Find out where you stand before you spend a week on paperwork.
Nine questions, about two minutes. At the end you get a straight answer: submit now, fix these three things first, or this one isn't for us and here's exactly why.
We built this because most rejections are for fixable paperwork, not for the film. You should learn that here, in private, in two minutes — not from us in three weeks.
Private
No account, no record. Answering honestly costs you nothing.
Specific
Every result names the standard behind it, so you can argue with us.
Not a filter
You can submit regardless. This is here to save you a rejection.
Question 1 of 9
Narrative ownership
Who holds final creative control of this work?
Not who financed it or who distributes it — who has the last word on the cut.
Section II·A. Stories about us, made by us. This is the one standard we hold without exception.
Representation
If the story shows hardship, does it also show agency?
Resistance, resilience, solutions, or simply people acting on their own lives rather than being acted upon.
Section II·C. Hardship is welcome here — helplessness isn't. A bleak film with a point of view usually passes; a bleak film without one usually doesn't.
Distribution rights
Do you control the rights you'd be licensing to us?
Streaming rights, in the territories you'd grant, for the term you'd grant them.
Section V·A. If a third party holds them, that isn't a no — it's a conversation we can have with them alongside you.
Music
Is every piece of music cleared — the song and the recording?
Sync licence for the composition, master use for the recording. Both, for every cue.
Section V·B. This is the single most common reason good films stall in our queue. Festival clearance is not streaming clearance.
Releases
Signed releases from everyone on screen?
Cast, interview subjects, identifiable crowd — and a parent or guardian's signature for anyone under 18.
Section V·B. Retroactive releases are normal and usually easy — a signature and a date. Missing minor releases are the hard ones.
Third-party material
Archival footage, stock, photographs, artwork — all licensed?
Including anything pulled from an archive, a news library, or a family collection.
Section V·B. Archive rights are often cheaper than filmmakers assume, and many African archives will licence for streaming at low cost.
Technical
What's your master, technically?
Our floor is 720p, H.264 or H.265, 5 Mbps, with dialogue that's intelligible throughout.
Section IV. Archival and historical material is judged differently — age is not a defect. This question is about your master, not your source.
History with us
Have you brought this work to us before?
A previous decline isn't held against you. Three on the same piece closes it.
Section XI. Two revisions are welcome. Each one should answer the reasons we gave you in writing.
Declaration
One thing we have to ask plainly.
Confirm that none of the following appears in this work, in any form:
Exploitation of minors · Non-consensual sexual content · Hate speech against any group · Incitement to violence or extremism · Anything produced through trafficking or forced labour
Section VI·B. No context, artistic frame or historical argument makes an exception here.
Clear to submit
Nothing in your answers would stop this.
You clear every mandatory standard on our checklist. Bring the film, the paperwork you told us you have, and a screener link. Licensed work is usually reviewed inside 10 to 15 business days, and you'll hear a reason either way.
Fixable
The film is fine. The paperwork isn't — yet.
Nothing here is a rejection. Every item below is a task, and most filmmakers clear them in a fortnight. You can still submit today and settle these during review — but a submission that arrives complete moves faster.
Not eligible
This one isn't for us, and we'd rather say so now.
One of your answers touches a standard we hold without exception. That's a judgement about this submission, not about you or your work in general — a different project may well be a fit.
This check is guidance, not a decision — a reviewer makes that, and can weigh things a form can't. If you think we've read your film wrong, write to us at submissions@khemet.net.
Khemet