The 61st edition of Academia Film Olomouc, International Festival of Science Documentary Films, will take place from the 28th of April to the 3rd of May, 2026 in Olomouc, Czech Republic (hereinafter also referred to as „festival“). The festival is organized by the Palacký University Olomouc, ID No.: 61989592, located at Křížkovského 511/8, 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic (hereinafter the „organizer“) as a promisor of prizes for the best science documentary films (hereinafter also referred to as the „science films“ or „films“) within the festival film competitions in categories (statutory categories) (hereinafter the „film competitions“ or „competitions“) set forth below.
The organizer hereby, under the Section 2887 et seq. of the Czech Act No. 89/2012 Coll. Civil Code, as amended, sets out the following Rules & Terms for the Announcement of Prizes (awards) of film competitions and for submission of the science films thereto.
1. SUBMISSION
1.1. The organizer accepts science films from all over the world, and of any length. The film can be submitted only by the holder of audiovisual fixation rights to the film in terms of § 80 of the Act No. 121/2000 Coll. on Copyright, Rights Related to Copyright and on the Amendment of Certain Laws (Copyright Act), as amended, required for festival presentation of the films (producer, distributor, sales, or director) (hereinafter the „applicant“).
1.2. In case of series, one episode or the whole series can be submitted. The organizer reserves the right to select episodes of the submitted series for the competition.
1.3. Submitted films/series must be produced after the 1st of January, 2024, and before the 1st of February, 2026.
1.4. The official deadline for submission is December 14, 2025.
1.5. Films can be submitted online to the festival competitions This shall be done via application form available at https://filmfreeway.com/AFO (hereinafter the „form“) whereby this registration of the films opens on September 1, 2025.
1.6. By submitting the film, the applicant grants organizer a license to a possible screening of the film, i.e. by any communication of the film to the public, in the competition held within AFO61, 2026.
1.7. A screener copy of the film, possibly along with English subtitles and/or a dialogue, list in English must be received by the organizer from the applicants, along with essentials required by Art. 2 pr. 2.3., by 27th of February, 2026, i.e. after the applicants are notified of the selection of their submitted films for the competitions within the meaning of Art. 2 par. 2.2.
To protect our environment we accept screeners to be sent via data storages with the possibility to download the screener (e.g. We Transfer; Vimeo; copy must be available for download at least 14 days and eventual password must be attached).
1.8. The submitted film must be either in English or have English subtitles.
1.9. Due to a large number of submissions, screener media will not be returned. By submitting the film in the competition held within Academia Film Olomouc, the applicant transfers free of charge the ownership to the tangible medium containing the screener copy of the film to the organizer.
2. COMPETITION SELECTION PROCEDURE
2.1. From all submitted films, the program board of the festival selects films for the following statutory categories, screened within corresponding festival program sections: for the International Competition (films produced outside the Czech Republic), for the Czech & Slovak Competition (films and series produced in the Czech Republic or Slovakia), for the Short Film Competition (films with a maximum running time of 30 minutes), for the Immersive Competition (The competition is open to all original works of immersive and/or interactive XR experiences, fulldome, 360VR films, and immersive non-AV projects that can be justified as science documentaries).
2.2. Applicants of films selected for the competitions will be notified by email before the 16th of February, 2026. Applicants of not selected films and projects for any competition will be notified by email by March 2, 2026.
2.3. Following the selection, the applicant will be asked to supply a screening copy of the film, possibly along with the English subtitles and/or a dialogue list in English, biography, and filmography of the director, and promotional materials (at least 2 stills from the film in the minimal resolution of 300DPI, a trailer, possibly a press book, posters, etc.). The applicant must then deliver these materials to the organizer not later than within the term set forth in the Art. 1 par. 1.7.
2.4. The organizer reserves the right to use segments of selected films up to 3 minutes for promotional purposes, incl. production of festival promo video, promotion in partner media and at the website address www.afo.cz.
3. FESTIVAL SCREENING
3.1. Films selected by the program board of the festival will be publicly screened during the festival, all the screenings are free. The winners (applicants of the winning films) of the statutory categories will be selected by seven juries (The International jury, The Czech&Slovak jury, The Student jury, and The Short Film Competition jury, Immersive Competition jury, Best First or Second film jury and European Spotlight Award jury). Student Jury Award is bestowed to the applicant of the winning film selected by the Student jury from the films screened within the International Competition. The Best First or Second film Award is bestowed to the applicant of the winning film selected by the Best First or Second film jury from the films screened within the International and Czech & Slovak Competitions which are debuts or the second films of particular directors and European Spotlight Award is bestowed to the applicant of the winning film selected by the European Spotlight Award jury from the films made by the European directors, screened within the International and Czech & Slovak Competitions. Within the International and Czech & Slovak Competitions, the juries will, apart from the Best Film prizes also decide upon the Best Science Communication Awards.
The jurors of each of the juries shall be appointed by the director of the festival whereby odd number of the jury members will be always ensured. The jury adopts the resolution on the winning film by a majority vote. Each jury, except for the Student jury, is composed of representatives from both the film industry and the fields of science and research, ensuring comprehensive coverage of audiovisual, content, and scientific aspects of the works. The evaluation considers the following aspects of the project: relevance and contribution to science and society, originality and innovation, quality of execution and clarity, and artistic approach. Student Jury is composed of Palacký University students of all the faculties. The AFO festival also gives the AFO Audience Award, which will go the the film selected by audience vote based on their participation in the competition screenings, Lifelong Contribution to the Popularization of Science Award for the person which will be determined by the festival organizer beyond the film competitions hereunder and bestowed to a natural person or an institution and can grant other non-statutory awards. The awards as promised prizes in this announcement will be thus decided upon and notified to the winners and the public by the end of the festival.
3.2. By submitting the film, the applicant agrees with two, in case of the winning films three, screenings free of charge, at the festival or its official events, and undertakes that if the film is selected by the organizer to any of the above-mentioned competitions the applicant will submit to the organizers on the basis of their call a written statutory declaration in which the applicant (producer, distributor or director) declares the ownership of the audiovisual fixation rights to the film in terms of § 80 of the Copyright Act, and that submission of the film was made by a person authorized to act on behalf of the applicant. In case this required statutory declaration is not provided by the applicant, the film submitted by the applicant will be excluded from the competition. By submitting a project to the Immersive Media Competition, the applicant agrees to its free of charge exhibition at the festival or its official events, with the number of exhibitions determined by the duration of the festival and the capacity of available exhibition stations.
3.3. In case a film that has not been selected for competition, displays exceptional qualities, the program board of the festival may decide upon its screening in the non-competitive program of the festival. In this case, the production/distribution company will be notified and asked for permission for such a communication of the film to the public.
4. PRIZES FOR THE WINNING FILMS
4.1. The prizes for the applicants of the films that are selected according to the procedure above as winning within the particular competitions in the statutory categories and for Lifelong Contribution to the Popularization of Science Award and within the Audience Award shall bestowed by the organizer as follows:
the International Competition: Best Film 3000 USD and Best Science Communication Award 3000USD
the Czech & Slovak Competition: Best Film 50000 CZK and Best Science Communication Award 50000 CZK
the Student Award Competition: Diploma
the Short Film Competition: Best Film 1000USD
the Immersive Media Competition: Best Film 1000USD
the Best First or Second film: Best Film 1000USD
the AFO Audience Award: Diploma
Lifelong Contribution to the Popularization of Science Award: Statue award
European Spotlight Award: Diploma.
4.2. After the notification of awards within the meaning of Art. 3 par. 3.1., the organizer and each winner are obliged to jointly undersign a statutory declaration stating the award of the prize and the method and term of its payment. The amounts indicated above in USD, the transfer of which to the winner will be confirmed in the aforesaid statutory declaration, are approximate. The official prize will be paid to the winner in Czech crowns (CZK) according to the official mid exchange rate announced by the Czech National Bank on the date the registration of the films opens (Art. 1 par. 1.5. hereof).
5. DATA PROTECTION
By submitting a film, the applicant consents to processing personal data specified in the form and accepts data protection policy of the organizer in accordance with the GDPR published at https://www.upol.cz/en/university/data-protection/. This personal data are to be stored only for the period of time necessary with respect to the particular processing activities connected with running of the present prize competitions. The applicant has the right to withdraw their consent at any time by sending an email to the email address: produkce@afo.cz. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
6. CONCLUSION
The legal relationships arising from of or in connection with the present announcement of prizes are governed by the Czech law and possible legal disputes arising therefrom will be decided by the Czech courts.
By submitting a film the applicant agrees with all the above-mentioned rules and terms.
