v2024.01.01.01 - January 1, 2024

New features:

• We no longer automatically create submission categories when importing submissions:
  • If the submission categories in a spreadsheet have no match in SparqFest, a warning is issued
  • You should be setting up submission categories before your first import
• Submission categories may now define different screener requires for the venue vs online
  • You may now require a DCP for the venue for
    • DCPs may be required for a submission category, marked as an optional item, or not requested
    • You may also request DCPs on a project-by-project basis 
    • If you program a film into a block at a venue that requires DCP, we'll automatically require a DCP
  • You may identify the audio capabilities for a venue so that filmmakers may upload surround and spatial copies for venue screenings
• Submission import now provides detailed feedback on every import:
  • Total count of all rows processed
  • Total number of submissions imported
  • Total number of submissions updated
  • Total number of rows skipped (because you have said yes to “ignore existing” and/or “only selected”)
  • Total number of rows that could not be processed because the system errored processing the row
  • Total number of rows that could not be processed because of an issue with the date in the row 
  • A detailed accounting of each error and issue along with the row number, title, and tracking number
• Added the ability to specify audio and video capabilities for venues
  • Indicate whether a venue is for screenings
  • Specify whether the venue supports mono, stereo, surround, or spatial audio
  • Specify whether the venue requires a DCP or allows BluRay, DVD, or file-based projection
  • SparqFest will warn you when there are mismatches between the assets collected and venue capabilities

v2023.04.12.21 - September 4, 2023

New features:

• Recommendations export for juried awards
• Added the ability to convert a recommendation into a nomination
• Display of all recommendations made to a category

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug that prevented breaking ties
• Addressed some inefficiencies in approving/overriding award winners

v2023.04.12.20 - August 22, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem in which some custom questions were not showing up in the creator portal
• Corrected a situation in which creators with more than one selection would see data from the wrong selection showing up in the editor 
• Addressed an issue with Mediterranean and Festflix themes that would prevent filtering selections by various attributes

v2023.04.12.19 - August 15, 2023

New features:

• Minor performance improvements to the creator portal

Bug fixes:

• Corrected a problem in which regular report emails were not being sent out
• Other minor bug fixes

v2023.04.12.18 - July 29, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem in which perspectives and genres were not loading for some creators
• Fixed several problems with managing closed captions and subtitles
• Fixed a problem in the creator portal which would prevent switching tabs

v2023.04.12.17 - July 23, 2023

New Features:

• Automated translations now supported for the following languages:
  • Akan
  • Assamese
  • Aymara
  • Bambara
  • Bhojpuri
  • Central Kurdish
  • Dhivehi
  • Dogri
  • Ewe
  • Filipino
  • Ganda
  • Goan Konkani
  • Guarani
  • Iloko
  • Krio
  • Latin
  • Lingala
  • Lushai
  • Maithili
  • Manipuri
  • Oromo
  • Pedi
  • Quechua
  • Sanskrit
  • Tigrinya
  • Tsonga

Bug fixes:

• Fixed display of judging status and translations of judging status

v2023.04.12.16 - July 21, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem in which the creator portal would error out clicking a specific step
• Fixed a couple of hidden errors in the creator portal (the system would do nothing, but it sent us an error)

v2023.04.12.15 - July 8, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Various minor bug fixes

v2023.04.12.14 - July 1, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Various minor bug fixes

v2023.04.12.13 - June 18, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Various minor bug fixes

v2023.04.12.12 - June 4, 2023

New Features:

• New report (available on dashboard) for viewing details on audience choice voting

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug that prevented you from exporting winners from the judging section
• Fixed a display issue with Snowfall audience choice voting

v2023.04.12.11 - May 26, 2023

New Features:

• New reports (available on dashboard) for various dimensions on online viewing activity
• Faster page rebuilding

Bug fixes:

• Various small bug fixes and performance enhancements

v2023.04.12.10 - May 18, 2023

New Features:

• Ability to configure the display of the festival start/end dates so they display in the festival timezone instead of the user's timezone ("Theme Options" tab in "Settings" > “Web Site”)

Bug fixes:

• Many small bug fixes and performance enhancements
• Fixed a problem in which festivals in the UK region were not seeing proper activity data in their dashboardv2023.04.12.10 - May 18, 2023

New Features:

• Ability to configure the display of the festival start/end dates so they display in the festival timezone instead of the user's timezone ("Theme Options" tab in "Settings" > “Web Site”)

Bug fixes:

• Many small bug fixes and performance enhancements
• Fixed a problem in which festivals in the UK region were not seeing proper activity data in their dashboard

v2023.04.12.09 - May 8, 2023

New Features:

• Under-the-cover improvements to how membership management is handled
• Support for a new, limited functionality, but free subscription to SparqFest

Bug fixes:

• Removed the error message that would erroneously show up when updating events
• Separated out some really old code that was generally causing problems
• Fixed several permissions problems

v2023.04.12.08 - May 5, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Significantly reduced the time it takes to do an access check (dots bouncing on event page)
• Fixed a bug that would report an illegal request when attempting to message creators
• Fixed an issue where, in some cases, the communications settings for sending emails was not sticking
• Fixed in an issue where the post-screening block URL was not saving
• Fixed a error when deleting nominations 

v2023.04.12.07 - May 3, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Fixed selection preview page issues with Mediterranean, Festiflix, and Snowfall
• Addressed an access issue that would happen in some rare circumstances
• Fixed several issues impacting judge invitations

v2023.04.12.06 - May 1, 2023

New Features:

• Speed improvements in a number of places

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an error that will show “response is null” when sending a jury invite
• Fixed an error that would prevent the deletion of an award category
• Fixed the language of the dashboard alert when you have events without tickets
• Fixed an error that prevented the saving of changes to email templates

v2023.04.12.05 - April 28, 2023

New Features:

• Added SparqFest version information into the Staff Portal for better visibility into current release status with a link to this document

Bug fixes:

• Eliminated an improper error message on promoting submissions in which the submissions were actually successfully promoted, but the user received an error
• Fixed a couple of bugs in the user profile page when an unauthenticated user was trying to access the profile page
• Fixed a problem issuing manual creator invites from the selection editor in the Staff Portal
• Fixed a typo in the warning about events not having tickets

v2023.04.12.04 - April 26, 2023

New Features:

• Sped up the loading of the tickets page
• Sped up the loading of the watch list page
• Improved display of watch list page for some themes

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem where changes to the screening program for in-person events and screening blocks were not saving properly
• Fixed a problem that was preventing tickets from loading properly in the profile page
• Fixed a failure in manual creator invites
• Fixed several issues in transferring tickets
• Fixed some issues managing watch lists

v2023.04.12.03 - April 24, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Addressed a problem with loading selection pages on the public site for some themes (error message: “null is not an object”)
• Fixed an issue in which saved video assets were not appearing in the staff portal
• Fixed a problem where submissions would promote successfully, but an error message saying “Unexpected response from promotion request”
• Made error handling for various asynchronous jobs more consistent
• Fixed an issue that would cause the error message: “aval.localeCompare is not a function”
• Fixed a bug in creating events that would result in the error message “unhashable type: 'Language'”

v2023.04.12.02 - April 22, 2023

New Features:

• Completed migration to new access control system
• Completed v2 roll out of the SparqFest API

Bug fixes:

• Fixed access permission issues for some people when accessing the creator and jury portals
• Performance improvements in a number of places
• Many minor bug fixes

v2023.04.12.01 - April 14, 2023

New Features:

• Added free subscription level for festivals with no online events, no creator self-service, and no judging
• Added a new public API; you can now have your own developers build tools using your SparqFest data
• Rewrote the access control systems for faster checks on all API calls
• Moved price management under “Finance”
  • You can now see how pricing is configured for things other than tickets
  • Manage pricing for festival memberships
  • Export pricing to CSV
• New membership management interface
  • Sell festival memberships via your SparqFest site (subject to standard CC transaction fees)
  • Names of membership levels now can be translated into multiple languages
  • Import a spreadsheet with names and emails of existing members
• Sped up the loading of tickets on the ticketing page for all themes
• Added a new date/time selection widget to make date management easier
  • Entirely navigable through keyboard
  • Allows AM/PM or 24-hour time entry depending on user-preferences
  • Roll through date and time components using up/down arrows
• Removed the schedule from the programming section of the staff portal
• Removed the “Overview” subsection of the “Ticketing” section (data now on dashboard)
• Complete redesign of the dashboard
  • Dashboard elements now better reflect the current phase of your festival
  • Added a list of tips and warnings so you can monitor the progress of the festival
  • Single link access to all festival reports
  • Added new dashboard widgets
• Edition navigation has moved up to the top of the user interface
• Added a “logout” button in the left side navigation
• Added the ability to expand/collapse the left side navigation
• Changed look of the section navigation

Bug fixes:

• Fixed many bugs in corner cases of discount management
• Fixed problems setting up $0 prices
• Fixed a problem turning off captions requirements in the submission category requirements tab
• Fixed a problem saving the site title
• Fixed an issue in which submission category titles would show changed when not 
• Fixed a bug causing the “top selection” to always be empty for festival editions after mid-2022

v2023.01.05.13 - March 11, 2023

New Features:

• Google has approved SparqFest for Google Drive, so the scare screen should be gone

Bug fixes:

• Validation dates were failing validation when making changes on the basic info tab for discounts
• Fixed an issue preventing people from selecting a quantity of 4 when buying tickets
• Fixed an issue with using a restricted (only for creators, jury, or staff) code with more than 1 individual use

v2023.01.05.12 - February 22, 2023

New Features:

• Added ability for creators and staff members to send videos direct from Google Drive into SparqFest for ingest  (see Uploading Video Assets)

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug in which the upload button was not working in the creator portal for images (you could still click the panel to upload)

v2023.01.05.11 - February 20, 2023

New Features:

• Added ability for creators and staff members to send videos direct from Dropbox into SparqFest for ingest (see Uploading Video Assets)
• Added ability for people to provide a download URL from which SparqFest can download videos without the user having to upload  (see Uploading Video Assets)
  • NOTE: This is will NOT work with shared links like Google Drive shared links nor will it work with links to page that embed the videos (like Vimeo and YouTube)

Bug fixes:

• Minor bug fixes

v2023.01.05.10 - February 18, 2023

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the invitation form to hang
• Fixed an issue sending emails from London, Paris, or Montreal hosted sites that would sometimes result in an error claiming the sender had not been validated even though it had
• Fixed a bug displaying preview pages for some themes
• Fixed an issue sending notifications about trial periods ending
• Fixed an issue that would, in some cases, cause the CSV export of selections to fail
• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to upgrade/downgrade a subscription
• Fixed an issue that would cause a new site to be set up with insufficient director permissions

v2023.01.05.09 - February 13, 2023

New Features:

• Added Slack integration; if your festival team uses Slack for collaboration, you can have SparqFest send notifications to your Slack channels
• Improved error handling for better error feedback and fewer false alerts

Bug fixes:

• When saving the name of the festival, JSON was ending up in the name (now fixed)
• Fixed a configuration issue with sending email from non-US festivals
• Fixed an issue with access control erroring out on certain access checks
• Fixed a problem loading a large number of creators in the users section of the staff portal
• Fixed an error that caused users to think accepting their invitations failed when in fact they succeeded
• Fixed a problem saving colors in site settings

v2023.01.05.08 - February 11, 2023

Note: v2023.01.05.07 was an internal release never pushed to production.

New Features:

• Better reporting to the SparqFest team when errors occur

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug in exporting selections when the budget for a selection was in a different currency than the festival

v2023.01.05.06 - February 7, 2023

New Features:

• You may now configure Mastodon integration so that your Mastodon account will automatically follow the Mastodon accounts of all your selections
  • This is separate from your social media settings
  • You must specifically connect your account and enable this functionality
  • “Account” > “Integrations” > “Mastodon”

v2023.01.05.05 - February 3, 2023

New Features:

• Added UI for managing email templates
  • Shows all emails that SparqFest sends on your festival's behalf
  • Rich text management of email content
  • Send yourself test emails to see what each email looks like to your audience
• Added new finance section for seller information (replaces the “Purchasing” subsection)

v2023.01.05.04 - January 30, 2023

New Features:

• Added support for ordering trophies online
  • Requires a help-desk ticket to get setup (UI coming soon)
  • Requires the judging module
• Added formal address validation for all physical (venue/shipping) addresses entered by users

Bug fixes:

• Many minor bug fixes

v2023.01.05.03 - January 16, 2023

New Features:

• Added support for Google Drive as a cloud storage option
• Added a special landing page for “Authorization Success” when done authorizing any OAuth service like Google or Dropbox.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue with some directors not having access rights to their subscription data

v2023.01.05.02 - January 12, 2023

New Features:

• Redesigned the “Integrations” settings subsection under “Account”
• Added a user interface for setting up Cloud Synchronization (previously required help from SparqFest support)
• Added support for synchronizing receipts to cloud storage

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem trying to upgrade an account to include cloud storage synchronization
• Fixed an issue during sign-up that would report a site name as taken when it is not
• Fixed a bug in which color palettes were not being re-cached properly

v2023.01.05.01 - January 5, 2023

Action Items:

• Please enter a payment method for your SparqFest subscription so that your account will renew at the proper time without any interruption in service

New Features:

• Restructured “Settings” into a separate “Settings” for festival-specific items and “Account” for general account issues
  • “Banking”, “People”, and “Integrations” have moved from “Settings” to “Account” 
    • “People” is now “Users”
  • New “Subscription” tab for your subscription information, upgrading, downgrading, and canceling
• Complete restructuring of transactional email engine (see Email Management)
  • New design for all emails
  • Strict categorization of emails into four categories:
    • Festival emails (emails from the festival to creators, judges, and audience members)
    • Emails from reports
    • Emails with alerts
    • Account management emails
  • Backend now supports festival management of the content of festival emails
    • UI for this functionality to come in the next release
  • Dedicated “senders” for each kind of email to help you prioritize your inbox
• Added a festival readiness email to help you catch problems long before your festival dates
• Redesigned the ticket sales report
• Redesigned the email template, with future ability to select from multiple templates
• Added archiving of receipts to support responding to credit card disputes
• Added trial expiration emails for accounts in their free trial period
• Added “acceptance” notifications so you know when someone has accepted your invitations
• Brand new user management engine
  • “Account” > “Users”
  • Added support for users to exercise their right to be forgotten
  • Extended default expiration term for invitations to 21 days (remains 7 days for staff invitations)
  • See all staff members, jury members, and creators across all editions of the festival
  • Search for audience members
  • Access to individual user activity and purchase history
  • See the receipt sent to an individual for a purchase
    • Receipts are not available online for purchases made before this release
  • Manage user bios, including a rich text editor for long-form bios
  • Added a “bio headshot” image for people to upload high quality headshots for your print materials (precursor functionality to our upcoming speaker support)
  • When you invite someone in as part of the staff or jury or creators, the system will tell you if they already exist and have been granted access or if an invitation was sent to them
  • When a user accepts one invitation, it will automatically accept all outstanding invitations for them
    • This is useful for creators with multiple selections in the festival
• Redesign of rich text editor menu options for page editor
• Rework Observer access so it provides a better “read-only” experience

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a problem which made it impossible to promote individual submissions to 
•  
• Fixed an error message that would occur when adding staff members
• Fixed an issue with the proper display of ticket capacity in the ticket editor
• Fixed numerous bugs in email formatting because we have a new email formatting engine
• Fixed a bad link to submissions page

v2022.11.01.10 - December 9, 2022

New Features:

• Most site configuration items have been moved from “Settings” > “Festival” to “Settings” > “Web Site”
  • Theme configuration is in “Settings” > “Web Site” > “Basic Info”
  • Font configuration is in “Settings” > “Web Site” > “Fonts”
  • Color palette is in “Settings” > “Web Site” > “Colors”
  • Logos and other festival graphics are in “Settings” > “Web Site” > “Images”
  • Dictionary and language is in “Settings”  > “Web Site” > “Dictionary”
• MUCH faster page and site re-build times
• Added support for customizing the main navigation (Custom Pages and Navigation)
• Added support for the creation of custom web pages (Custom Pages and Navigation)
• Easier visualization of the different site theme options when selecting a theme
• Brand new font management UI with better feedback on font 
•  
• Support for post-festival videos for the home page. These videos replace the welcome video once the festival has ended.
• Snowfall site theme now shows nominee and winner laurels
• Added “Submit Your Project” link to main navigation
• Added “Submit to FilmFreeway” button to the home page for the Mediterranean site theme

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue with setting up banking information for Japanese bank accounts
• Fixed a bug in which a server error was incorrectly reported during  bank account setup instead of a useful message about which fields are missing
• Fixed some bugs in the 
•  search for the Festflix theme