VISA VERSA

Got a love story that could only happen because borders exist? We want to hear it.

We’re making Visa Versa, a feature film built from a series of short love stories set in different countries and cultures, all connected by the strange, frustrating, funny, painful and sometimes completely absurd realities of immigration. We’re looking for filmmakers with authentic stories and a sense of adventure who want to make something together. Send us a story that feels true to a world you know, and if we fall in love with it, we’ll figure out how to make it together and turn it into part of our feature film.

Make sure to follow the guidelines and if you want to see how this whole thing started, watch the first Visa Versa short - shot in Madrid in just one day!

Jeff, Giacun & the VISA VERSA gang

First name * Last name * City * Country * Phone number * Email address *

Short synopsis of the script * Production notes *

Confirmations I’m the writer of this and hold all rights. * I would like to direct this short film. * I read and agree to all the guidelines and things to know. *

Upload your script as a PDF *PDF only, maximum 25 MB.

Logline of our feature film:

A romantic anthology about couples from different cultures navigating love while racing against the absurd and unforgiving realities of immigration systems.

Guidelines for your story:

1. Film must be a love story where immigration systems + cultural differences create conflict - comedic, emotional, or otherwise. In an authentic way.

Give it a ticking clock (visa expiration, deportation, war, etc.)
Turn bureaucracy into conflict
Turn cultural difference into moral dilemma or misunderstanding
It can be funny, heartbreaking, awkward, romantic, absurd, serious — or all of the above. Just make it feel true.

2. Almost any kind of romantic human relationship can be explored. Just don’t be too gross or illegal.

3. Story must take place in the present real world. Not a fictional universe, like an alternative reality, historic period piece, or science fiction setting. Try to use real immigration law in the country your story is set in.

4. This is a short film, so keep it between 5 to 25 minutes in length.

5. This is an ultra low budget production. So if you can’t personally afford to pay to produce it, then it’s too expensive.

Things to know before submitting:

Visa Versa is intended to become a feature film made up of short films created by filmmakers in different places, cultures and circumstances. If your story is selected, the idea is to actually make it with a small, enthusiastic team, limited resources, and hopefully a good story to tell about the experience afterwards. So, before submitting, please make sure you’re comfortable with the following:

1. Your story needs to be available for us. If we select your screenplay, we will need the right to develop, produce, adapt and include it as part of the Visa Versa project and the resulting feature film. Selection will therefore be subject to a separate written agreement covering the necessary rights, compensation (if any), credits and other production terms. In other words: please don’t submit a story if someone else already owns or controls the rights to it. And please don’t submit with the expectation that, if we fall in love with your story, this suddenly becomes an opportunity to sell us the screenplay for a large sum. That’s not really the spirit of this project. We’re looking for filmmakers who want to make something together, not start a bidding war with us once we’ve picked their story.

2. Selection means collaboration, not preservation in amber. The selected scripts may need to be rewritten, shortened, expanded, combined, adapted or otherwise changed in order to work within the larger feature film. We want to preserve what makes each story special, but we also need all the pieces to eventually belong to the same movie. So, if changing a single comma in your screenplay will cause you physical pain, this may not be the project for you.

3. Authenticity beats perfection. We’re looking for something specific, personal and truthful rather than simply polished, commercial or conventionally “cinematic” - something that could only have come from you, your experience, your culture, your observations, or a world you genuinely understand.

Basically we’re looking for great stories and for people to collaborate with who want to go on an adventure with us. We can’t wait to hear from you!