaty covering this type of payment, the provisions of Spanish legislation on withholding taxes shall apply.

PHYSICAL PRIZES

All prizes include the presentation of a plaque or diploma, as appropriate, to the director of the winning project or a representative thereof.

COMMITMENT TO PARTICIPATE

BY ACCEPTING THE INVITATION TO MECAS

The data and information to be included in the Infobook MECAS 2025, available to experts and market participants, will be collected on the registration form, which has been completed by each participant. The veracity, accuracy and correctness of the data provided in Spanish and English are the responsibility of the participants.
The teams of the selected projects undertake to provide MECAS with the complementary information within the deadlines required for the production of the Infobook.
The teams of the selected projects undertake to provide MECAS with the screening files – with English subtitles if necessary – within the deadlines required by the Festival and MECAS screening and technical team.
The name and logo of MECAS, Mercado del Cine Casi Hecho / Festival Internacional de Cine de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria must be inserted in the credits of all selected projects, once completed and, if your project is a winner, it must be inserted in the opening credits of the finished film.
MECAS reserves the right to use the photographs and promotional materials of the projects and filmmakers sent by the person submitting the project to MECAS for its promotion, web and social media advertising, both of MECAS, as well as of the Las Palmas International Film Festival and other collaborating entities and sponsors. Likewise, it may use the images taken during the event for promotion, communication and making-of purposes.
In order to maintain contact and follow-up on each project and to share the successes/achievements that each one accumulates, the participants agree to maintain communication with the MECAS team when news arises about selections at festivals and other awards obtained. In this way, we will be able to support and publicize the journey of the works that have passed through MECAS on our social networks.
Registration implies acceptance of these rules.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING

The deadline for submitting projects to this call is February 20, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. UTC+1.
The MECAS team may make a pre-selection and request meetings with the projects prior to the final selection, as well as request additional material.
The MECAS team is very small and we cannot communicate with all the registered projects, therefore, we will send the official notification only to those selected projects.
If you have not received a communication from us by March 31, it means that your project has NOT been selected.

PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

Participants declare under their own responsibility the veracity of the data provided in the registration process, and declare that they comply with the requirements established in the rules. The provision of false data will result in the rejection of the registration application.

Applicants give their consent for the processing of the data provided in the registration process to MECAS Cine Por Hacer, which will be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of managing their participation in the initiative.

The personal data collected will not be communicated to third parties, except where legally obliged to do so and except for those data necessary to manage their participation in the initiative.

Applicants give their consent to receive communications from the organization by subscribing to its newsletter.

Likewise, registration and, consequently, acceptance of these rules allow Promoción de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria S.A. to capture, reproduce and disseminate images and/or videos of the participant taken during the MECAS event and their subsequent reproduction and/or dissemination through any means of communication of MECAS, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival and Promoción de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria S.A. , for all the uses it may have and for any application.

JURISDICTION

In the event that an amicable resolution cannot be reached between the parties to any conflict that may arise, the parties shall submit to the jurisdiction of the Courts and Tribunals of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, expressly waiving their own jurisdiction.

ACCEPTANCE OF THE RULES

Registration implies the express and complete acceptance of these rules, with the organization being responsible for resolving any incident or conflict that arises and is not covered in these rules, which are final.

Promoción de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria S.A. The MECAS organizing entity reserves the right to make modifications to these rules or add successive annexes, which will be duly communicated during the period of the current call.

If you have any questions, please write to us at mecas@lpafilmfestival.com / mecas3@lpafilmfestival.com