Regulations
1. The Central and Eastern European Film Festival "CinEast" is organised by the association CinEast asbl, registered in RCS Luxembourg.
2. The 19th edition of CinEast will take place from 9 to 25 October 2026.
Selection
1. The films eligible for the selection should meet the following criteria:
1.1. films made by directors from the following countries: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Exceptionally, other films having a strong connection to the mentioned countries can be considered;
1.2. completed in 2026 and 2025;
1.3. with English and/or French subtitles (or in English/French);
1.4. both full-length and short films (fiction, animated and documentary) can be submitted.
2. Only the entrants whose films were selected will be notified, as we are not able to inform individual applicants about the rejection nor its reason.
Official Competition
1. Only feature films (with running time >60 minutes) will be considered for the official competition.
2. The International Jury appointed by the Festival's organisers will award the Grand Prix and the Special Jury Prize to the chosen films. It may also award a Special Mention.
3. The Press Jury appointed by the Festival's organisers will award the Critics' Prize.
4. An Audience Award for Best Feature will be awarded on the basis of the votes by the audience. All features (fiction and documentary) completed in 2026 and 2025 presented in any festival section are eligible for the Audience Award.
5. The repetition of some of the awarded films will take place during the last day of the festival.
Young Talents Award
1. A separate selection of five films by first or second-time directors will compete for the Young Talents Award.
2. The Young Talents Selection will be evaluated by the Young Talents Jury.
Short Films Competition (Audience Awards)
1. Audience awards will be awarded in each of the three short films categories - short fiction, documentary and animation. The audience present at the short film screenings will decide on the winners of: the Audience Award for Best Short Fiction Film; the Audience Award for Best Short Animated Film; and the Audience Award for Best Short Documentary Film.
2. The films should not be longer than 40 minutes.
Submission
1. Films may be submitted electronically via FilmFreeway only.
2. The submission deadline is 30 June 2026.
3. There is no entry fee.
4. The person submitting the film gives permission to screen the film during the Festival and during other events promoting the Festival arranged by the organiser.
5. The Festival reserves the right to invite a film that was not submitted to the Festival.
Film copies
1. The film copies (selected films) should be made available to the Festival by September 15th at the latest.
2. In case of physical delivery, the prints with films in the official competition have to remain at the Festival's disposal until the closing of the festival, to ensure the repetition of the winning film on the last day of the festival.
3. All the prints (physical delivery) will be returned within two weeks following the closing of the Festival.
4. If not agreed otherwise, the cost of the outbound shipment of the print (physical delivery) can be covered by the Festival only if the print is not travelling along a chain of festivals. If that is the case, the Festival only covers the cost of the inbound shipment (to Luxembourg).
Submitting a film to the CinEast Film Festival is equivalent to the acceptance of the conditions set out in the above Regulations.
