Terms of Use

Last updated 12 August 2026

These terms apply to your use of the Focus on Ability Short Film Festival website, operated by NOVA Employment Limited (ABN 94 253 356 513), a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “the festival” mean NOVA Employment Limited. By using this site you agree to them.

Using this site

• The films, articles, images and text on this site are protected by copyright and remain the property of their respective owners.
• You may view and share our pages and link to them freely. You may not republish, resell or systematically copy content without permission.
• You may not attempt to interfere with the site, gain unauthorised access to any account or system, or use automated tools to scrape or overload it.

Voting

The public vote is open only during the published voting window for each festival year. When you vote:

• You may vote once in each category, once per festival year. Six categories means up to six votes in total, not six votes for one film. We enforce this by email address and by a device identifier, and we apply daily limits per device and per network connection.
• A vote only counts once you confirm it. We email you a link and a code when you vote, and the vote is not recorded until you use one of them.
• You must provide a genuine name and email address.
• Votes are checked by an automated bot-detection service. Votes we identify as automated, duplicated or manipulated may be removed without notice.
• The festival’s decision on the validity of any vote is final.

Comments

• Comments are reviewed before they appear on the site.
• Do not post anything unlawful, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, or that identifies a person without their consent.
• We may edit or remove any comment, and may decline to publish one, at our discretion.
• You are responsible for what you post.

Filmmaker accounts

• You are responsible for keeping your password secure and for activity under your account.
• Provide accurate details when you register, and keep them up to date.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms.

Entering a film

Who can enter

• Entry is free and open to filmmakers worldwide, at every level of experience: students, first-time filmmakers, independents and production teams.
• Entrants under 18 must have the consent of a parent or guardian before entering, and we may ask for confirmation of that consent.
• Films are entered into one of six categories: School Short Films, School Documentaries, Open Entrant Short Films, Open Entrant Documentaries, International Short Films and International Documentaries. We may move an entry to the category we consider correct for it.
• Entering requires a filmmaker account with a verified email address. One person or team may enter more than one film.

What we need from the film

• The film must run for no more than five minutes, not counting credits.
• The film must have either an ability or disability related theme, or people with disability as the primary actors or subjects.
• Entries close on the closing date published on the enter a film page for the current festival year. We do not usually accept late entries.
• Captions or subtitles are strongly encouraged. This is a festival about access, and a film without them cannot be watched by part of its audience.
• We may decline any entry, or remove one after it is published, if it does not meet these terms or the theme.

The rights you give us

You keep the copyright in your film. You are not selling it to us and you remain free to enter it elsewhere, screen it, or distribute it yourself.

By entering, you grant NOVA Employment a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to:

• publish your film and its details in the festival catalogue on this website, and on the festival’s YouTube channel;
• screen it at festival events, award nights and partner screenings;
• keep it in the permanent public archive of past festivals. Entries stay available in the catalogue after the year they were entered in;
• make it available to schools, workplaces and organisations for screening in education, training and disability awareness programmes, including where we charge those organisations a fee that supports the festival; and
• use short excerpts, stills and your film’s title and summary to promote the festival and NOVA Employment’s work.

This licence continues after the festival year ends, because the catalogue is permanent.

Two things we do not do. We do not transfer ownership of your film to anyone, and we do not use it in paid advertising for a third party’s own products or services. Where an organisation pays to screen festival films, they are paying for access to the programme. Your copyright, and your name on the work, stay with you.

What you are confirming

• You own the film, or you have permission from everyone who does, to enter it and to grant the licence above.
• You have cleared all footage, images, music and sound in the film. Music is the single most common reason a strong entry is disqualified: a commercial track used without a licence will cost you the film. See the note below if you need music.
• Everyone who appears in the film has agreed to appear and to the film being published and screened. Where a person with disability appears, they or their guardian have given that consent themselves.
• The film does not defame anyone, infringe anyone’s rights, or break any law.
• You indemnify NOVA Employment against any claim arising from the film or from a breach of these confirmations.

Where to get music you are allowed to use

You need a licence that covers three things: public screening, online distribution, and no time limit. Plenty of cheap licences cover a YouTube upload and nothing else, which is not enough for a film that will be screened at events and stay in a permanent archive. Read what you are buying before you buy it.

Places filmmakers commonly use:

• YouTube Audio Library, free, built into YouTube Studio.
• Free Music Archive and ccMixter, free tracks under Creative Commons licences. Check each track: some require credit, and some do not allow commercial use.
• Epidemic Sound, Artlist, Musicbed and PremiumBeat, subscription or per-track libraries.
• A composer. Students and local musicians will often score a short film for a credit and a copy for their showreel, and it gives you something nobody else has.

We do not endorse or have any arrangement with any of these, and the list is not exhaustive. Keep your licence or written permission. We may ask to see it.

Withdrawing an entry

You may withdraw an entry at any time before judging closes by contacting us. Once a film has been published we will take it off this site and off our YouTube channel on request. We cannot undo screenings that have already taken place, or recover material other people have shared elsewhere.

Prizes and judging

• The prizes offered each year, and their values, are listed on the prizes page. They change from year to year and the page for the current festival year is the authoritative list.
• Films are rated by the festival’s judging panel. Judges are asked to weigh filmmaking quality and connection to the Focus on Ability theme together: a film does not score highly simply because people with disability appear in it or worked on it, and technical polish on its own is not enough either.
• There is also a public vote, which runs during the published voting window and is counted separately from the judges’ scores.
• Winners are announced at the festival award night and on this website. We will contact winners using the email address on their filmmaker account, so keep it current. If we cannot reach a winner within 30 days we may award the prize to another entrant.
• Prizes are not transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash unless we say otherwise in writing.
• You are responsible for any tax payable on a prize you receive. If you are unsure what a prize means for your tax position, get your own advice.
• Where a film is entered by a team or a school, we award the prize to the person who submitted the entry, and it is for them to share it as agreed within the team.

Donations

Donations are processed securely by Stripe. We never see or store your card details. Donations support the running of the festival and are generally not refundable. If you have donated in error, contact us and we will do what we reasonably can.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia. NOVA Employment Limited has been endorsed as a deductible gift recipient since 1 July 2000. We will issue a receipt for your donation. If one does not reach you, ask and we will send it. Whether you can claim a deduction depends on your own circumstances, so check with your tax adviser or the ATO if you are unsure.

Availability and liability

We aim to keep this site available and accurate, but we do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for loss arising from your use of the site. Nothing in these terms excludes any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales. Entrants outside Australia are welcome, since entry is open worldwide, but disputes about these terms or the competition are dealt with under New South Wales law.

Changes

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page shows when they last changed. Continuing to use the site means you accept the current version.

Contact

Questions about these terms? Use the contact page.

Formal notices under these terms should be sent to NOVA Employment Limited, PO Box 795, St Marys NSW 1790, Australia.