Russian Open (International) Documentary Film Festival «Artdocfest» is the largest festival of documentary films in Russia.

Films that have been shot in Russian Federation or films in languages of Russian Federation that have been shot at any location of the world as well as the films shot by Russian or Russian-language directors and the production of which have been wrapped not earlier than 18 months before the beginning of the Festival can take part in the Main Competition program and Non-Competition program «Sreda». Only films that have not been shown publicly on the territory of Russia before the «Artdocfest» can participate in the Main Competition.

The Festival is held annually in the beginning of December in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. The films selected for the Main Competition or Non-Competition program can be shown not more than five times during the Festival. The organisers assume the expenses connected with invitation of the author of the selected for the Main Competition film to Moscow on a period of three days and partly cover the expenses on the road. Participants of the program «Sreda» can be accommodated in a festival hotel for three days.

«Artdocfest» also has several Non-Competition and retrospective programs and special screenings that include films shot in foreign languages. These programs are organised by program directorate and the terms are specified with copyright holders on an individual basis.

The applications for the «Artdocfest»-2017 are accepted from the 3rd of April till the 1st of September 2017. For submission please fill in the form on our website.

Awards & Prizes

Grand Prix
Special jury prize
Best documentary film

Rules & Terms

Applications are submitted to the Festival by the films’ producers, regardless of their type of ownership.

Filled-out application forms and films must reach the Festival’s administration by September 1, 2017.

The Artdocfest's Main Competition program admits films shot in Russian Federation or films in the languages of Russian Federation shot in any country of the world and films shot by Russian or Russian-language directors. Subtitling or voice-overs are not regarded as the language of the film. (Please, pay attention, that even the films in any language of Russian Federation except Russian should be subtitled).

Only films that wrapped production in or after July 2016 are eligible for submission.

Films that have been publicly screened in Russia are not allowed in participating in the Main Competition. A public screening is any screening open to general audience.

For details, see the Charter of the Festival.

If you are submitting more than one film, a separate certified application form has to be filled out for each of them.

A link must not contain more than one film. When sending a link to Vimeo or YouTube, please make sure the file is downloadable. For subtitled films, the subtitles have to be embedded into the image (copies with optional subtitles will not be accepted).

Broken links and forms containing false information may be cause for rejection of your application.