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Welcome to Your SparqFest Dashboard

This is your SparqFest dashboard. You can use it as a launch point for managing your festival through SparqFest.

Take a Breath and Relax

Your Festival in Review

Congratulations on your most recent edition. SparqFest is already showing visitors your post-festival graphics, but it is never too early to start entering information for your next edition.

Looking back at this edition? Here you can find all of the reports and statistics from this edition of the festival.

Plan Your Festival

Once you have promoted your submissions into selections, the events you create in the Programming section become the schedule for your festival.

Your Festival Is Live

If you need to push changes out to the public site quickly, use the "Rebuild Site" button. Pay special attention to creating conflicts when changing dates for individual events or the festival itself.

Reports
What's in our paid subscriptions?

With a paid SparqFest subscription, you gain access to the following features:

  • Enable creators to upload their own assets through a dedicated Creator Portal
  • Host online events such as online films and live streams
  • Audience choice and juried awards voting and tabulation
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Submissions are the staging point for your festival. They represent the data your creators entered into a submission platform like FilmFreeway and enable you to transition that data for the programming of your festival. Most directors export submissions from FilmFreeway as a CSV file and then import them here. However, you can create submissions one-by-one or import your own spreadsheet. No matter what, you need to create submissions before you can start programming your festival.

Once your submissions are in the system, you "promote" them to selections that can be maniuplated by creators and programmed by festival staff. Only "selected" submissions may be promoted.

Load Submissions
Load Submissions
+ Create ➘ Import ☼ Promote all submissions

Basic Info
Decision Process
Screeners
Submitters
Questions

Unlike other parts of this system, SparqFest is not the "system of record" for submission data. Your submission platform is. By "system of record", we mean that we are not authoritative of submission information. In fact, we do not even let you edit many of the fields in this section. When you import data from a submission platform like FilmFreeway, that import either creates a new record or updates any existing record with a matching tracking number. So, even if you make changes here, you will lose those changes if you re-import the submission from the submission platform.

This submission has already been promoted into one or more selections and may no longer be edited.

Submission PlatformWhere did the submission come from? The submission platform is considered the "system of record" for this submission. If you do additional imports that include this submission, that data will over-write any changes you have made here. That data will not impact selection data.
Source IDThe unique ID for this project in the submission platform into which this submission was originally entered.
Completion DateThe date when this project was completed.
BudgetThe project budget as specified in the submission platform.
First Project?Have the creators of this project indicated that this is their first project?
Student Project?Have the creators of this project indicated that this is a student project?
Primary Languagesubmitting:HELP_Selection_Language
The title for the submission as it is marketed worldwide.
Countries of OriginWhat is the residence of the creators of this project?
Countries of ProductionIn what countries was this work produced?

A submission must be SELECTED in order to be "promoted" to a SparqFest selection. This promotion results in an invitation going out to the creators of the selection, enabling them to upload media assets and provide us with additional information necessary to support both online and in-person festivals.

In general, you will manage the decision process inside your submission platform. While you can change the decision here, remember that any re-import of data risks overwriting these changes.

This submission has already been promoted into one or more selections and may no longer be edited.

DecisionWhen you manually add a submission, you are typically adding submissions that came through channels other than your main submissions platform. So, this value is likely "Selected". You cannot create selections from submissions in any state except "Selected". You can change this value, however, at any point.
Average RatingThis is the average rating from the rating in your submission platform.
Submission DateThe date when this project was first submitted in the submission platform.
Discount CodeThe discount code applied to the submission fee.
Submission FeeThe amount this creator paid to submit this work.
Submission Platform CategoriesThe name of the categories in the submission platform used by the creator to submit this project.
SparqFest CategoriesThe submission categories in the SparqFest platform.

This section includes links to the external assets the creator submitted to the submission platform.

This submission has already been promoted into one or more selections and may no longer be edited.

The URL to view a screening copy of the project for review.
If the screening copy is password protected, this is the password for accessing the video.
The URL to view a trailer for the project online.
If the trailer is password protected, this is the password for accessing the video.

When we import data from the submission platform, we store basic contact data about the person who submitted the project as well as the names of the team members the submitter identified. We do not send any contact information to the submitter until you promote the submission as a selection.

This submission has already been promoted into one or more selections and may no longer be edited.

IDsubmitting:HELP_Submitter_ID
The email address where we will notify the submitter of festival requirements.
The first/given name of the submitter of this project.
The last/family name of the submitter of this project.
The city under which the submitter registered.
CountryThe country of the person who submitted this project.
Submitter Registered?Has the submitter registered with your site?
Submitter SparqFest IDThis is the ID in the SparqFest system that uniquely identifies this person.
DistributorsIf the project is in distribution and the submitter provided the information, this field contains the distributors of the project.
Producerssubmitting:HELP_Producers
Directorssubmitting:HELP_Directors
Writerssubmitting:HELP_Writers
Key CastThey key cast members provided by the submitter.

This section includes links to the external assets the creator submitted to the submission platform.

This submission has already been promoted into one or more selections and may no longer be edited.

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Submission categories help you transition from the way you accept submissions on platforms like FilmFreeway to the way you structure your selections for programming. Each category determines what kind of assets we need from a creator as well as what other requirements you have of creators. You can map any number of FilmFreeway categories to a single submission category.

Loading Submission Categories
Loading Submission Categories
+ Create

Basic Info
Screeners
Requirements
Questions

Provide the core data about this submission category. How detailed you get really depends on your festival and how you segment your content.

This name is the name that will be displayed on selection pages for selections in this category when you have "show categories" turned on in the edition settings. If that is not turned on, we do not show the public anything about the category and this name is unimportant.
Media TypeThe media type defines what kind of media we ask for from a creator when they fill out their questionnaire.
Story TypeIndicate whether this category is exclusively for narrative of non-fiction content. Otherwise, select "any".
Content LengthIf this category is exclusively for short-form or long-form content, select the appropriate option. Otherwise, select "any".
StructureIndicate whether this category is exclusively for episodic content or self-contained content. Otherwise, select "any".
You can specify the name of one or more categories from Film Freeway that should map to this category. Enter the names EXACTLY as they appear in Film Freeway.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

This section indicates what you require from creators when they upload their screeners. In this context, a "screener" is any media asset that is the work itself. For films, series, music videos, and other video formats, the screener is a video. For screenplay competitions, it is a document. For podcasts and music categories, it is likely an audio file.

One of the most complex aspects of this form is dealing with subtitles. In particular, we need to know how strictly you want us to enforce any subtitling requirements you might have. The subtitling requirements define what languages you require for different kinds of subtitles. "Open Captions" are for video formats. In particular, they are subtitles burned into a video and thus designed for in-person screenings. "Closed Captions" and "Closed Subtitles" are separate files that viewers can turn on and turn off. They are thus best suited for online screenings. "Closed Captions" are subtitles for the main language of the work. "Closed Captions" are subtitles for speakers of languages other than the primary language of the work.

What is the maximum duration you will allow for a screener? For films, the duration in Film Freeway generally matches the duration of the film. For other forms, however, the creator may surprise you with a really long screener. Setting a maximum duration will flag screeners that exceed this duration.
minutes
Allow Open Subtitles?Open captions (subtitles burned into the video) should be used for captions and subtitles at in-person events, but they can interfere with the viewing exprience online. They may conflict with any closed captions and the viewer cannot turn them off. We cannot detect open captions in a video, but we do ask filmmakers if open captions are present and we can thus flag any videos in which open captions are present when they should not be.
Require Closed Captions InIf the content matches any of the languages you select, we will require closed captions for that language. If it is an English-language film and you select French, no closed captions will be required. If English is one of the languages you require, we will enforce closed captions for that selection.
Require Open Captions InIf the content matches any of the languages you select, we will require open captions for that language. If it is an English-language film and you select French, no open captions will be required. But, if English is one of the languages you require, we will enforce open captions for that selection. Note that we cannot actually detect open captions in a video, but we do ask the creator if they have open captions in the video.
Require Subtitles InIf the content DOES NOT match any of the languages selected, we will require subtitles for that language. In other words, if the content is an English-language film and you select French, we will require French subtitles for that film. If, however, the film is English-language and English is the only language you require, then we will not ask for English-language subtitles.

What information do you want/need from creators with content in this category? Place each field into the appropriate column depending on whether you want that field to be required, optional, or hidden. We simply will not ask a creator for anything marked "hidden", but we will flag selections that are missing required information.

Creator DeadlineThe deadling when the project creator should have completed this form.

In addition to the general questions you specified for your edition, you may also create category-specific questions here. For example, if you have feature and short film categories, you could use this form to ask only short film creators if they have ever directed a feature film.

Add Question

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Import mappings enable you to define custom mappings between the fields in the spreadsheets you use to manage your submissions and the fields in SparqFest. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING HERE IF YOU ARE SIMPLY USING FILMFREEWAY "AS-IS". We automatically support the ability to take the standard CSV export from FilmFreeway without the need for you to create your own mapping. If, however, you are using another submissions platform or you have your submission data in a spreadsheet outside of FilmFreeway, you can create a mapping here that maps the fields in your spreadsheet to the fields in SparqFest.

Loading Import Mappings
Loading Import Mappings
+ Create

Basic Info
Field Mappings
Value Configuration

There are three parts to any import mapping. The first is, of course, a friendly name that enables you to identify what this mapping does. In particular, if you have multiple mappings to support multiple submission platforms, it is best to name each mapping after the platform it supports. The second part, "fields", is where you specify what columns in your spreadsheet map to SparqFest fields. Finally, the "definitions" section is where you define things like what states in your submission platform map to "selected" in SparqFest.

A name that helps you identify the purpose of this import mapping.

Use this form to map columns from your spreadsheet or CSV file to SparqFest submission fields. The left side of the screen shows the standard fields for submitters and their submissions. The right side shows all columns from your spreadsheet that have yet to be mapped. Drag columns from the right onto the field to which they should be mapped on the left.

To add spreadsheet columns, click the "Add" button and type the name of the column. To clear a mapping you have defined, drag the column name back to the unmapped columns section. If you need to map a single column to multiple SparqFest fields, you can drag the mapped column to the second field.

Submitter Fields

Current Mappings

Submitter Email The email address where we will notify the submitter of festival requirements.
Given Name The first/given name of the submitter of this project.
Family Name The last/family name of the submitter of this project.
City The city under which the submitter registered.
Country The country of the person who submitted this project.
Birth Date The date of birth for the submitter as provided by the submitter.

Submission Fields

Current Mappings

Tracking Number submitting:HELP_Tracking_Number
Submission Platform Where did the submission come from? The submission platform is considered the "system of record" for this submission. If you do additional imports that include this submission, that data will over-write any changes you have made here. That data will not impact selection data.
Source ID The unique ID for this project in the submission platform into which this submission was originally entered.
Primary Language submitting:HELP_Selection_Language
Title (Project Language) The title for the submission as it is marketed worldwide.
The title for the submission as it is marketed worldwide.
The title for the submission as it is marketed worldwide.
Synopsis (Project Language) submitting:HELP_Submission_Synopsis
submitting:HELP_Submission_Synopsis
submitting:HELP_Submission_Synopsis
Duration The runtime of the project.
Genres Specify up to three genres in which the film or series should be classified.
Countries of Origin What is the residence of the creators of this project?
Countries of Production In what countries was this work produced?
Completion Date The date when this project was completed.
Budget The project budget as specified in the submission platform.
First Project? Have the creators of this project indicated that this is their first project?
Student Project? Have the creators of this project indicated that this is a student project?
Project Type The project type field is a legacy field that is no longer used by SparqFest, though we store it for your use as you work with submissions.
Submission Date The date when this project was first submitted in the submission platform.
Decision When you manually add a submission, you are typically adding submissions that came through channels other than your main submissions platform. So, this value is likely "Selected". You cannot create selections from submissions in any state except "Selected". You can change this value, however, at any point.
Average Rating This is the average rating from the rating in your submission platform.
Discount Code The discount code applied to the submission fee.
Submission Fee The amount this creator paid to submit this work.
Categories The name of the categories in the submission platform used by the creator to submit this project.
Screener URL The URL to view a screening copy of the project for review.
Screener Password If the screening copy is password protected, this is the password for accessing the video.
Trailer URL The URL to view a trailer for the project online.
Trailer Password If the trailer is password protected, this is the password for accessing the video.
Distributors If the project is in distribution and the submitter provided the information, this field contains the distributors of the project.
Producers submitting:HELP_Producers
Writers submitting:HELP_Writers
Directors submitting:HELP_Directors
Key Cast They key cast members provided by the submitter.
Web Site URL What is the primary web site to which you drive your audience?
Facebook URL creators:HELP_Facebook_Url
Twitter Account creators:HELP_Twitter

Unmapped Columns

+ Add

This section helps us understand the data in the individual cells of your spreadsheet. If you are simply tweaking a FilmFreeway import, you likely do not need to edit anything here. If you are importing submissions from another system or from your own custom spreadsheet, however, you will need to tell us things like "What value represents selected for the decision field?".

Most of these questions are about what kind of field separator should be used when a cell contains multiple values. For example, the "directors" field may contain more than one director. We need to know whether the directors are comma-separated, tab-separated, newline-separated, or separated by some other character. If your spreadsheet always contains just one value for this field, then you do not need to worry about providing a separator.

Decision Map values in your spreadsheet to the SparqFest decision options. Multiple values in your spreadsheet may map to the same SparqFest decision. For example, our default FilmFreeway configuration maps "award winner", "nominee", and "selected" to the SparqFest value "Selected". You must also select a default mapping for empty values or if we encounter a decision value you have not mentioned. We require mappings for "Selected" as well as a default mapping. The other decision values do not require a mapping unless your spreadsheets have values that map to them.
Undecided
Selected
Deferred
Rejected
Default Decision
Duration Format If the duration column contains naked numbers, specify what units (seconds, minutes, hours) those numbers represent. Otherwise, select "formatted duration" and we will interpret it as a duration either as timecode or something like "x minutes, y seconds". We are pretty good at dealing with just about any string input.
Category Separator What character separates category values for the categories field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the categories field, it will interpret the value as multiple categories.
Distributor Separator What character separates distributor values for the distributors field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the distributors field, it will interpret the value as multiple distributors.
Producer Separator What character separates producer values for the producers field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the Producers field, it will interpret the value as multiple Producers.
Director Separator What character separates director values for the directors field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the Directors field, it will interpret the value as multiple Directors.
Writer Separator What character separates writer values for the writers field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the Writers field, it will interpret the value as multiple Writers.
Key Cast Separator What character separates key cast values for the key cast members field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the key cast members field, it will interpret the value as multiple cast members.
Genre Separator What character separates genre values for the genres field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the Genres field, it will interpret the value as multiple Genres.
Countries of Origin Separator What character separates values for the countries of origin field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the countries of origin field, it will interpret the value as multiple countries.
Countries of Production Separator What character separates values for the countries of production field? By default, we use a comma as a separator. You may select tab or newline or provide a custom value. When our import process encounters this character in the countries of production field, it will interpret the value as multiple countries.
Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Audience choice awards represent categories in which your audience--both online and in-person--vote for the winners. A festival may have a single audience choice category covering all selections, or many categories covering all kinds of options. Your audience will have an online form where they can vote for their favorites based on eligibility requirements that you define.

Loading Awards...
Loading Awards...
+ Create ➚ Export ❮ Show Winners
  • This category has completed voting and the winner has been approved.
  • A winner for this category cannot be determined at this time. You may need to manually select a winner if the deadline has passed.
  • This category has not completed configuration and is not currently ready for voting.
  • The category has completed voting and is awaiting approval.

Basic Info
Nomination Rules
Finalists
Voting
Laurels

Provide the core information for this audience choice award. Each audience choice award is open for voting as soon as a viewer has watched the minimum number of views you specify. A viewer can change their votes as many times as they like up to the deadline. Once the deadline is passed, the system will automatically calculate a winner for you to approve.

The name of this award as you wish it to appear online. Award names are NOT multi-lingual fields because they represent branding for your festival.
StatusThe current judging status for this category. Every award starts out with a "Nominating" status and moves through the following phases: "Judging", "Tiebreaking", "Approving", and "Complete". To start the judging process for an award with a "Nominating" status, click the "Start Judging" button to the right. If it is disabled, you have not provided the system with enough information to begin the judging process.

Once you start judging, you can only "Stop Judging" to return the category to the "Nominating" stage. The award will automatically move to "Tiebreaking"/"Approving" based on jury activity.

Finally, you can approve/override the results of the voting to move the award into the "Complete" status.
Named Recipient?A named recipient is a specific member of the project who should be named as the recipient of the nomination/award. For example, the name of the director for a "Best Director" category. Otherwise, the award goes to the project as a whole.

Translations

Awards have a different approach to multi-lingual content than other items in this system. Specifically, the award name is treated as a brand and thus not a translated item. The description, however, is used by jury members and audience members to understand the criteria for judging selections. It is therefore a translated fields. Leave a language blank to force a machine translation.

The nomination process starts with determining whether you want to manually add nominees or automatically add them based on specific criteria. Festivals typically use automation rules for audience choice award categories. If you opt for an automated rule, you will be asked to define the automation criteria. You can also use this form to make the nominees and winners public when the time comes. You cannot change nomination rules unless an award is in a "Nominating" state, and you cannot publicize winners until the award is in a "Completed" state.

Make Nominees Public?Do you want the entire world to know who the nominees in this category are? If you answer yes, your SparqFest web site, the Creator Portal, and the public feed will all share the nominees for this award. Keep in mind that both finalists and runners-up are treated equally when nominees are publicized. The distinction between the two is not made public.
Make Winners Public?Do you want the entire world to know who has won this award? You cannot answer yes until the winner has been approved. When you publicize the winner, it will show up on your SparqFest site, the Creator Portal, and the public feed. You generally do not want to make winners public until after your awards ceremony.

You may no longer make changes to the list of nominees. If you need to make any changes, you will first need to stop the judging process.

Manual nomination rules must be in effect when an award requires a recipient.

Nomination RulesThe nomination rules describe what kind of automated curation you would like for nominees in this category. Whatever rule you pick, you can manually separate finalists from runners-up.
Manual You manually add all nominees. There is no automation.
All All selections are automatically nominated. New selections will automatically be added to the list of nominees until judging starts.
Submission Categories Any selections belonging to the submission categories you associated with this rule will automatically be nominated for this award. New selections matching the submission categories for this rule will also be added until judging starts.
Genres Any selections in the genres you specify will automatically be added as nominees. New selections matching the specified genres will also be added until judging starts. REMINDER: The creators edit their genres, so this rule effectively results in self-nomination.

All nominees for audience choice awards are finalists. If you have configured this award for manual nomination rules, you may add/remove the nominees here. If this award is configured for automated nomination rules, you may simply review the list of nominees here without the ability to make changes.

The nominations have been set and no further changes may be made.

Nominations to this category are automated.

+ Nominate

The rules for audience choice voting are more limited than those for jury voting. Under audience choice voting, you may require the winner to simply have the majority of votes or have 50% + 1 votes. The system will automatically determine the winner at the judging deadline, but you can override the audience choice before finalizing the winner.

Voting RulesThis value tells the system what information is needed from judges and how to apply the judge rankings to determine a winner.
Majority The nominee with the most votes wins, even if the total votes for the nominee is less than half the total votes cast.
Plurality To win, a nominees must receive 50% + 1 votes.
Judging Deadlinejudging:HELP_Deadline
This value determines how many nominees for this award a member of the audience must have seen before they can cast a vote. The higher the number, the less likely audience members are to "game the system". However, the more views you require, the fewer votes that will be cast.

Upload any laurels you have for nominations and award winners. Once you publicize the nominees, the laurels will appear for nominated projects in their Creator Portal. Similarly, the award laurels will appear in the Creator Portal for winning projects once you publicize the winners. No laurels you upload will show up publicly until you have made the nominations (for nomination laurels) or award winners (for award laurels) public.

We provide space for a color laurel, a black laurel, and a white laurel for each laurel type. You can add two more of your chosing. We recommend uploading laurels with transparent backgrounds unless background color plays an important role in the laurel.

Nomination Laurel (Black)
Nomination Laurel (Black) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (White)
Nomination Laurel (White) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Color)
Nomination Laurel (Color) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Alternate)
Nomination Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Alternate)
Nomination Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Black)
Winner Laurel (Black) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (White)
Winner Laurel (White) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Color)
Winner Laurel (Color) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Alternate)
Winner Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Alternate)
Winner Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Permanently Delete Stop the judging process to delete

Jury awards are awards voted on by a select panel of experts whom we refer to as "judges". Each award has its own set of judges, but an individual judge can also judge multiple awards. The rules you define for a category govern how winners are determined.

Loading Awards...
Loading Awards...
+ Create ➚ Export ★ Recommendations ❮ Show Winners
  • This category has completed voting and the winner has been approved.
  • A winner for this category cannot be determined at this time. You may need to manually select a winner if the deadline has passed.
  • This category has not completed configuration and is not currently ready for voting.
  • The category has completed voting and is awaiting approval.

Basic Info
Nomination Rules
Finalists
Runners-Up
Voting
Recommendations
Laurels

Identify the core information for this jury award. Each jury award is governed by a set of rules that you configure. The voting rules (majority, plurality, and unanimous) define how many of the total votes are required in order for a nomination to be declared a winner. The "ranking" rule uses judge rating across all finalists to create a score that identifies a winner. Finally, the "rubric" rule allows you to define weighted criteria on which judges rate each nomination.

The name of this award as you wish it to appear online. Award names are NOT multi-lingual fields because they represent branding for your festival.
StatusThe current judging status for this category. Every award starts out with a "Nominating" status and moves through the following phases: "Judging", "Tiebreaking", "Approving", and "Complete". To start the judging process for an award with a "Nominating" status, click the "Start Judging" button to the right. If it is disabled, you have not provided the system with enough information to begin the judging process.

Once you start judging, you can only "Stop Judging" to return the category to the "Nominating" stage. The award will automatically move to "Tiebreaking"/"Approving" based on jury activity.

Finally, you can approve/override the results of the voting to move the award into the "Complete" status.
What kind of award is this? SparqFest does not use this value for any automation. It exists to help you organize your awards.
Named Recipient?A named recipient is a specific member of the project who should be named as the recipient of the nomination/award. For example, the name of the director for a "Best Director" category. Otherwise, the award goes to the project as a whole.

Translations

Awards have a different approach to multi-lingual content than other items in this system. Specifically, the award name is treated as a brand and thus not a translated item. The description, however, is used by jury members and audience members to understand the criteria for judging selections. It is therefore a translated fields. Leave a language blank to force a machine translation.

The nomination process starts with determining whether you want to manually add nominees or automatically add them based on specific criteria. Festivals typically nominate selections for jury awards manually. If you opt for an automated rule, you will be asked to define the automation criteria. You can also use this form to make the nominees and winners public when the time comes. You cannot change nomination rules unless an award is in a "Nominating" state, and you cannot publicize winners until the award is in a "Completed" state.

Make Nominees Public?Do you want the entire world to know who the nominees in this category are? If you answer yes, your SparqFest web site, the Creator Portal, and the public feed will all share the nominees for this award. Keep in mind that both finalists and runners-up are treated equally when nominees are publicized. The distinction between the two is not made public.
Make Winners Public?Do you want the entire world to know who has won this award? You cannot answer yes until the winner has been approved. When you publicize the winner, it will show up on your SparqFest site, the Creator Portal, and the public feed. You generally do not want to make winners public until after your awards ceremony.

You may no longer make changes to the list of nominees. If you need to make any changes, you will first need to stop the judging process.

Manual nomination rules must be in effect when an award requires a recipient.

Nomination RulesThe nomination rules describe what kind of automated curation you would like for nominees in this category. Whatever rule you pick, you can manually separate finalists from runners-up.
Manual You manually add all nominees. There is no automation.
All All selections are automatically nominated. New selections will automatically be added to the list of nominees until judging starts.
Submission Categories Any selections belonging to the submission categories you associated with this rule will automatically be nominated for this award. New selections matching the submission categories for this rule will also be added until judging starts.
Genres Any selections in the genres you specify will automatically be added as nominees. New selections matching the specified genres will also be added until judging starts. REMINDER: The creators edit their genres, so this rule effectively results in self-nomination.

A finalist is a nominee who has made the final cut for winning the award and will be reviewed by the jury.

If your nomination rules for this award are manual rules, you may add nominees and remove them. In addition, you may change the finalists to runners-up.

If your nomination rules for this award are automated, you may only switch finalists to runners-up.

The nominations have been set and no further changes may be made.

Nominations to this category are automated.

+ Nominate

A runner-up is a selection good enough to receive a nomination, though they have been eliminated from the possibility of winning the award before the final jury reviews them.

f your nomination rules for this award are manual rules, you may add runners-up and remove them. In addition, you may change runners-up to finalists.

If your nomination rules for this award are automated, you may only switch a runner-up to finalist.

The nominations have been set and no further changes may be made.

Nominations to this category are automated.

+ Nominate

Add/remove judges from the jury voting on the winner of this award. You may make changes to the jury at any point up to the final decision.

You may also make one of the judges a "tie-breaker" judge. The "tie-breaker" judge has no role in the process unless the core jury cannot come to a decision based on the voting rules for this award. In that scenario, the "tie-breaker" judge breaks the deadlock.

Voting RulesThis value tells the system what information is needed from judges and how to apply the judge rankings to determine a winner.
Judging Deadlinejudging:HELP_Deadline
Majority Jury members pick their favorite finalist and the finalist with the most votes wins.
Plurality Jury members pick their favorite finalist. To win, a finalist must receive votes from 50% + 1 judges.
Unanimous Jury members pick their favorite finalist. To win, all judges must agree on the winner.
Average Rating Jury members rate each finalist on a scale from 1 to 10. The finalist with the highest average rating is the winner.

You can configure an award category has having "open nominations". This setting enables jury members for other categories to recommend selections or individuals to be nominated into this category.

For example: A jury is reviewing the "Best Drama" nominees to make a decision on a winner for "Best Drama". You have configured the "Best Dramatic Performance" category as an "open nomination" category. The jury for best drama can thus recommend actors in the films they are reviewing as potential nominees for "Best Dramatic Performance". You then review those recommendations here and either accept them (making them official nominees) or reject them.

This category must be in a "Nominating" state for jury members in another category to make recommendations to this award.

Open Nominations?When checked, this field means that judges from categories that are currently voting can nominate into this category if it has a status of nominating.

Your jury has recommended the selections below for a nomination into this award. You may convert any of these recommendations into true nominations while the award has the status of "Nominating". Before doing so, however, you should review the recommendation and make sure it is appropriate to this category. Although you may not alter the recommendation, you can use misplaced recommendations to make manual nominations in the appropriate category.

Upload any laurels you have for nominations and award winners. Once you publicize the nominees, the laurels will appear for nominated projects in their Creator Portal. Similarly, the award laurels will appear in the Creator Portal for winning projects once you publicize the winners. No laurels you upload will show up publicly until you have made the nominations (for nomination laurels) or award winners (for award laurels) public.

We provide space for a color laurel, a black laurel, and a white laurel for each laurel type. You can add two more of your chosing. We recommend uploading laurels with transparent backgrounds unless background color plays an important role in the laurel.

Nomination Laurel (Black)
Nomination Laurel (Black) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (White)
Nomination Laurel (White) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Color)
Nomination Laurel (Color) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Alternate)
Nomination Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Nomination Laurel (Alternate)
Nomination Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by nominees for this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Black)
Winner Laurel (Black) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (White)
Winner Laurel (White) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Color)
Winner Laurel (Color) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Alternate)
Winner Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Winner Laurel (Alternate)
Winner Laurel (Alternate) Upload a laurel to be used by the winner of this award. Dimensions: Any Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Permanently Delete Stop the judging process to delete

Selections are the works you include in your festival. Each selection is minimally showcased with a web page that provides information about the work. You may additionally include the work in a screening block for online viewing or in an in-person event for viewing in a theater.

Loading Selections
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✉︎ Notify ➚ Export
  • The selection is ready for inclusion in the festival.
  • The selection is ready to appear on the web site, but some items necessary for viewing the selection (either online or in-person) may be missing.
  • The selection cannot appear online because one or more critical items for showcasing the selection online are missing.
  • The selection is ready for inclusion in the festival, but it may be lacking some of the required information you requested OR the selection may not be available to all viewers due to geo-blocking or the permissions granted by the filmmaker.

Basic Info
Classification
Posters
Media Assets
Marketing
Access
Creators

The following fields represent the most basic information we store about a selection.

LanguageThis is the PRIMARY spoken language in your work. If the work has no dialog, select the language of the title in which you primarily market the work. If the work contains dialog in multiple languages, select the most prominent language.
We can help audience members identify works by the same studio or creative group. This name does not need to be a name of an actual company.
The title of the work. We ask for the title of the work in the work's primary language as well as all the languages supported by the festival. It is OK to override the machine translations and the title in every language to the same thing. Or, if you have preferred translations in other languages, you may use those. When in doubt, the language should just be whatever it is in the work's primary language.
The logline is a single-sentence description of the plot or contents.
Countries of OriginThe countries of origin is a list of countries from which the core creative team originate.
Countries of ProductionThe countries of production are the countries in which the work was recorded. If the work is a script or other kind of written documented, then the country of production is the country in which it was written.
programming:HELP_Artists
programming:HELP_Featuring
A comma-separated list of individuals who make up the core creative team.
programming:HELP_Producers
programming:HELP_Directors
programming:HELP_Writers
programming:HELP_Game_Masters
programming:HELP_Hosts
A comma-separated list of actors playing leading roles in the work.
A comma-separated list of actors playing supporting roles in the work.
programming:HELP_Guests
programming:HELP_Players
programming:HELP_Composers
A comma-separated list of individuals who helped on the production of the work.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

Classify this selection based on the dimensions outlined in this section.

GenresSelect one or more genres that match the content of the work.
PerspectivesIdentify the perspectives that represent the live experiences of the key creators of this work.
ThemesSelect one or more themes that reflect the content of the work.
Content WarningsContent warnings both help parents understand what their children are watching and enable adults to avoid content that may trigger unwanted past experiences. Unless the work is aimed at an infant, there are always a few warnings that will apply.

All posters and other images can be managed here, whether required for display on the site or requested via the creator questionnaire.

Landscape Poster
Landscape Poster The landscape poster is the primary represent of a selection in the festival, both on the web site and in apps. Dimensions: 1920x1080 Media Types: JPG, PNG Download PSD Template
Logo
Logo We overlay your logo on top of other content in some contexts and potentially use it in print media. So a logo with a transparent background is ideal. Dimensions: Any Media Types: PNG
Portrait Poster
Portrait Poster The portrait poster represents a selection in narrow contexts, such as in apps in portrait mode. Dimensions: 508x752 Media Types: JPG, PNG Download PSD Template
Square Poster
Square Poster The square poster is not used online, but instead helps us create print marketing for the festival. Dimensions: Square Media Types: JPG, PNG

The video assets you upload here may be downloaded by festival staff, but not by regular viewers. They serve the needs for both online screening blocks as well as in-person screening blocks.

This section contains all of the social media and marketing information for the selection as well as all of the answers to custom questions asked by the festival.

Premiere StatusThe premiere status indicates the level at which screening at this festival represents a premiere. A regional premiere means that this screening will be the first time the work has shown in the festival state/province. Similarly, national means the first time in the festival's country. Continental is the first time on the festival's content, and world is the first time anywhere in the world.
The hashtags the creators use to promote this selection on social media.
The main web site where the selection markets itself, if any.
programming:HELP_Selection_Instagram
The Mastdon handle for any Mastodon account associated with the project. The account should be in the form @user@server.
programming:HELP_Selection_Twitter
The TikTok handle for any TikTok account associated with the project. The account should be in the form @handle.
programming:HELP_Selection_Facebook
programming:HELP_Selection_IMDB
QR Codeprogramming:HELP_Selection_QR_Code
QR Code

Access to a selection is goverened by three items: First, has the creator granted proper permissions to allow the work to be shown? Second, has the festival director placed the work into an online screening block or an in-person screening block? And, finally, are there any geographic restrictions preventing some viewers from accessing the work?

PermissionCreators must explicitly grant permission to festivals in order to show their project online, in-person, or both.

Geographic Restrictions

The SparqFest Platform enables you to define rules for blocking content access at both the screening block and individual film levels. How this plays out for the viewer depends on whether you actually let the creator define film-level geo-fencing rules, whether you allow on-demand access, and where the viewer is located. If a viewer comes from a location blocked by a screening block rule but not by a film rule, then they cannot watch the film in a screening block but they may be able to still watch it on-demand. Similarly, if it is blocked at the film level, but not at the screening block level, the player will skip the film when the viewer is watching a screening block.

These people are registered users with access to manage this selection. Outstanding invitations do not show up here.

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Virtual screenings are the primary tool for organizing the online viewing of your official selections. Each virtual screening you create contains one or more selections that may be viewed online. You may require viewers to watch the entire screening in order, or to allow them to watch individual selections "on-demand".

To arrange in-person screenings, go to the "In-Person" section of the SparqFest "Programming" module.

Note: In order to reduce confusion, we are currently migrating away from the term "screening block" to use the terms "virtual screening" and "in-person screening". Where we used to use the term "screening block", we generally mean "virtual screening".

Loading screening blocks...
Loading screening blocks...
+ Create
  • This virtual screening is ready for the festival.
  • This virtual screening is ready for the web site, but there are one or more issues to address before the festival starts.
  • The virtual screening cannot yet appear on the web site due to one or more issues with either the virtual or one or more of its selections.
  • All requirements have been met for the festival, but some issues may prevent an ideal audience experience.

Basic Info
Posters
Program
Marketing
Access

Provide the core information and scheduling for this screening block.

LanguageUnless you are coordinating this block with other programming, the language choice is largely meaningless. The primary function is to help your audience know what language is primary for the coordinated events. You can also use this to indicate the language of your screening block content, but we do not enforce that.
Use festival or user timezone?The time you specified for the start time can either be a fixed to that time in the festival time zone, or you can configure the block so a user can start watching at that time in their own time zone.
When should the block end?Should the block end at the same time as the festival or would you prefer to provide a specific end time?
Start TimeThe time when people can start watching this screening block online.
End TimeSelect the time when you no longer want the content for this screening block to be available for viewing. People will still be able to visit the screening block page and watch the trailers.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

The site needs a single poster in order to properly display a screening block. A Photoshop template is provided for your convenience. Please save your poster as a JPG before uploading it here. The screening block will not appear on the web site until it has a poster, even if it is currently past the promotion start date.

Banner Poster
Banner Poster The banner for the screening block appears as the first image before the screening block carousel on your festival home page as well as on top of the screening block's web page. Dimensions: 1940x692 Media Types: JPG, PNG Download PSD Template

A screening block consists of one or more programmed selections. If you would like to send viewers to a special page after they have completed a viewing (for example, an educational site to learn more about a subject of a documentary), you may specify external link.

Add Selections

  • This selection is ready for the festival.
  • This selection can be promoted on the web site, but is missing one or more elements necessary for its role in the festival.
  • This selection is missing critical elements that will enable it to appear on the web site or lacks the proper permission from the filmmaker.
  • This selection is OK to appear in the festival, but some of the required items from the creator form are missing.

Specify how you want this screening block promoted on the web site and in social media.

Promotion Start TimeThis is the time when you want the screening block to appear on the web site. This time can be any time before the screening block actually starts.
QR CodeUse this QR code to help promote this screening block. When scanned, this QR code links directly to the web page for this screening block. Do not give out the QR code, however, until after the promotion start time.
QR Code

There are a number of tools available for controlling access to your screening block. The simplest tools are yes/no questions as to whether someone needs to be logged in or whether they need a ticket. You can also provide people with on-demand access or require them to watch the entire screening block. Finally, you may define high-level controls governing geographic restrictions.

Allow on-demand access to selections?Selecting "yes" enables a viewer to watch individual selections without watching the entire screening block. If you select "no", on-demand access may still be available for those who purchase tickets that provide on-demand access.
Require authentication?If you answer "no", then a viewer does not need to login in order to watch this screening block. Because they do not need to login, however, they also will not need a ticket. If you want to require a ticket, you must also require authentication.
Require a Ticket?If you answer "no", then any viewer can watch the selections in this screening block. Otherwise, they will need to get a ticket that provides them with access to the screening block.

Geographic Restrictions

The SparqFest Platform enables you to define rules for blocking content access at both the screening block and individual film levels. How this plays out for the viewer depends on whether you actually let the creator define film-level geo-fencing rules, whether you allow on-demand access, and where the viewer is located. If a viewer comes from a location blocked by a screening block rule but not by a film rule, then they cannot watch the film in a screening block but they may be able to still watch it on-demand. Similarly, if it is blocked at the film level, but not at the screening block level, the player will skip the film when the viewer is watching a screening block.

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Live streams are a tool for creating an interactive online experience during your film festival. SparqFest integrates with most live stream tools, both on the production side as well as on the broadcast side. Whatever tools you are using, SparqFest creates a single page your viewers can visit to learn about the live stream and then join it once it is live.

Loading Live Streams
Loading Live Streams
+ Create
  • This live stream is ready to go live.
  • The live stream is ready to be promoted on the web site, but the infrastructure has not been provisioned or other issues will prevent you from going live.
  • The live stream cannot yet be promoted on the web site due two one or more missing items.
  • All requirements have been met to go live, but some issues may prevent an ideal audience experience dueing the live stream.

Basic Info
Posters
Program
Settings
Marketing
Access



Configure your live stream here. Your primary decision in creating a live stream is where you intend to host your live stream. Your SparqFest site will then host a page for the live stream, enable your audience to purchase tickets, and allow people to attend the event. When a user joins a live stream, the site sends them to the third-party page hosting your live stream.

LanguageThe primary language for the live stream. If you are providing simulatneous subtitling or if the content is in multiple languages, select a primary language here and note the other languages in the synopsis.
Start TimeThe time when the programming for the live stream starts.
End TimeThe time when the programming for the live stream is expected to end. You should provide the actual expected end time. The system will not suddenly cut off the live stream at this time.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

We use a banner poster to help display the live stream on the web site and when it gets shared via social media.

Banner Poster
Banner Poster The banner shows at the top of your live stream web page in your SparqFest site. Dimensions: 1920x1080 Media Types: JPG, PNG Download PSD Template

Coming soon: Add speakers and panelists and invite them to manage their bios.

Event TypeWhat kind of event is this?
Changing the event type will change some options available for you to configure. For example, only a screening block can have a program of selections.
Open LobbyThe "open lobby" time is the time when you want the site to start allowing people into the live stream. You typically want this to be 5 to 10 minutes before the event is supposed to start. Remember that you need to be sending a stream to us or your external streaming provider prior to the lobby opening. Otherwise, they will see a screen that says the stream is unavailable and may need to refesh once the stream has started.
General Audience Chat?Would you like a general chat room for all audience members?
Include Q&A Chat?Would you like a special chat room for Q&A questions? Users can post questions, but only you can see them.

To direct your audience to the live stream at the appropriate time, configure SparqFest with the required information about your live streaming platform.

HostingIs SparqFest hosting the actual live stream or is it being hosted on a third-party site? Either way, we will create a landing page for your live stream that will send the audience to the proper location for watching the live stream.
This is the URL at the third-party site where you want us to send your audience at the time of the live stream.
Kill TimeTo prevent accidentally leaving a live stream open, we will shut down the live stream no matter what at this time. It is still best to manually shut the stream down when you are done.
Live Stream StatusA natively hosted live stream can have three states: not provisioned, provisioned, running. The system provisions the infrastructure around 48 hours before an event. After that, you can start it and it will be running.
To be provisioned atWe do not create the infrastructure for a live stream until 24-48 hours before the event's start time. This time gives you a rough idea of when you can expect the infrastructure to be available. This time is an estimate, but you should receive an email once the infrastructure has been provisioned.
RTMP URLCopy this URL (simply click on it and it will copy to your clipboard) and paste it into your live streaming software.
RTMP KeyCopy this key (simply click on it and it will be copied to your clipboard) and then paste it into your live streaming software. This software may refer to this key as either a password or a key.
HLS URLThe HLS URL is the stream that video players use for watching the video stream. In general, you don not need this value. We provide it for the more technical customers who may be embedding our stream into third-party sites or are using it to create a separate recording of the live stream.

Specify how you want this live stream promoted on the web site and in social media.

Promotion Start TimeThe promotion start time marks the approximate time when the web page promoting this live stream will appear on the site.
QR CodeUse this QR code to point people to the live stream web page in print and other traditional media. When they scan this QR code on their phones, it will immediately take them to the web page for the live stream. Do not share the QR code, however, until after the promotion start time.
QR Code

There are a number of tools available for controlling access to your live stream. The simplest tools are yes/no questions as to whether someone needs to be logged in or whether they need a ticket. In addition, you may define high-level controls governing geographic restrictions.

Require authentication?Indicates whether someone must be authenticated before accessing this live stream. You cannot require a ticket for a live stream unless you first specify that authentication is required. Please note that externally hosted live streams may be able to circumvent this requirement.
Require a Ticket?Indicates whether a viewer must have purchased a ticket before accessing this live stream. Please note that externally hosted live streams may be accessible by people sharing the external link with or without a ticket.
Add Moderator

Geographic Restrictions

The SparqFest Platform enables you to define rules for blocking content access at both the screening block and individual film levels. How this plays out for the viewer depends on whether you actually let the creator define film-level geo-fencing rules, whether you allow on-demand access, and where the viewer is located. If a viewer comes from a location blocked by a screening block rule but not by a film rule, then they cannot watch the film in a screening block but they may be able to still watch it on-demand. Similarly, if it is blocked at the film level, but not at the screening block level, the player will skip the film when the viewer is watching a screening block.

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

In-person events encompass any event that takes place at a physical venue. Before you create any in-person events, you will first need to set up the venue for that event. SparqFest includes a Google Map and directions to the venue on the event page. For screenings, you can configure the selections in that event in the same way you build online screening blocks. Viewers will be able to see the program and visit individual selection pages, but they will not be able to view those selections online unless the selection also happens to be in a screening block.

Loading Live Events
Loading Live Events
+ Create
  • This event is ready for the festival.
  • This event is ready to be promoted on the web site, but there are one or more issues that should be addressed before the festival starts.
  • This event cannot yet be promoted on the web site due to one or more missing items.
  • All requirements have been met for the festival, but some issues may prevent an ideal audience experience.

Basic Info
Posters
Program
Marketing
Access

In order to properly display your event on the festival home page and create a promotional page in support of the event, we need to know critical information like when and where the event is taking place.

LanguageThis is the primary language in which any featured content for this event occurs. If this event is a networking event, the language is not displayed anywhere. If you are providing translation services during the event, you should note that in the event synopsis.
Start TimeThe time when this event starts IN THE VENUE TIME ZONE.
End TimeThe time when this event ends IN THE VENUE TIME ZONE.
What is the physical location of this event?
Specify the room in which the event will take place.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

The site needs a single poster in order to properly promote this in-person event. A Photoshop template is provided for your convenience. Please save your poster as a JPG before uploading it here. The event will not appear on the web site until it has a poster, even if it is currently past the promotion start date.

Banner Poster
Banner Poster The banner for an in-person event represents the event in home page carousels as well as on top of the event web page. Dimensions: 1920x1080 Media Types: JPG, PNG Download PSD Template

Coming soon: Add speakers and panelists and invite them to manage their bios.

Event TypeWhat kind of event is this?
Changing the event type will change some options available for you to configure. For example, only a screening block can have a program of selections.

Identify the selections that will be screened at this event. We will include information about these selections on the event page on your SparqFest site and we will also create pages where people can watch the trailers for the selections. To be available for viewing online, however, a selection must be programmed into a screening block. Being programmed into an in-person event will not result in the selection itself being watchable online.

This QR code should be shared ONLY at the venue before and during the screening. Attendees will scan it so they can vote in any audience choice categories for which selections in this program are eligible. This QR code differs from one in the "marketing" section of this form. The marketing QR code is the one you put in your print marketing to promote the event. This QR code grants voting access to those attendees who actually show up at the event.
Proof of AttendanceThis QR code provides a link that proves an individual attended this event. When an attendee scans this QR code and goes to the page it represents, they are given credit for having seen all of the selections in the program for this event. As a result, they are able to vote on any selection in any qualifying audience choice voting category.
Proof of Attendance
Add Selections

  • This selection is ready for the festival.
  • This selection can be promoted on the web site, but is missing one or more elements necessary for its role in the festival.
  • This selection is missing critical elements that will enable it to appear on the web site or lacks the proper permission from the filmmaker.
  • This selection is OK to appear in the festival, but some of the required items from the creator form are missing.

Specify how you want this event promoted on the web site and in social media.

Promotion Start TimeWhen should this event first appear on the web site? Note that an incomplete event (e.g. missing a poster) will not appear on the web site even when the current time is past the promotion start
QR CodeUse this QR code in your print media to help drive people to the event page.
QR Code

Access to in-person events is governed solely through ticket sales.

Require a Ticket?If you opt to require tickets, the page for this event will direct users to purchase those tickets.
Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Create and configure tickets that grant access to the events in your festival.

Loading Tickets
Loading Tickets
+ Create
  • This ticket is ready for the festival and is properly configured for all events it supports.
  • This ticket does not provide access to any events. There is a risk people may purchase it without receiving any benefits.
  • This ticket does not go on sale in time for one or more events, or it has no pricing and cannot go on sale.
  • This ticket is ready for the festival, but some information may be missing or misconfigured.

Basic Info
Marketing
Virtual Screenings
Live Streams
In-person Events

Configure how the ticket will appear on the web site.

The ticket name appears on the web site when selling tickets and will also appear in the app and on printed tickets.
The ticket description helps the audience select the appropriate ticket for their festival experience.
The capacity value limits the number of tickets you can sell. If you do not want a limit set, set it to 0. We will warn you if your ticket capacity exceeds your venue capacity, but we will not prevent you from overselling a venue.
In the pricing section, you configure pricing that consists of one or more prices that depend on the membership level of the ticket purchaser. Select the pricing you want to apply to this ticket here.

Translations

'We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

Entitlements describe what events an audience member can attend along with any constraints on their attendance. In the case of screening blocks, you can define whether or not access to a screening block also allows on-demand access and whether or not there are any viewing limits governing the number of times a block or film may be seen.

Access to Virtual ScreeningsWhat screening blocks should this ticket grant access to? If you select all, that will include screening blocks added after you create this ticket.
Maximum Number of Screening BlocksThe viewing limit enables you to limit the number of screening blocks that can be seen with this ticket. If, for example, you want this ticket to give the viewer the right to view a single screening block, but it does not matter which one, then you would check "limited" and then set the limit to 1.
The number of screening blocks to which a viewer holding this ticket is entitled.
Maximum Replays of Screening BlockCan a viewer re-watch screening blocks associated with this ticket? If so, how many times?
The number of times a screening block may be replayed.
Maximum Number of On-demand FilmsIs a viewer with this ticket allowed to watch the selections in an entitled screening block on-demand? If you specify "None", then no on-demand viewing is allowed with this ticket. "Unlimited", on the other hand, allows a viewer to watch all films in a matching screening block on-demand. "Limited" means that you can limit the number of titles that can be viewed on-demand.
The number of titles that can be seen on-demand.
Maximum On-demand ReplaysYou may constrain the ability of viewers to re-watch films on-demend independent of the ability to replay the screening block.
The number of times a given film may be replayed.
Add Screening Blocks

Grant access to live streams in this section. You can define which live streams are allowed using this ticket and how many of those streams may be watched as well s limits on re-watching.

Access to Live StreamsIndicate whether this ticket grants access to live streams and, if so, which ones.
Maximum Number of Live StreamsGrant access to an unlimited number of live streams or constrain how many live streams may be viewed with this ticket.
The streaming limit defines how many different live streams a viewer may watch using this ticket.
Maximum Number of ReplaysGrant access to re-watch live streams supported by this ticket an unlimited number of times, not at all, or a specific number of times.
Specify the maximum number of times a live stream may be re-watched.
Add Live Streams

Grant access to in-person events in this section. People will present their tickets at in-person events and their attendance will be recorded using our upcoming app.

Access to In-person EventsIndicate whether you want this ticket to grant access to in-person events, and, if so, whether all of them or some of them.
Maximum Number of EventsDo you wish to limit the number of times a user may attend in-person events?
The event limit defines the number of different events the attendee may attend.
Add In-person Event

Configure the time during which this ticket is available for sale. Pay attention to the start times for the events governed by this ticket.

Sale StartAt what time should the ticket become available for purchase? Make sure this time is well before any events associated with this ticket.
Sale EndAt what time should the ticket no longer be available for purchase?
Permanently Delete ticketing:TXT_Cannot_Delete

Genres are the most common way to classify films and episodic content. In this section, you can customize the list of genres supported by the site.

Loading genres...
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+ Create

Basic Info

Genres are the primary classification tool in SparqFest. In addition to providing a name for this genre, you should also provide a list of keywords that will help creators find the proper genres for their projects. If you have multiple SparqFest sites associated with your same customer account, all of your sites will share the same genre definitions.

The title of the genre as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
KeywordsType in a keyword and click "Add". You can add as many keywords as you like. Keywords help people find a genre when they may not know exactly what genres you have configured.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

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Themes are a free-form way of categorizing content in a way that reflects your site.

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+ Create

Basic Info

Themes (not to be confused with "site themes") are a tool that enables you to define your own classification rules. A theme may be literally anything (most festivals do not use themes). Themes simply help give you another way to organize the selections in your festival without being bound by any SparqFest restrictions. If you have multiple SparqFest sites associated with your same customer account, all of your sites will share the same theme definitions.

The title of the theme as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
KeywordsTheme keywords help with searching for selections that match this theme.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

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A perspective represents the creative lens through which the work was developed—the life experience of the writers or series creators. Customize the list of perspectives to fit your site's diversity objectives.

Loading perspectives...
Loading perspectives...
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Basic Info

Perspectives are a SparqFest classification tool that enables a project team to describe the human experience behind the story tellers. If you have multiple SparqFest sites associated with your same customer account, all of your sites will share the same perspective definitions.

The title of the perspective as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
KeywordsPerspective keywords help with searching for selections that match this perspective. You should be careful to balance creating a culturally diverse set of keywords with sensitivity to localized terms. A term that may be accepted for a group in one place may be considered offensive in another.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Receipts
Tax Info
Financial Reporting

How would you like your receipts to appear? This tab enables you to configure most elements of your receipts. Note, however, that the main text for receipts is configured in the email templates section.

Include Your Tax ID on Receipts?If you want your tax ID to appear on your receipts, select "Yes". Otherwise, your receipts will have no tax information on them.
If your organization is a non-profit, you can provide a special non-profit notice that will appear on the bottom of receipts. If you are not a non-profit or simply prefer not to have a non-profit notice, leave this field blank.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

SparqFest does not store the tax information you gave to Stripe for compliance purposes. If you would like tax information to appear on receipts and other documents, you need to re-enter it here. We store all sensitive information like tax IDs encrypted in our databases. Nevertheless, you should NOT fill out this information unless you intend to put it on your receipts.

This form is only for corporate/non-profit tax information. DO NOT ENTER ANY PERSONAL TAX ID OR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IN THIS FORM.

You entered a tax ID into Stripe when you configured SparqFest, but we did not store in our own systems. If you wish your tax ID to appear on receipts or other places we might show it, you will need to enter it here. Even though the purpose of this field is to make the tax ID publicly available, we nevertheless encrypt this value in our databases.

Configure how we handle your emailed financial reports in SparqFest.

Sales Report FrequencyWe email sales reports to you. This setting specifies how often we will send those reports to you.

All festivals are configured with a default membership level called "General Public". Everyone who registers with the site starts out as a member at this membership level.

You can change the name of this default membership level, but you cannot do anything else to it. You may, however, add additional levels. These additional levels can be used by your staff to flag people who deserve VIP treatment or who should receive preferential pricing. As you set up pricing in the "Pricing" section, you are asked to specify prices for each membership level you have defined. If you do not specify a price for one of your custom levels, the system will use the next lowest membership level to determine the price. You must always specify a price for the public when establishing prices. The public price, thus, is the default when you have not created membership-level pricing.

Loading Membership Levels...
Loading Membership Levels...
+ Create

Tier: 
Basic Information
Members

This membership level is the default membership level for all users, regardless of their role. When creating pricing, you must specify a price for members at this level and that pricing becomes the default when no other pricing is specified.

You may only change the name of this membership level because it makes no sense to set a price for the default level. You may create any number of membership levels beyond the default level that comes with SparqFest. When you create higher levels, you have the option of selling memberships on your SparqFest site or importing existing members so they can receive the benefits associated with that membership level.

This is the name under which you promote this membership level.
If you are not selling memberships on the site, then the tier price is useful only for reporting purposes. If you wish to sell your memberships on the site, however, you can specify pricing from the pricing section to govern how much people are charged when they purchase this membership tier.
Tier LevelThe tier level may not be changed once you have created a tier. The higher the level, the more elite is this membership tier.
Sell Memberships?Do you wish to sell memberships for this tier on your SparqFest site? If one or more membership tiers are available for online sales, SparqFest will create a page for the promotion and sale of membership tiers.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

Everyone who is not a member of another membership level is a member of this one. This tab is therefore empty for the default membership level. This tab contains a list of your members at this membership level. You may bump them to another level or change their membership expiration dates.

Loading Members...
Loading Members...
+ Add ➘ Import ➚ Export
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SparqFest has the ability to create multiple pricing tiers in multiple languages. You therefore define your pricing independent of the things that are being priced. When creating something with a price tag, you will pick from one of the pricing groups you create here so that pricing rules may be maintained independent of individual items being sold.

Loading Pricing Rules...
Loading Pricing Rules...
+ Create ➚ Export

Basic Information
Price Schedule

"Pricing" or "Price Groups" are a collection of prices that are applied to a single product like a ticket based on what level of festival membership the user has as well as the currency in which they are paying. You can, for example, create pricing for general tickets that is $20 for the public, but $10 for VIP members. When a VIP member buys a ticket, they will see the $10 price. Everyone else will see the $20 price. Every price you configure must minimally have a price for the general public.

A friendly name to help identify this group of prices.
Pricing forWhat kind of product is this pricing for?

Products Using This Pricing

Loading Products for This Pricing...
Loading Products for This Pricing...

Your price schedule is the different prices that you assign to different membership levels for this price group. You must minimally provide a price for the general public. If you provide no other prices, the general public price will be used for everyone. When you provide prices for some, but not all, membership levels, an individual pays the price for the highest level for which the qualify.

Consider an example where you have membership levels for General Public, Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships. You define a ticket price of $100 for the general public, $50 for silver, and $0 for gold. In that scenario, the general public pays $100, silver and gold members both pay $50, and platinum members can buy the tickets for free.

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Discounts are codes you create that customers can use to pay reduced prices on tickets and other items (or event get them for free!).

Loading Discounts
Loading Discounts
+ Create One ++ Bulk Generate ➚ Export
  • This discount is ready to be used by customers.
  • This discount would be ready to use by customers, but it has been exhausted.
  • This discount can no longer be used because it has expired.
  • This discount code is ready to use subject to restrictions on who can use it.

Basic Information
Valid Products
Valid Customers

Modify any of the core data for this discount. You may not change the code itself.

A brief description of the discount for your own purposes.
The percentage of discount which users of this code are entitled to.
%
Valid FromThe date/time at which this discount becomes valid. If empty, this discount is available immediately.
Valid ThroughThe date/time when this discount ceases to be valid. If empty, this discount is available indefinitely.
Limit the total number of uses?Do you wish to limit the total number of times this discount can be used across all customers?
The maximum combined number of times this code may be used before being exhausted. If empty or zero, there is no limit.
Limit customer usage?Do you wish the limit the number of times an individual customer can use this discount?
The maximum number of times an individual customer may use this discount code. If empty or zero, there is no limit.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

You may limit this validity of this discount to any specific ticket or group of tickets. If you do not select any, then the discount is valid for all tickets.

TicketsSpecify one or tickets for which this discount may be used.

You may allow only certain customer segments to use this discount code. If you do not select any, then the discount may be used by any customer.

Allow these customers to use this discount:finance:HELP_Customers
Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Basic Info
Fonts
Colors
Images
Theme Options
Pages
Dictionary

Everything about the appearance of your festival site derives from the site theme you select. Once you pick a theme, you an configure the other tabs in this section to customize how the theme looks for your festival site.

Below are home pages from the the themes available for your web site. Hover over each one to see it larger and click on it to see screenshots of each page using that theme.

More about Web Site Themes

The theme you select determines how your web site looks. You can further customize the theme by selecting distinct fonts and colors.
Title of your sparqfest.live site as appears in the title bar of the web browser.
Include in App?Do you want your festival to be listed along with other festivals in the SparqFest app?
Image ScalingIndicate the degree to which you are willing to allow creators to deviate from the target image size when uploading an image. The "Down Only" option requires uploaded images to be the required size or larger. The "Reasonable" setting will upscale as long as the image is "close enough". The "Always Scale" setting will scale anything up to the required size, even if the result looks awful.
Cropping OptionsIndicate how strictly you want the system to adhere to the required dimensions. If you select anything other than "Do Not Crop", the system will crop the uploaded images to match the target dimensions. Under the "Reasonable" setting, it will do so only if the uploaded dimensions are close to the target dimensions. For "Always Crop", it will crop no matter how far off the uploaded image is.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

Below is a list of fonts you can customize. Which fonts are customizable depend on your theme. To make changes to your font customization or view how the font looks in a variety of alphabets, click on the specific font.

Loading fonts for the selected theme...
Loading fonts for the selected theme...

No matter what theme you select, you will be asked to provide at least four color options: a dark brand color, a light brand color, and two colors to contrast with them. The main rule is that the dark brand color should look good on white and the light brand color should look good on black. By "look good", we mean that text is readable.

The theme you select will govern any other requested colors. Some themes attempt to maximize your customization options and thus ask for many colors. Other themes aim to limit the amount of time you have to spend on customization and thus ask for only a few colors.

The "dark brand color" is used for darker backgrounds and as labels and links on lighter backgrounds. It should be the darker of your brand colors and contrast reasonably with the light brand color.
The "dark brand contrast color" is a brand color with a strong contrast against the dark brand color. It should not be white, as the text on dark brand backgrounds will be white.
The "light brand color" is used for highlighting and as labels and links on darker backgrounds. It should be the lighter of your brand colors and contrast reasonably with the dark brand color.
The "light brand contrast color" is a brand color with a strong contrast against the light brand color. It should not be black, as the text on light brand backgrounds will be black.

Most posters and images are associated with a specific edition or event. A few things like your logo and favicon can nevertheless be configured here.

Festival Logo
Festival Logo The logo appears in the user interface for all online experiences. It should be a PNG with transparency and at least 75 pixels high. Size Any Media Types PNG
Dark Logo
Dark Logo The "dark logo" is a version of your logo with a transparent background and a black foreground. Size Any Media Types PNG
Favicon
Favicon A "favicon" is a special image that shows in browser tabs and sometimes the URL window, depending on the browser. You can upload any square image 32x32 or larger and we will convert it for you. It MUST be square. Size 32x32 Media Types PNG, ICO
Social Media Poster
Social Media Poster The "social media poster" does not appear on your web site, but is instead used when a person shares a link to the web site on social media. Size 1920x1080 Media Types JPG, PNG Download PSD Template

Based on the theme you selected, you have a range of options for customizing how that theme appears when you site is built.

Highlight Genres?If you opt to highlight genres, we will include the ability to navigate by genre in the web site.
Highlight Perspectives?If you opt to highlight perspectives, we will include the ability to navigate by perspective in the web site.
Highlight Themes?If you opt to highlight themes, we will include the ability to navigate by theme in the web site.
Highlight Languages?If you opt to highlight languages, we will include the ability to navigate by language in the web site.
Highlight Countries?If you opt to highlight countries, we will include the ability to navigate by country in the web site.
Convert festival start/end dates to user time zone?Anywhere the festival dates are shown, should they be displayed according to the user timezone or the festival timezone?

This section enables you to control what appears in the main navigation and add your own custom pages to your SparqFestival site.

Main Navigation

You may include standard SparqFest pages, custom pages, and links to third-party sites in your main navigation. Drag custom pages from down below or click the "Add" button to add remote links. Drag the handles to re-order items.



Note that some standard pages may not appear in the main navigation during certain times of the year.

+ Add

Custom Pages

Maintain any pages specific to your web site here. When you create a custom pages, you must link to it from another page or include it in the main menu so that the page can be found.

Loading custom pages...
Loading custom pages...
+ Create

Manage your language options and customize text here.

Select one language as the site's "primary language" and any number of other languages as "supported languages".

In practice, there's not much difference between the primary language and supported languages except the system will default to the primary language when the context is unclear or global. We always add English into the mix for support purposes. If you would like us to support a language not listed here, we can add support for a fee. The process involves us building an initial machine language translation of the site and then sending that data to a translator (and thus the fee).

PICK ONLY THE BARE MINIMUM OF LANGUAGES NEEDED FOR YOUR AUDIENCE. We do machine translation of all user-generated content and selecting too many languages can create confusion for some audiences. Once you make changes, it may take a few hours for the new languages to show up on the site.

The primary language used by the site for default presentation of content when the context is unclear or shared.
Supported LanguagesA list of languages other than the primary language you wish to support on your site. Include only languages core to your viewer base.
Search the dictionary in any language. You will see all text that matches your search criteria in the table below. The "dictionary" gives you an idea of how the match is used. Click on any match to make changes.

Basic Info
Marketing
Communications

Configure the core information about your festival. The settings on each tab in this section apply to the entire festival, independent of any specific edition.

The full, formal name of your festival with preferred capitalization and spelling.
The short name for the festival is the one we use most often to represent the festival unless the context is a formal one.
Most film festivals have an abbreviation they use in social media and other quick communication forms (for example, Minnesota WebFest -> MNWF).

Configure your marketing and promotion settings to help your SparqFest site integrate with your social media and marketing efforts.

A list of hashtags you use on social media independent of what year/edition you are talking about. You will also be able to add edition-specific hashtags later.
The Instagram account associated with your festival.
The Mastdon handle for any Mastodon account associated with the festival. The account should be in the form @user@server.
The Twitter account associated with your festival.
The TikTok handle for any TikTok account associated with the festival. The account should be in the form @handle.
The HTTPS URL for your festival's Facebook page.
QR Codesettings:HELP_Festival_QR_Code
QR Code
The HTTPS link to the offical web page for your festival.

You must set up an email address from which any festival emails sent by the SparqFest site will originate. Examples of such emails include creator notifications, the sending of receipts, and many other things. If you do not configure this properly, your emails will not go through. Once you set this email, you will receive an email from Amazon Web Services to confirm the validity of the address. Emails cannot be sent until this confirmation has occurred. Once you confirm the address, click the "Test Email" link to make sure everything is working.

The name recipients will see when they receive email from the system. It can either be the name of a real person or simply the name of the festival itself.
A real email address from which all emails sent through this platform will originate. Someone should be reading emails from this account.

We organize a festival into "editions". Many festivals have one edition per year, while others may have many editions within a calendar year. Each edition represents a common set of selections showcased over a specified period of time.

Loading Editions of the Festival
Loading Editions of the Festival
+ Create

Basic Info
Program
Graphics
Laurels
Videos
Marketing
Questions

The most basic information for each edition includes the name you are marketing the edition under and the city in which it is being held.

Most festivals that run annually will simply name the edition something like "My Festival 2023". If you have a more complex schedule, however (such as a festival that runs in different locations during the year), you may opt for a more descriptive name.
Festival Time ZoneThis is the primary time zone in which you will be specifying times for events during the festival. And, when the system cannot guess a time zone, it will use the time zone you set here. You will have the option to have venue-specific time zones as well as the ability to schedule some online events based on the end-user time zone.
The primary city in which the event itself will take place (or the home of the festival if virtual)
CountryThe primary country in which the event will take place (or the home of the festival if virtual)
State/ProvinceThe state or province or other general region appropriate to the country in which this edition takes place.

Configure the core structure of this edition. If you are doing both online and in-person events, you may set different start/end times for the online program and the in-person program. You should select "Both" for your screening model if all selections screening both online and in-person. If not all selections screen in both, but you are doing both in-person and online, select "Mixed".

Screening ModelDo you plan to have screenings? Will all screenings be online? In-person? Both? Or will some be in-person and some be online (mixed)?
Start (In-person)The date on which your in-person programming starts.
End (In-person)The date on which your in-person programming ends.
Start (Online)The date on which your online programming starts.
End (Online)The date on which your online programming ends.

Upload the graphics to support this edition of the festival.

Welcome Poster
Welcome Poster The welcome poster appears on the home page the minute this edition becomes the "active" edition of the festival and will continue to appear on the home page until the final end date arrives. Size 1940x692 Media Types PNG, JPG, WebP Download PSD Template
After Festival Poster
After Festival Poster This poster automatically appears on the home page when the final end date for this edition arrives. It will remain the primary poster for the festival until you have a new edition active. Size 1940x692 Media Types PNG, JPG, WebP Download PSD Template

Upload the "Official Selection" laurels for this edition here. Creators will be able to download these laurels from the Creator Portal. Good laurels have a transparent background so that creators can place them on their own marketing graphics.

Black Laurel
Black Laurel This laurel should use a black foreground on top of a transparent background. Size Any Media Types PNG, WebP
White Laurel
White Laurel This laurel should use a white foreground on a transparent background. Size Any Media Types PNG, WebP
Color Laurel
Color Laurel This laurel should use a full color foreground, if appropriate, with a transparent background. Size Any Media Types PNG, WebP

The videos in this section are used during the online portion of your program.

The "Welcome Video", if you set one, will hide your welcome banner and play in a loop on the home page without any sound. It should be exactly 1940x692. We do not validate these dimensions, so your site will look wrong if you upload something with different dimensions.

The global pre-roll is a video that will run before each screening block or on-demand viewing. The ideal pre-roll is 3-5 seconds long and serves as a bit of a brand intro. If you want to present your sponsors before each screening block, you might also add them into the pre-roll. In the "Programming" section of this portal, you can also define prerolls for each screening block. You thus may end up with two pre-rolls before videos in any screening blocks that have a pre-roll specified.

This section is where you upload videos in support of online programming. Because this festival is not running online, there are no videos to upload.

The fields in this section help us know how you are promoting the festival as well as know when key dates occur.

Publicize Selections?Do you wish your list of Official Selections to be available to the public before you have put them in screening blocks? Anything in a screening block is public if that screening block is promoting. Otherwise, it will be hidden from the public feed and anywhere we mention Official Selections unless this value is "Yes".
Show CategoriesDo you want to display the name of the submission category under which a selection was selected? By default, we turn this off since category names may not have been designed for external consumption. It is also redundant for any festival that is 100% short films or 100% feature films. If, however, you have a variety of categories of content, you may want indicate to viewers that selection A is a trailer and selection B is a music video and selection C is a short film. You control the names under "Submitting" | "Categories".
A comma-separated list of hashtags specific to THIS EDITION. Do not enter your general festival hashtags.
The link to the FilmFreeway page or other page where you accept submissions while submissions are open.
Submissions OpenOn what date do you start accepting submissions for this edition of the festival?
Notification DateThe date when notifications will go out to official selections via FilmFreeway or other mechanism.

You define questions that we will ask creators both here and in the "submission categories" section. We ask EVERY PROJECT to answer the questions in this section. If you have questions that should be limited based on what kind of project they are, define them in the "submission categories" section. We automatically import the questions you ask in FilmFreeway as "edition questions".

Add Question

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You may configure your various venues here for re-use across multiple editions of the festival. A venue may be a standalone location like "Wayzata Beach" or a complex location divided into individual rooms such as "The Minneapolis Convention Center". The venue information enables us to present the venue information for an event, including maps and directions to the venue.

Loading Venues
Loading Venues
+ Create

Basic Info
Planning
Graphics
Marketing

Describe the venue and its location. The location is used to place a map on event pages. On the web site, times for in-person events are always shown in the venue time zone.

The name of the venue as it will be displayed on the web site.
A description of the venue that will be used on the web site when promoting events at this venue.
Venue Time ZoneTimes for any events at this venue will be shown in the venue time zone.
In what city is this venue located?
The postal code/zip code associated with this address.
CountryThe primary country in which the event will take place (or the home of the festival if virtual)
State/ProvinceThe state or province or other general region appropriate to the country in which this edition takes place.

Translations

We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

This section allows you to plan what activities are appropriate to your venue. "Standalone" venues are venues that stand by themselves. In other words, they have no rooms into which your events are divided. If you indicate the venue is not standalone, then you will be able to add rooms and assign events to individual rooms.

When specifying the capabilities of this venue, focus on what it can be used for generally (as opposed to what you are specifically using it for this year). The purpose is both to help you plan and also identify mismatches such as programming a selection in a DCP venue for which we do not have a DCP.

Standalone VenueA standalone venue is one without individual rooms. If you are organizing a venue into multiple rooms, you should select "No" here.
settings:HELP_Venue_Capacity
Is Alcohol Allowed?Indicates whether or not this venue allows alcoholic beverages.

Rooms

Manage the rooms within this venue. Each room will inherit the venue address and alcohol policy of the parent location, but you will be able to apply specific capacity information to each room.

+ Add

Scheduled Events

This section lists all future events scheduled at this venue. You assign events to venues when editing that event.

Provide your attendees with graphics that will help them identify the venue.

Venue Poster
Venue Poster The venue poster is a 1920x1080 poster that is used on the web page for the venue generated by the SparqFest platform. Dimensions: 1920x1080 Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP Download PSD Template

Provide all of the supporting information you can about this venue. It helps promote the venue and make it easier for your audience to find it.

Hashtags that can be used to promote the venue.
What is the web site attendees can visit to find more out about the venue?
What is the Facebook page for this venue?
What is the venue's Instagram account?
If the venue has a TikTok account, specify it here and it will appear on the venue page of your site.
If the venue has a Mastodon account, specify it here and it will appear on the venue page of your site.
What is the Twitter account where attendees can find this venue?
Permanently Delete Not Available for Deletion

Below is a list of templates for emails that SparqFest may send on behalf of your festival. Select the email you wish to customize to edit it.

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Account Info
Subscription Plan
Payment Method

Manage your billing contact information. Some information in this form may be changed only through contacting our customer support.

Billing AccountThis is your customer account number in Stripe.
Customer NameThe name under which this account is registered. This is the person or entity who owns the bank account. Contact SparqFest customer support if you need to change this information.
Entity TypeWhat kind of entity is the billing customer?
An email address to send billing communications to. If this is the same as the billing contact, simply re-enter their email address.
Country of OperationIn which country is this entity headquarterd? This country should be the country in which you do your banking.
Where should invoices and other physical communications about billing be sent?
What city is associated with the billing address?
Billing State/ProvinceWhat state or province is associated with the billing address?
What postal code/zip code is associated with the billing address?

Manage your SparqFest subscription plan and optional packages. You may add packages and upgrade/downgrade at any time. Upgrades are made active immediately and pro-rated for the remainder of your subscription. Downgrades will be implemented on renewal.

Current Plan This is your currently selected subscription plan. This plan will renew on the renewal date unless you select a downgrade option or cancel your account.
Renewal Plan The plan under which your subscription will be renewed on the renewal date.
Renewal Date Your subscription will automatically renew on this date.

Your account is currently past due. Please contact support to bring your account up-to-date and avoid site termination.

This subscription will NOT auto-renew on when the subscription is up.

SparqFest Free Plan

 / per year

The free plan provides you with a public web site with festival schedule and selection pages, but you do not have access to the Creator Portal or online screenings.

Manage your payment method and revew your billing history. In order to make sure your site keeps running without interruption, please make sure your payment method is current.

Stored Payment Methods

The expiration date on your selected payment method has expired. Please enter a new credit card to ensure a smooth renewal process.

You have not yet provided a payment method. Your subscription will automatically end on the renewal date unless you provide a payment method.

Billing History

Cancel My Subscription common:TXT_Cannot_Unsubscribe

This list of users shows all staff, creators, and judges across all editions of the festival. You can add new members of your staff and adjust their access.

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+ Invite ⌕ Search Attendees

User Info
Social Media
Biography
Headshots
Access
Purchases

User info is the core information about a user of your system. In general, you should leave it up to users to change the information in this tab via their profile page. This information is considered personally identifiable information and should not be shared with third-parties. If you are subject to data sovereignty concerns (for example, GDPR), please make sure you handle this information accordingly.

The email address you should use to contact this individual.
The given name of this person.
The family name of this person.
Login EmailThe login email is the email used to login with Google or Apple. It is generally the same as the contact email, though it may be different. You should always use the contact email unless you are helping a user troubleshoot login issues.
Language PreferenceThis is the site language in which content is delivered to this user.
CountryThe country of residence of this user.

This tab shows the social media accounts associated with this individual.

This is the IMDB page for this individual. It should not be a film or production company link.
If the individual has their own personal web site, then this should be the link to that site.
The link to the Facebook page for this individual. It should not be a link to a film or production company page.
The Instagram account associated with this individual.
The Mastodon account associated with this individual.
The TikTok account associated with this individual.
The Twitter account associated with this individual.

Biographical information is aimed at creators, judges, speakers, and others intimately involved with your event. The general public as a rule will not be asked to provide this information.

A short, one-paragraph biography of this individual. Useful for summaries and other limited space situations.
A long biography that is used to promote this individual in places that are not constrained by space. You may include links and formatting in the long bio.

User media is for any images for video assets we collect around individual users.

Avatar
Avatar The avatar image is a square 100x100 that is used to represent the user on the web site and other places (like the user list). Dimensions: 100x100 Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP
Headshot
Headshot The headshot is a large profile picture of a speaker, creator, or judge that the festival can use in marketing. We do not ask the general public for headshots. Dimensions: 1000x1000 Media Types: JPG, PNG, WebP

Control the access rights of your staff members so they have access only to the things they should be accessing. Judge and creator access is controlled by adding/removing individuals from judging categories and selections, respectively.

DirectorAs a director, a user has access to do anything they like within the context of this festival. Director access should be given only to the most trusted staff members.
AccountantThe accountant role is a special role for the individuals charged for tallying the award winners. Only people with "accountant" access can see and approve award winners. Outside the judging module, a person with only accountant privileges is just like an observer.
MarketingMarketing access is for people who are doing social media and other marketing for the festival. They have access to manage the look and feel of the site as well as social media information, but they do not have access to operational tools.
ObserverAn abserver cannot make any changes in the system, but has the ability to read most data. Exceptions are sensitive information like who has won an award. The observer role is typically reserved for people who need to access festival information for planning purposes, but who should not be making any changes.
CreatorAs the name implies, "creator" access is for individuals associated with Official Selections. Their access is controlled through the selection page or in the creator portal. Creators have the ability to grant other individuals creator access.
JudgeAs the name implies, "judge" access is for individuals who are judging categories (except audience choice categories) in the judging module. You manage judge access inside the categories to which the judge is assigned.
Forget User This user cannot be forgotten.

SparqFest can integrate automatically with a number of third-party solutions.

Below are all the areas in which we can integrate with third-parties along with a quick look at how you have them configured. To configure a specific solution, select that panel and follow the instructions. Any integration with a padlock is one that requires an upgrade to your current subscription.

Email Marketing

We can synchronize your creators, jurors, and audience members with mailing list solutions so that all of your users can be reached through your email marketing tools.

Not Configured

This integration requires an upgrade to your current plan.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage synchronization is an optional integration package that will upload screeners, posters, captions, and other media assets to your cloud storage account.

Not Configured

This integration requires an upgrade to your current plan.

Collaboration

Our integration with your collaboration tool enables SparqFest to send updates about festival progress and critical notifications to your entire team.

Not Configured

This integration requires an upgrade to your current plan.

Mastodon

Mastodon integration enables SparqFest to manage limited aspects of your Mastodon account for things like auto-following your Official Selections.

Not Configured

This integration requires an upgrade to your current plan.

Verify that both PAYMENTS and PAYOUTS are enabled for your account. If payments are not enabled, we will not be able to sell anything on your site. If payouts are not enabled, we will be able to sell items, but we cannot pay you for those items. If one or both are not enabled, follow the instructions to complete the process of configuring payments and payouts.

finance:L_Loading_Banking
Reloading banking information
Seller IDThe seller ID is how we identify you in the system for payout purposes.
Payment AccountThe ID for your payment account in Stripe.
BankingWe need your banking information in order to send you money. We do not store that information ourselves. Instead, it is stored with securely with the payment processor Stripe.
Payments Enabled?Can you start selling things?
Payouts Enabled?Can we transfer funds to your for the things you have sold?
We are missing some required information for processing sales for you.The information we need from you depends on what country you are in and what the banking regulations are in that country. If we are missing any information necessary to sell items on your site or to send payouts to you, those items will be listed here.
    Configure banking information
    Configure seller information

    We are missing some one or more pieces of information critical to enabling us to take payments on your behalf and/or make payments to you for any sales you make during your festival. Any sensitive information like banking account numbers and routing numbers are stored securely in our payment processing platform, Stripe. Please review the Stripe agreement linked below before filling out any information and submitting the form. Our terms of service require you to agree to and adhere to the Stripe terms of service. If you object to any of these terms, do not fill out this form. Instead, please reach out to the SparqFest support team.

    Stripe Full Agreement Stripe Recipient Agreement

    » Go to Stripe to verify your identity for payments and payouts

    New Question

    Type of Questionsettings:HELP_Question_Type
    Require an Answer?If you select "Yes", the creator questionnaire will be considered incomplete until they answer this question.
    How much text?While we do not prevent a creator from entering too much text, this field will determine the size of the field we offer to the creator for answering this question.

    If you wish to require specific dimensions for the image, you can indicate those dimensions here. We will crop and scale to these dimensions based on the preferences you set for your festival. If you omit these values, we assume that you will accept any images. You may also enter a single dimension if you wish to constrain the size only on width or only on height.

    Leave this field blank if you do not care about the width of the image uploaded by the creator. If you specify a value, we will crop and scale according to the festival preferences or reject the image if we cannot crop or scale according to those preferences.
    px
    Leave this field blank if you do not care about the height of the image uploaded by the creator. If you specify a value, we will crop and scale according to the festival preferences or reject the image if we cannot crop or scale according to those preferences.
    px
    The maximum duration IN SECONDS of the video being uploaded. Leave this field blank if you do not care about the video length.
    seconds
    Cancel

    Review/Modify Question

    Require an Answer?If you select "Yes", the creator questionnaire will be considered incomplete until they answer this question.
    How much text?While we do not prevent a creator from entering too much text, this field will determine the size of the field we offer to the creator for answering this question.

    If you wish to require specific dimensions for the image, you can indicate those dimensions here. We will crop and scale to these dimensions based on the preferences you set for your festival. If you omit these values, we assume that you will accept any images. You may also enter a single dimension if you wish to constrain the size only on width or only on height.

    Leave this field blank if you do not care about the width of the image uploaded by the creator. If you specify a value, we will crop and scale according to the festival preferences or reject the image if we cannot crop or scale according to those preferences.
    px
    Leave this field blank if you do not care about the height of the image uploaded by the creator. If you specify a value, we will crop and scale according to the festival preferences or reject the image if we cannot crop or scale according to those preferences.
    px
    The maximum duration IN SECONDS of the video being uploaded. Leave this field blank if you do not care about the video length.
    seconds

    Translations

    Remove This Question

    Recipients This is the list of people who will be sent your message.
    Subject The subject of your message.
    Message The main content of your message.

    New Media Upload

    File LocationSelect the location where your file is currently stored. If it is on your computer, then select "My Computer". If it is in Dropbox or Google Drive, you can select any file from those services and we can securely transfer without you giving us any special access to your cloud storage accounts. You may also select "URL" and manually enter a URL. If you select URL, you must make sure that the file is accessible (because the content is public or the URL is a secure, temporary URL).
    Does the audio contain spoken dialog?Check yes if your video include any dialog
    Open CaptionsWe look for OPEN CAPTIONS (captions embedded in the video stream), CLOSED CAPTIONS (captions you upload as a separate file), and SUBTITLES (translations in a separate file). This question is about OPEN CAPTIONS. Specifically, in what languages do you have embedded captions? Most video files have at most one set of open captions, typically the same language as the source video. Best practice is: open captions for in-person screenings, closed captions for online screenings. We will ask you for closed captions later in the process.
    If you have the URL where the video itself is located (not an embed page) and the URL is publicly accessible, you may enter it here. This approach works in very limited circumstances. You CANNOT use it to download shared links from Google Drive or videos from Vimeo and YouTube.
    Cancel

    Download SRT Download VTT Replace Delete Captions

    Closed or open captions?

    Open or ClosedWhat type of captions do you have for this language? Open captions are captions that are embedded in the video stream. Closed captions, on the other hand, are included in a separate file that you will upload.

    Select a Language

    LanguageStart typing the name of the language you want to select in the box. You can type the name of that language in any language.
    CountryLanguages vary slightly from country-to-country. Identify the country representing the dialect of the language you are selecting.

    Selection Runtime The runtime of this selection based on the screener uploaded by the creator. Does not include any supplemental content.
    Select one or more screening blocks into which this selection should be programmed (current block runtimes in parentheses).
    Cancel

    Selections You can add one or more selections at once. Just type in the name and select it from any matches.
    Cancel

    Select Edition

    Change Permissions

    WARNING: This option exists for you set permissions for a creator who has given you express permission outside of this portal. It is not for overriding the wishes the creator had previously entered into the portal. By setting this value, you assert that you have received permission from the creator.
    PermissionThe permission indicates what rights the creator is granting to the festival for exhibition at the festival.

    Invite Filmmakers

    The email where the invitee may be reached. This may be any email address. It does not need to be a Google or Apple email.
    The given name of the person to whom you are sending the invitation.
    The family name of the person to whom you are sending the invitation.
    You may include an optional message that will go out with the invitation.

    Dictionary Editor

    Make changes to this text in any language you would like changed. If you are changing the primary language and would like the server to automatically translate for you, you can clear out the other languages. If you do not clear out the other languages, they will remain unchanged. Do not see a change you have made? It takes some time for it to show up here.
    DictionaryWe organize text into dictionaries to help minimize site load times. Each dictionary consists of related words and phrases and their translations.
    The translation key is a text key used to identify this label or phrase, like L_Name or HELP_Description.

    Add a text question field.

    A very short label that goes in front of the input field for the question. Like "Label" here!
    selections:HELP_Required
    If the submission is in a language other than the festival language, do you want both festival language and native language answers for this question?
    How long of an answer should we expect for this field?
    The help text (like this) that the creator will see when they hover over the label.
    Cancel

    Add a image question field.

    A very short label that goes in front of the input field for the question. Like "Label" here!
    selections:HELP_Required
    When checked, you can force the uploaded image to have the specified height and/or width. The creator must then match those dimensions exactly (or a multiple of those dimensions that can be scaled down).
    The minimum height of the image. If you leave this empty or set it to zero, any height will be accepted.
    The minimum width of the image. If you leave this empty or set it to zero, any width will be accepted.
    The help text (like this) that the creator will see when they hover over the label.
    Cancel

    Add a video question field.

    A very short label that goes in front of the input field for the question. Like "Label" here!
    selections:HELP_Required
    Do you wish to require captions/subtitles? If so, the creator will either need to upload a captions/subtitles file, indicate that captions are embedded, or indicate that there is no dialog. They will still have the option to upload captions when not checked, but it won't be enforced.
    Allow the creator to upload 4k videos for this question. We would appreciate you not allowing 4k videos when not needed. They can still upload 4k videos, but they will be transcoded to 2k.
    The help text (like this) that the creator will see when they hover over the label.
    Cancel

    Festival Reports

    The following list contains the reports we generate for your festival. Unless otherwise noted, each report is specific to this edition of the festival. If you would like to see any report for a different edition, you must first change editions at the top of this page.

    If you would like to see a different report, please contact support and let us know.

    Daily Activity Report

    The "Daily Activity Report" summarizes online activity by date. Each row of the report is the summary for a specific day of the festival showing interactions with online content. The dates cover the dates of your online festival. Any dates at the start or end with no activity are omitted.

    Selection Activity Report

    The "Selection Activity Report" summarizes online activity by selection. Each row of the report is the summary for a specific festival selection for this edition. Selections with no activity are omitted from the report.

    Screening Activity Report

    The "Screening Activity Report" summarizes online activity by virtual screening. Each row of the report is the summary for a specific virtual screening in this edition of the festival. Screenings with no activity are omitted from the report.

    Sales Report

    The "Sales Report" lists all transactions associated with this edition of the festival. Transactions included in this edition begin the day after the close of your previous edition and run through the end of this edition. If the selected edition is your current edition, transactions after the end of this edition are associated with this edition until a new one is set up.

    Consumption Report

    The "Consumption Report" maps viewer purchases to the consumption of festival resources. This most commonly associates a ticket with a viewing and illustrates how a user activity is consuming their ticket purchase. For a variety of reasons, this will not agree directly with the activity data or eligible viewing information for audience choice voting. All three systems use different qualification thresholds.

    Nominee Report

    The Nominee Report provides you with a spreadsheet that lists all award categories and their nominees. For people with accountant access, this report also includes current winners and differentiation between finalists and runners-up.

    Audience Choice Report

    Note: Accessible only to those with accounting access. This report shows the voting for each nominee in each category, flagging the winners if one has been chosen. The report shows how many qualifying views are associated with each selection, how many voters are eligibile to vote for that selection, and how many votes have been cast for it.

    Collaboration Tools

    Select a Collaboration Tool

    Integrating with a collaboration tool enables SparqFest to push information to your various team channels as things happen in SparqFest.

    For example, you may have a Slack channel dedicated to your judging process. In that case, you would configure SparqFest to post all critical changes in judging to your Slack judging channel.

    Note:After setting up SparqFest, you must invite the app (/invite @sparqfest) to each channel SparqFest should post to.

    At this time, we support only Slack.
    The channel to which notifications about programming events will be sent.
    The channel to which notifications about judging events will be sent. NOTE: Winners and specific details of deliberations will not be included in this messages.
    The channel to which alerts and other critical items needing staff attention will be sent.
    account:HELP_CollaborationPurchasing

    Cloud Storage Synchronization

    This integration requires an upgrade to your subscription plan.

    Cloud storage synchronization enables SparqFest to send all creator assets to your cloud storage account. Without this feature, you must individually download each asset you want from SparqFest. If you require all exhibition copies from your selections, for example, to deliver to your projectionist for in-person screenings, cloud storage synchronization will save you a tremendous amount of time. The media files simply show up in your cloud storage account any time they are uploaded or changed by the creator.

    To upgrade your subscription, visit your account settings and select the cloud storage synchronization option.

    Select a Cloud Storage Provider

    Cloud storage synchronization enables SparqFest to push to your cloud storage account all of the media assets you need for your projectionists and marketing teams. You may have SparqFest sync all assets, or just assets of specific types. If you use a cloud storage provider that is not currently supported, please let us know.

    Important: Your cloud storage account must have enough storage capacity to hold all of the media we are sending to you.

    account:HELP_Storage_Provider
    Synchronization Options What assets do you want synchronized with your cloud storage? Keep in mind that the more options you select, the more storage you will need in your cloud storage account. Screeners and screening blocks, in particular, take up a lot of space.

    Email Marketing

    If you use a supported email marketing tool, we can push email addresses of audience members, creators, judges, and others into that tool. We currently support only Mailchimp. If you use another system, let us know so we can add it to our roadmap.

    Important: You are responsible for respecting the communications preferences of your users and making sure that they can unsubscribe from your marketing emails.

    Select the email marketing service you use from this list. If your provider does not appear here, please contact support and we will add it to our roadmap.
    Every Mailchimp customer is attached to a specific server. We need to know your server. If you don't know it, just login to Mailchimp and paste the URL of your Mailchimp Dashboard here and we'll figure it out for you.
    [NOTE: This field is stored encrypted in our database and is not shown here on this form. You do not need to enter it if you are just updating the other Mailchimp configuration values.] In your Mailchimp dashboard, go to your account and find the Extras tab. Under that tab, you will find an API Keys option. Click the "Create a Key" link and copy that key into this field.
    Into which mailing list should we add people? We use different tags to tag different kinds of users and place them all into a single mailing list per Mailchimp best practices.
    The merge field key for the first name field in Mailchimp. If you don't know what this question is asking, the answer is FNAME.
    The merge field key for the last name field in Mailchimp. If you don't know what this question is asking, the answer is LNAME.
    The tag we will us to tag staff creators added to your mailing list. Leave the default if you don't have anything configured.
    The tag we will us to tag judges added to your mailing list. Leave the default if you don't have anything configured.
    The tag we will us to tag audience members added to your mailing list. Leave the default if you don't have anything configured.
    The tag we will us to tag staff members added to your mailing list. Leave the default if you don't have anything configured.

    Mastodon

    You likely have already told us what your Mastodon account is during festival configuration so that we can link to your account on the festival web site. With the SparqFest Mastodon integration, you give us permission to connect to your Mastodon account so SparqFest can auto-follow your selections and post on your behalf. You control what kind of posts we make; you also control whether SparqFest auto-follows for you.

    The Mastodon account associated with this individual.
    Auto-follow Selection Accounts? If you enable this setting, SparqFest will have your Mastodon account autmatically follow the Mastodon accounts of all your official selections.

    Invite a Staff Member

    Provide the contact information for an individual you would like to invite to manage this festival as a member of the staff. Include at least one access role, though you may specify multiple roles.

    • Director - global access to everything except seeing award winners
    • Accountant - read-only access except for the judging module; approves winners
    • Marketing - specialized access to marketing information and site design
    • Observer - Limited read-only role
    This email is the email address to which we should send the invitation. It does not need to be the email they will login with, so there is no need to determine whether they want to use Google or Apple IDs. If you know the user already exists in the system, use the email address we already have on file.
    The given name of this person.
    The family name of this person.
    DirectorAs a director, a user has access to do anything they like within the context of this festival. Director access should be given only to the most trusted staff members.
    AccountantThe accountant role is a special role for the individuals charged for tallying the award winners. Only people with "accountant" access can see and approve award winners. Outside the judging module, a person with only accountant privileges is just like an observer.
    MarketingMarketing access is for people who are doing social media and other marketing for the festival. They have access to manage the look and feel of the site as well as social media information, but they do not have access to operational tools.
    ObserverAn abserver cannot make any changes in the system, but has the ability to read most data. Exceptions are sensitive information like who has won an award. The observer role is typically reserved for people who need to access festival information for planning purposes, but who should not be making any changes.
    Optionally include a message with your invitation. The invitation that is sent out uses the standard invitation format you defined in your email configuration. If you add an invitation message, that message will appear at the start of the email that includes the invitation.

    New Price Group

    A friendly name to help identify this group of prices.
    What kind of product is this pricing for?
    The highest price you intend to appear on this schedule. This "public price" is the price that will be charged in a transaction for this type if the buyer does not have better pricing through their membership.

    Member Since:
    This value shows the current membership level. You may change this level by selecting a different level and saving.
    Expiration PolicyDo you wish this membership to expire on a certain date? Or is it a lifetime membership?
    Expiration DateOn what day should the membership expire?
    Revoke Membership

    Add Festival Member

    This form allows you to manually enter festival members. This approach exists primarily for the entry of complimentary memberships being given to special VIPs. If you are uploading your roster of existing members, importing a spreadsheet would be more efficient.

    This email is the email address to which we should send the invitation. It does not need to be the email they will login with, so there is no need to determine whether they want to use Google or Apple IDs. If you know the user already exists in the system, use the email address we already have on file.
    The given name of this person.
    The family name of this person.
    Lifetime of Membershipaccount:HELP_Membership_Lifetime
    If this user is already a member...If this user is already a member, should we ignore this information, overwrite any existing membership, or only make a change if it results in an upgrade?
    Optionally include a message with your invitation. The invitation that is sent out uses the standard invitation format you defined in your email configuration. If you add an invitation message, that message will appear at the start of the email that includes the invitation.

    Import Festival Members

    To import your existing members into SparqFest, you will need a spreadsheet with the following fields: given name, family name, email address, expiration date or membership liftime (optional), membership level (not valid when importing to a specific level).

    The first row of the spreadsheet should be a header row that names the columns. The names of the columns can be anything, and your spreadsheet can contain more columns than the ones we import. Below, you tell us which column maps to which SparqFest field and tell us what to do if we encounter a person who already has a festival membership.

    If this user is already a member...If this user is already a member, should we ignore this information, overwrite any existing membership, or only make a change if it results in an upgrade?
    Your import file must contain a column specifying a first/given name for the member. Enter the title of that column here.
    Enter the title of the column containing the family/last name values for individuals here.
    Your import file must contain a column specifying a contact email address for the member. Enter the title of that column here.
    Enter the title of the field containing the numeric level (1 or higher) of the tier into which the individual should be imported.
    You may indicate how you want this membership to expire either by including an expiration date or a lifetime column. A spreadsheet may contain both columns with some records using an expiration date and others using a lifetime value. If a row specifies both an expiration and a lifetime, the importer will use the expiration date. IF NEITHER COLUMN HAS A VALUE, THE MEMBERSHIP IS A "MEMBERSHIP FOR LIFE" AND NEVER EXPIRES. The expiration date column is simply the date and time when the membership will expire.
    You may indicate how you want this membership to expire either by including an expiration date or a lifetime column. A spreadsheet may contain both columns with some records using an expiration date and others using a lifetime value. If a row specifies both an expiration and a lifetime, the importer will use the expiration date. IF NEITHER COLUMN HAS A VALUE, THE MEMBERSHIP IS A "MEMBERSHIP FOR LIFE" AND NEVER EXPIRES. The value in the lifetime column should be a number indicating the number of days remaining in the membership for that individual.
    CSV FileSelect the CSV file that contains the members you wish to import. We require a CSV file with UTF-8 encoding.

    ou can save your Excel spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Save As.

    You can save your Numbers spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Save As.. | CSV.

    You can save your Google spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Download | Comma-separated values.
    Cancel

    New Membership Tier

    This is the name under which you promote this membership level.
    Where does this new membership tier belong? Your new tier will be inserted as "more elite" than the value you select here.
    Sell Memberships?Do you wish to sell memberships for this tier on your SparqFest site? If one or more membership tiers are available for online sales, SparqFest will create a page for the promotion and sale of membership tiers.
    If you are not selling memberships on the site, then the tier price is useful only for reporting purposes. If you wish to sell your memberships on the site, however, you can specify pricing from the pricing section to govern how much people are charged when they purchase this membership tier.

    New Discount

    Automatically Generate Code?Do you want us to randomly generate the codes? If you requested more than one code, the codes must be automatically generated.
    If you are generating a single discount, you can specify the code to be associated with that discount. This field is disabled if you are generating more than one discount or if you have elected to auto-generate codes. A discount code can have no more than 8 characters.
    The percentage of discount which users of this code are entitled to.
    %
    Valid FromThe date/time at which this discount becomes valid. If empty, this discount is available immediately.
    Valid ThroughThe date/time when this discount ceases to be valid. If empty, this discount is available indefinitely.
    Limit the total number of uses?Do you wish to limit the total number of times this discount can be used across all customers?
    The maximum combined number of times this code may be used before being exhausted. If empty or zero, there is no limit.
    Limit customer usage?Do you wish the limit the number of times an individual customer can use this discount?
    The maximum number of times an individual customer may use this discount code. If empty or zero, there is no limit.
    A brief description of the discount for your own purposes.

    Bulk Generate Discount Codes

    Step 1: Basic Information

    Provide the basic parameters of the discounts you wish to generate.

    How many codes should be generate?
    The percentage of discount which users of this code are entitled to.
    %
    Valid FromThe date/time at which this discount becomes valid. If empty, this discount is available immediately.
    Valid ThroughThe date/time when this discount ceases to be valid. If empty, this discount is available indefinitely.
    A brief description of the discount for your own purposes.

    Step 2: Ticket Information

    If you would like to limit the use of the discounts generated, identify which tickets a customer can apply the discount to.

    Limit usage to specific tickets?If you answer no to this question, people can use this discount for any ticket. If you answer yes, you will be allowed to select which tickets will accept this discount.
    TicketsSpecify one or tickets for which this discount may be used.

    Step 3: Customer Information

    If only certain customers should be able to use these discounts, specify those customers here.

    Limit discount to select customers?If you answer "no" to this question, any customer will be allowed to apply this discount to a purchase. Otherwise, you will be asked to identify which users can apply this discount.
    Which customers?Specify one or more types of customers who can use this discount.

    Winner Approval

    This is the nominee picked by the judges to win this category. You may approve this winner, reject it, or override it.
    DecisionApproving the winner means judging is complete. Rejecting the winner means that the votes from the judges are "unfinalized" and the category is set back to Judging status. Overriding means that you will manually select a winner.
    What selection will you make the winner?
    The judges will be notified that you have rejected their decision. The notification will include these instructions to help them in their deliberations.

    New Audience Choice Award

    The name of this award as you wish it to appear online. Award names are NOT multi-lingual fields because they represent branding for your festival.
    Provide some text to help people understand the purpose of this award and the criteria that should be used in judging nominees.
    Named Recipient?A named recipient is a specific member of the project who should be named as the recipient of the nomination/award. For example, the name of the director for a "Best Director" category. Otherwise, the award goes to the project as a whole.
    Judging DeadlineThe time when no more audience choice votes will be accepted and the system will tabulate a winner for approval. Tabulation typically occurs within 30 minutes of the deadline closing.
    Cancel

    New Jury Award

    The name of this award as you wish it to appear online. Award names are NOT multi-lingual fields because they represent branding for your festival.
    Provide some text to help people understand the purpose of this award and the criteria that should be used in judging nominees.
    Award TypeThe award type is a tool for you to organize your awards categories. They do not impact anything else in the system.
    Named Recipient?A named recipient is a specific member of the project who should be named as the recipient of the nomination/award. For example, the name of the director for a "Best Director" category. Otherwise, the award goes to the project as a whole.
    Judging DeadlineThe deadline by which all jury members should have finalized their votes. The system will then automatically finalize any outstanding votes and calculate a winner or send the category into a tiebreaking state.
    Cancel

    Make a Nomination

    SelectionIdentify the selection you wish to nominate by typing in the title and waiting for a match to come up.
    The person or element of the film/series you are nominating.
    To help judges look for the work of the recipient, provide instructions where that work is best showcased within the ereview copy the judges will be watchibng. For example, for best actor/actress, identify the place in the timeline where you saw the performance at its best. Or, for an original song nomination, specify the point in the timeline where the song is played.
    Cancel

    Revoke Nomination

    Recommended byjudging:HELP_Recommended_By
     

    This recommendation has already been accepted as a nomination for this award.

    You may accept the recipient as entered or correct their entry. The correction impacts only the nomination; the recommended recipient will remain as the juror initially entered it.
    To help judges look for the work of the recipient, provide instructions where that work is best showcased within the ereview copy the judges will be watchibng. For example, for best actor/actress, identify the place in the timeline where you saw the performance at its best. Or, for an original song nomination, specify the point in the timeline where the song is played.
    Done

    Tiebreaker:
    Choice:
    Undo Finalization Remove Judge

    Invite Someone to Judge

    The email where the invitee may be reached. This may be any email address. It does not need to be a Google or Apple email.
    The given name of the person to whom you are sending the invitation.
    The family name of the person to whom you are sending the invitation.
    To serve as a tiebreaker?A tiebreaker judge helps break any tie in this category. They do not participate in the initial voting. Instead, they decide between any deadlocked options selected by the regular jury members. You should specify only one tiebreaker.

    New Genre

    The title of the genre as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
    KeywordsType in a keyword and click "Add". You can add as many keywords as you like. Keywords help people find a genre when they may not know exactly what genres you have configured.
    Cancel

    New Perspective

    The title of the perspective as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
    KeywordsPerspective keywords help with searching for selections that match this perspective. You should be careful to balance creating a culturally diverse set of keywords with sensitivity to localized terms. A term that may be accepted for a group in one place may be considered offensive in another.
    Cancel

    New Theme

    The title of the theme as it will appear on the web site and other locations.
    KeywordsTheme keywords help with searching for selections that match this theme.
    Cancel
    Moderators Only moderators can see messages from the general public and send messages that the general public can see.
    When a user joins the live stream, this message will appear in their Q&A box. Use it to tell them how to ask questions and any rules that apply.
    Cancel

    New Virtual Screening

    LanguageUnless you are coordinating this block with other programming, the language choice is largely meaningless. The primary function is to help your audience know what language is primary for the coordinated events. You can also use this to indicate the language of your screening block content, but we do not enforce that.
    Start TimeThe time when people can start watching this screening block online.
    Use festival or user timezone?The time you specified for the start time can either be a fixed to that time in the festival time zone, or you can configure the block so a user can start watching at that time in their own time zone.
    When should the block end?Should the block end at the same time as the festival or would you prefer to provide a specific end time?
    End TimeSelect the time when you no longer want the content for this screening block to be available for viewing. People will still be able to visit the screening block page and watch the trailers.

    New In-Person Event

    What is the physical location of this event?
    Specify the room in which the event will take place.
    LanguageThis is the primary language in which any featured content for this event occurs. If this event is a networking event, the language is not displayed anywhere. If you are providing translation services during the event, you should note that in the event synopsis.
    Event TypeWhat kind of event is this?
    Start TimeThe time when this event starts IN THE VENUE TIME ZONE.
    End TimeThe time when this event ends IN THE VENUE TIME ZONE.

    New Live Stream

    HostingIs SparqFest hosting the actual live stream or is it being hosted on a third-party site? Either way, we will create a landing page for your live stream that will send the audience to the proper location for watching the live stream.
    Is this a simulcast?Are you streaming an in-person event? If you answer "yes", then we will pull data from the in-person event being simulcast.
    What in-person event is being simulcast by this live stream?
    LanguageThis is the primary language in which any featured content for this event occurs. If this event is a networking event, the language is not displayed anywhere. If you are providing translation services during the event, you should note that in the event synopsis.
    Event TypeWhat kind of event is this?
    Start TimeThe time when the programming for the live stream starts.
    End TimeThe time when the programming for the live stream is expected to end. You should provide the actual expected end time. The system will not suddenly cut off the live stream at this time.

    Remove Selection from Program

    Page Editor

    This form for managing the content of a custom web page differs from our other forms in that you directly manage each translation with the option to force a new machine translation. On the left is the list of languages supported by the site. On the right are the title and content of the page. Select the language you wish to work on and edit it. When done, click save.

    English
    Re-translate?Do you wish to automatically translate this content to all other languages when you save?
    The title will appear in the menu bar and, depending on your theme, in the title portion of the page itself.
    The content is what shows up on the page. This editor gives you the ability to create rich pages of content as you would with any standard text editor.
    Remove Custom Page
    Cancel

    New Web Page

    The name of your custom page (minus the .html extension). It should be simple and all lower-case latin letters. The characters - and _ are also allowed.
    The title will appear in the menu bar and, depending on your theme, in the title portion of the page itself.
    Cancel

    Email Template Editor

    You may customize the content of the emails that SparqFest sends on your behalf through this form. Unlike most SparqFest forms (except the custom page editor), you directly manage each translation with the option to force a machine translation. On the left is a list of languages supported by the site. On the right is the content of the email. Select thelanguage you wish to work in and edit the content. When done, click "Save".

    Because you are editing a template rather than actual content, you have the ability to insert placeholders into your template. Each placeholder is surrounded by double curly braces: {{placeholder}}. The placeholders available vary from template to template and are described below.

    English
    Re-translate?Do you wish to automatically translate this content to all other languages when you save?
    You may style this email using any of the tools available in the editor. Pay careful attention to any placeholders you insert to make sure they are surrounded by the proper curly braces.
    Send a Test Email
    Cancel

    This value is the name of the font at the top of the Google Fonts page.
    New Font
    Latin
    All Caps
    Thin
    Bold
    Italic
    Chinese
    全部大写
    薄的
    大胆的
    斜体
    Devanagari
    सभी कैपिटल
    पतला
    साहसिक
    तिरछा
    Greek
    Ολα κεφαλαία
    Λεπτή
    Εντονη
    Πλάγια
    Japanese
    すべて大文字
    細いフォント
    太字フォント
    斜体フォント
    Hangul
    모두 대문자
    얇은 글꼴
    볼드체
    기울임꼴 글꼴
    Cyrillic
    Все заглавные буквы
    Тонкий
    Жирный
    Курсивный
    Arabic
    كل الأحرف الاستهلالية
    رفيع
    خط عريض
    مائل الخط
    Hebrew
    הכול באותיות גדולות
    דק
    מודגש
    נטוי

    Create a New Edition

    Screening ModelDo you plan to have screenings? Will all screenings be online? In-person? Both? Or will some be in-person and some be online (mixed)?
    Start DateWhen you you expect this edition to start? Do not worry if you do not have the exact dates. You will be able to refine them and set separate times for the online and in-person events later.
    End DateWhen you you expect this edition to end? Do not worry if you do not have the exact dates. You will be able to refine them and set separate times for the online and in-person events later.

    New Menu Item

    The URL to which you want to link from this menu or the name of a page on this site to which you want to link.
    The text that will appear in the navigation.
    Visible on Home Page?Do you want this link to be visible on the home page? It must be visible on either the home page or other pages (or both), but it cannot be not visibile on both.
    Visible on Other Pages?Do you want this link to be visible on the pages other than the home page? It must be visible on either the home page or other pages (or both), but it cannot be not visibile on both.
    Cancel

    Menu Editor

    The URL of the remote page to which you wish to link.
    The text that will appear in the navigation.
    Visible on Home Page?Do you want this link to be visible on the home page? It must be visible on either the home page or other pages (or both), but it cannot be not visibile on both.
    Visible on Other Pages?Do you want this link to be visible on the pages other than the home page? It must be visible on either the home page or other pages (or both), but it cannot be not visibile on both.

    Translations

    We performed an initial automated translation of the information you provided for all languages supported by your festival. Please review those automated translations for errors and correct them where needed.

    If you made changes to the original text and would like an automated translation for the new text, clear out the field you changed. Clearing out a field always forces a new machine translation. Please be sure to review the machine translation, however.

    Remove from Navigation
    Cancel

    New Venue

    The name of the venue as it will be displayed on the web site.
    Venue Time ZoneTimes for any events at this venue will be shown in the venue time zone.
    Venue TypeYou can define two kinds of venues: standalone venues that serve as a location on their own and venues that serve as a "primary location" with individual rooms.
    settings:HELP_Venue_Capacity
    In what city is this venue located?
    CountryThe primary country in which the event will take place (or the home of the festival if virtual)
    State/ProvinceThe state or province or other general region appropriate to the country in which this edition takes place.
    The postal code/zip code associated with this address.
    Cancel

    Room Editor

    Provide the name of the room or some other identifier that will help attendees find the room when they reach the venue.
    How many people can this venue fit?
    Make Active
    Cancel

    Add Import Column

    The name of the column EXACTLY as it appears in your spreadsheet or CSV file. Matching punctuation is critical.
    Cancel

    New Import Mapping

    A name that helps you identify the purpose of this import mapping.
    Based on{{#text:HELP_Based_On}
    CSV FileUpload your spreadsheet here. We will not import anything. We will simply load the columns and make an initial guess as to how it might get mapped. You will then go in and fix all wrong guesses or columns we could not guess. It does not matter how many rows are in the file you upload. All we care about is are the column headers in the first row.
    Copy our standard FilmFreeway mapping or start out by copying one of your own.
    Cancel

    Manual Submission Entry

    Primary LanguageThe primary language for this submission.
    The title for the submission as it is marketed worldwide.
    What category is this project submitted under?
    The first/given name of the submitter of this project.
    The last/family name of the submitter of this project.
    The email address where we will notify the submitter of festival requirements.
    DecisionWhen you manually add a submission, you are typically adding submissions that came through channels other than your main submissions platform. So, this value is likely "Selected". You cannot create selections from submissions in any state except "Selected". You can change this value, however, at any point.
    Cancel

    New Submission Category

    The name of the category. Submission categories are for internal-use only, so you the name need be useful only to your team. For that reason, we also do not maintain the name as a multi-lingual field.
    External CategoriesYou can specify the name of one or more categories from Film Freeway that should map to this category. Enter the names EXACTLY as they appear in Film Freeway.
    Media TypeThe media type defines what kind of media we ask for from a creator when they fill out their questionnaire.
    Story TypeIndicate whether this category is exclusively for narrative of non-fiction content. Otherwise, select "any".
    Content LengthIf this category is exclusively for short-form or long-form content, select the appropriate option. Otherwise, select "any".
    StructureIndicate whether this category is exclusively for episodic content or self-contained content. Otherwise, select "any".
    Cancel

    Import Submissions

    Use this form to import selections from FilmFreeway or your own spreadsheet. We automatically know how to import a standard FilmFreeway export. You need only export your selections from FilmFreeway and then upload them below. If you are using your own spreadsheet, however, you will need to export that spreadsheet as a UTF-8 CSV file and then create an import mapping in our system.

    Submission PlatformWhere did the submission come from? The submission platform is considered the "system of record" for this submission. If you do additional imports that include this submission, that data will over-write any changes you have made here. That data will not impact selection data.
    If you are importing a standard FilmFreeway export, then select "Standard FilmFreeway". Otherwise, you will need to create an import mapping and select it here.
    Ignore Existing Submissions?If you select "Yes" here, we will skip any submission with a matching tracking number already in SparqFest. If you select "No", we will update the submission data in SparqFest with data from your import. We overwrite only the submission data. If you have promoted the submission to selection, the submission data will reflect the import but the selection will not.
    Only Selected Submissions?If you select "Yes", we will import only "selected" submissions (submissions with the FilmFreeway status of "selected", "award winner", or "nominee"). If you select no, we will import all submissions and map the external status to our status. The only curious mapping is "finalist" to "deferred".
    CSV FileThe file containing the selections you wish to import. We require a CSV file with UTF-8 encoding.

    You can export your FilmFreeway data in this format by going to the bottom of your "Submissions" list and selected Export All | Export Submissions with a Standard configuration and an export type of CSV.

    You can save your Excel spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Save As.

    You can save your Numbers spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Save As.. | CSV.

    You can save your Google spreadsheet in this format by going to File | Download | Comma-separated values.
    Cancel

    New Ticket

    In the pricing section, you configure pricing that consists of one or more prices that depend on the membership level of the ticket purchaser. Select the pricing you want to apply to this ticket here.
    Sale StartAt what time should the ticket become available for purchase? Make sure this time is well before any events associated with this ticket.
    Sale EndAt what time should the ticket no longer be available for purchase?

    Remove Event from Entitlements

    Create a Rule

    CountryType in the name of the country you want this rule applied to. You may specify multiple countries.
    State/ProvinceType in the name of the state or province you want this rule applied to. You may specify multiple states and provinces.
    Continent/RegionType in the name of the content or region you want this rule applied to. Valid regions include: European Union, Latin America, The Americas. You may specify multiple regions.

    Rule Details

    Action
    Continent/Region/Country/State/Province
    Delete this rule

    Review Font Glyphs

    The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

    Add a Font

    You can add any font from Google Fonts. Search the Google Fonts web site, find a font you like, and enter the name here. As you search fonts, check out the "Glyphs" section to make sure there is full coverage across all languages. Solid language coverage is critical for international festivals. The best fonts will also have multiple weights as well as italic styles.

    Please be sure the font you select is free for your use or that you have a license for it.

    This value is the name of the font at the top of the Google Fonts page.

    ID Agreement Version Authored Fingerprint

    Print Copy

    Cancel

    Enter the code below into your set top device to associate it with your account.

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