Now that we are starting to register short films with the Film Academy, we are once again talking a lot about the age rating license and the certificate of nationality. These are documents that most short film directors and producers do not usually have unless they decide to submit to the Goya Awards.
The age rating must be requested before the “commercialization, distribution, or advertising” of a film and must be requested by the production or distribution company that holds the exploitation rights.
In this post, we will look at the process of applying for both documents: the age rating license and the certificate of nationality, which the ICAA issues simultaneously. The process we will describe is the usual one for paper applications, but it can now also be done electronically.
We must bear in mind that before applying, a series of requirements must be met:
- Be registered in the ICAA’s registry of film companies, for which I must be a company or self-employed.
- Have requested the start and end of filming.
- Have the crew listed in the credits registered, as the ICAA can cross-reference data with Social Security.
One of the modifications in the new rules for the Goya Awards is that the certificate of nationality is now required, and not the age rating license as was customary. This is a minor change, as both documents are obtained at the same time.
However, if our film does not comply with the current nationality regulations and we do not obtain it, then the ICAA will issue us the age rating license and not the nationality certificate (in that case, the nationality will be “undetermined“) and we will not be able to submit the film to the Goya Awards.
Let’s look at the documentation I must submit to obtain these documents:
- Form that can be downloaded from this link, in which we must fill in the names of the technical crew, with their ID number and nationality, as well as the synopsis and main details of the film (duration, format, etc.)
- Literal transcription of the credits, exactly as they appear in the film; the ICAA verifies this.
- Copy of the film; currently, any format is accepted, whether it’s a .mov, .mp4, DVD, or DCP. This copy must be deposited in the ICAA booth, and the document confirming its delivery must be attached along with the rest of the documentation.
- Proof of payment of the fee; for short films up to 30 minutes, the price is €10.30, and up to 60 minutes, it’s about €51.52. This is the page where the updated prices are listed.
We must be careful with the final title, because if we communicated the start and end of filming with a title that we later changed, we must submit a written notification to the ICAA before applying for these documents.
Once all the documentation has been submitted to the registry, which in Madrid is located in Plaza del Rey, or to the competent registries of the Autonomous Communities, I just have to wait. If there are any problems, the officials in the classification department in Madrid usually call by phone or communicate by email.
If everything goes well and there are no problems, in about two weeks we will receive both documents: the age rating license and the certificate of nationality by certified mail.
As we can see, the process for applying for these documents is not particularly complicated. The problem for short films lies in the requirement to be a company or registered as self-employed and to be registered as a company with the ICAA, which is often very complicated due to the costs of being a self-employed entrepreneur or having a limited company in our country.