Dear all, Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences! Bernd, your story had me on the edge of my seat!
In the end, there are about as many different suggestions as there are people who responded (including several off this list), but overall I feel like I have a much stronger understanding of the whole process and am more confident shipping prints internationally moving forward. Jimmy On Sat, May 24, 2025 at 6:02 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Jimmy and all, > > There is a system of so called harmonised tariff codes for import/export. > The code for cinematographic film is 37024110. After I started using this > shipments have been much smoother. Customs use this code to scan parcels > and when it registers in their system they are more likely to let it go > through. > > Hope this helps, > Karel > > On Friday, 23 May 2025 at 17:54:34 +01:00, Jimmy Schaus < > [email protected]> 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] > 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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