One brand per subscription
Each unique festival name and brand requires its own annual subscription. A subscription cannot be transferred to, renamed into or used to operate a different festival brand without FestOrbit approval.
Festival formats and editions
The organizer must choose the format that truthfully describes the edition: Physical Festival, Online Screening Festival, or Online Judging & Awards Festival. The base subscription includes one edition. Every additional edition is purchased separately and cannot go live until acceptable proof from the previous edition is approved.
Recurring billing
Annual festival subscriptions, staff packs and the Branded Festival Portal use recurring PayPal billing. Cancelling stops future renewals; access normally continues through the paid period unless the account is suspended for breach. Each staff pack and portal add-on has its own billing and expiry date.
Verification and evidence
The organizer authorises FestOrbit to review identity, festival history, website, venue or streaming evidence, jury information, results, prize delivery, communication records and complaint resolution. Complete submissions receive an approve, reject or information-request decision within seven business days.
Festival-controlled fees and PayPal.Me
The festival sets and controls its submission prices and provides one verified PayPal Business/PayPal.Me account. Filmmakers pay that festival directly. The organizer must confirm valid payments promptly, normally within 48 hours, and must not request friends-and-family transfers or use an unrelated recipient.
Merchant responsibilities
The festival is responsible for its own tax, invoicing, refunds, chargebacks, payment disputes, screening rights, judging, awards, event delivery and compliance with laws in its operating countries. The festival must publish clear rules and honour material promises made to filmmakers.
No guaranteed submissions
FestOrbit does not guarantee traffic, a minimum number of submissions, revenue, selections, sponsorship or advertising results. Subscription fees pay for access to the platform and its tools, not a guaranteed business outcome.
Additional Links
While the annual festival subscription is active, the organizer may submit up to ten Additional Links with custom labels (for example press kit, tickets or programme) in addition to official website and social-profile fields. Additional Links require validation, safety review and FestOrbit admin approval before public display. Reaching the ten-link maximum is not a policy violation. URLs placed in description, rules or other prose fields are not a permitted way to publish clickable links.
External Link Policy and membership consequences
Festival organizers must comply with the External Link & Acceptable Use Policy. Confirmed violations may disable the offending link and generate warnings. After three confirmed External Link Policy violations, Additional Links privileges may be disabled and the applicable paid festival membership may be terminated for repeated policy breach. Refund handling for such termination follows the Refund and Cancellation Policy. A third confirmed violation does not automatically permanently ban the festival account or hide an otherwise valid profile; a permanent ban requires Master Admin authorisation.
Suspension and renewal
A festival may be suspended for false evidence, non-performance, unresolved serious complaints, misleading claims, unauthorised payment links, non-payment or policy breaches. Renewal payment alone does not make the next edition public until required proof and verification are approved.