Hi guys, I’m not a US filmmaker, I am from Berlin, and I have made lots of good, but also one really bad experience I would like to share here:
It’s more than 10 years ago, so things may have gotten even more strict & complicated these days. I had one film on 35mm that travelled a few times around the planet, and one day German customs informed me I should come to their office and pick up a parcel. I was pretty sure this was my film print, so I carried all kinds of printed materials like flyers, festival catalogues and schedules to prove this was my own property. But the customs officers were super strict: They ignored all those materials, instead they asked me to show all shipping documents from all the consecutive shipments ever since the print had initially left Berlin. But the print had circulated across 11 different countries, and I had zero documents to prove that. So they told me I only had three choices: Either accept the parcel and pay – or reject the parcel unopened – or open the parcel and destroy the „product“ in front of their eyes. The desk had various self-destruction tools attached on chains: there was a hammer, a cutter, pliers and scissors. Next to me there was a lady who had received a parcel from her brother in the US with various gifts, and amongst those gifts there was also some medication, which was not certified in Europe. I saw how she had to take the hammer and destroy all the pills. She was crying... The custom guys told me if I accept the parcel, they would research the value and charge me accordingly. I asked them to tell me the price in advance but they refused. They said first I have to accept it and then there is no way back: They will google some German film laboratory websites and find out prices. Based on their findings they would calculate the custom fees & VAT. And of course German lab prices are always super high. Since I was broke at that time and I knew this print had lots of scratches, I felt this was too much of a risk. Also it was not the only print that I had. Destroying the print myself was not an option either, so what about the return-to-sender option? They told me if I reject the parcel, it will return to sender with no extra cost. Knowing that it came from a film festival in Australia, I decided to reject it. I wrote to the festival and asked them to keep the print, I would send some friend one day and pick it up. But they had just shifted their office to another city, so the print never arrived and got lost until today. So in case you plan to circulate your prints across borders: Always ask both sender and receiver to provide you with all the shipping documents! Otherwise: If you say it’s a gift, they will probably not believe it, but putting a low, but plausible value along with "for cultural purposes only", "for a film festival", "no commercial transaction“ could help – I always did that, and in most cases it worked well... Not sure if that helps… best Bernd > Am 23.05.2025 um 21:48 schrieb Todd Eacrett <[email protected]>: > > > Hi Jimmy, > > This is actually a very relevant topic, considering the current political > climate, tariffs, etc. I’m speaking from a (small) festival’s perspective in > Canada. > > We generally recommend declaring what it is, and the actual value (for > insurance, if not customs), but also all the usual “temporary import/export, > cultural purposes only, no commercial value, no pornographic content.” We > also work with our own Border Services Agency to get accreditation allowing > temporary imports under a tariff item for conventions, exhibitions, trade > shows, etc. > > Contrary to your experiences, I find shipping with USPS (or other countries’ > respective postal services) preferable to couriers, if there is time and an > insured, trackable option. Once one gets into customs clearance, taxes and > tariff charges the latter are going to levy significantly more. I guess some > big festivals might still give you their FedEx number and absorb all of those > costs, but for us, receiving a package with ridiculous customs charges owing > is problematic. Sometimes we can claw these back, but the time and paperwork > is onerous. > > Obviously this is conditional on the size/value of the print, not to mention > your risk aversion. Shipping a 400ft reel of 16mm is different than a 35mm > feature. > > And, everything I just said is out the window now anyway. We recently had to > alter an exhibition that would have included films and photographs due to > concerns about tariffs on artwork coming from the US to Canada (and possibly > on return), even with Border Services approval. I spoke to the head of our > federal department and he was not sure if, or how, it would be assessed, but > the various tariff documents (US and Canada) suggest it will be and anecdotal > reports from artists and colleagues confirm. > > Unless things change drastically, we will discourage sending film prints from > the US for this year's festival. > > Cheers, > > Todd Eacrett > (Antimatter, Victoria BC Canada) > > > On Fri, May 23, 2025, at 9:54 AM, Jimmy Schaus wrote: >> Hello, >> >> For the US-based filmmakers who have had some success (or learned the hard >> way about) shipping film prints internationally for festivals, I'm curious: >> are there any "best practices" to avoid shipping/customs issues? I know that >> each country/festival may have different specifications regarding shipment, >> but if there are any general guidelines to keep in mind gleaned from >> successful (or not) experiences, I'd love to hear them. I'm currently in a >> painful one-two punch of failed attempts using both FedEx and DHL. >> >> This is my third time shipping a print overseas for a festival but first >> outright failure (other times were a down-to-the-wire but ultimately >> resolved customs delay with USPS and a total success with DHL, the latter >> accompanied by extensive instructions and additional forms provided by the >> fest). >> >> -Is there a preferred courier? (only consensus seems to be avoiding >> UPS/USPS) >> -Mark as "gift" or no? >> -Make explicit "for cultural purposes only", "for a film festival", "no >> commercial transaction" etc., or no? >> -Good responses to the question "what are you shipping?" I ask because there >> are different codes that they enter for different items, and sometimes "it >> is a film for projection at a festival" is met with confusion. >> -ask festival to provide additional forms, or should commercial invoice >> generated at courier suffice? >> -any other tips? >> >> Sorry for the dry topic. Feel free to reply off-list, unless you think it's >> helpful for all. And if your advice is "shoot digital", stop yourself :) I >> also make digital work and, to quote Johnny from Square Pegs, it's "a >> totally different head". >> >> Jimmy >> >> >> -- >> Frameworks mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org >> > > -- > Frameworks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
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