DokuFest

RULES & REGULATIONS

1.1. About the festival:
DokuFest festival is an annual event based at the EUROPA Cultural Center, open-air theatre “LUMBARDHI” and House of Culture in Prizren. Other temporary venues in the city, such as Riverbed and Fortress Cinemas also serve for the organizational purposes of the festival. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of Kosova, Prizren municipality, as well as other associations, organizations, institutions and sponsors provide its subsidies. The next edition of the festival will take place from 1 to 9 of August, 2025.

1.2. Submissions and entry fees:
1.3. Submission to the Festival is open to short and feature length documentaries as well as to fiction, animation and experimental films completed after January 1st 2024. Duration for the short films is limited to 30 minutes and for short documentaries to 40 minutes. There is no limitation in length for feature documentaries. An entry fee of 20.00 (early bird deadline) and 30.00 (USD) $ (standard deadline) for feature length films and 10.00/12.00 (USD) $ for short films apply, with the exception of films produced by Kosovo production companies, film schools based in Kosovo or co-productions with Kosovo, for which no submission fee applies when submitted for national competition only.
1.4. Films that promote pornography, racism or any other form of intolerance, shall not be taken into consideration.
1.5. Films can be submitted exclusively through online submission platform FilmFreeway.
1.5. Deadlines for submissions:
The deadlines for applying to DokuFest 2025 are:
* Early bird deadline: January 15, 2025
* Regular deadline: February 28, 2025
* Late bird deadline: March 30, 2025

1.6 Screening formats:
The festival is able to screen DCP, Digital files (PRORES, MOV, MPEG), BLU RAY and 16 mm.

2. PROGRAM
2.1 The festival program consists of competitions and specially curated programs:

Competitions:
BALKAN DOX COMPETITION: Competition section for short and feature length documentaries from Balkan countries: (Kosova, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova and Turkey).
INT’L FEATURE DOX COMPETITION: Competition section for feature length documentaries from all countries of the world, with preferences given to first and second films.
INT’L SHORT DOX COMPETITION: Competition section for short documentaries from all countries of the world.
HUMAN RIGHTS DOX COMPETITION: For short and feature length documentaries dealing with the issues of promotion of human rights.
GREEN DOX COMPETITION: Competition section for short and feature length documentaries dealing with problems as well as issues of protection of the environment.
TRUTH COMPETITION: Competition section for films exploring the field between investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking.
SHORT FILM COMPETITION: Competition section for short fictions, animations and experimental films from all countries of the world.
NATIONAL FILM COMPETITION: Competition section for documentaries, short fictions, experimental and animated film made in official languages of Kosovo and/or by filmmakers from Kosovo, Albania and the Kosovan filmmakers from diaspora, or co-produced with production companies from Kosovo, where director is from or based in Kosovo.

Note: Only Kosovo premieres will be eligible for submission for the National Competition. Films selected for the National Competition must not have been screened, commercially released or broadcasted in Kosovo before the festival (this includes festival selection, theatrical release and TV broadcasting).

2.2 SPECIAL PROGRAMMES:
In addition to competitions, festival presents a number of special presentations and thematically curated programs.

2.3 After accepting the invitation to participate in one of the competition categories, the film in case cannot be withdrawn.
2.4 Participants are urged to make available all requested publicity material for promotion.
2.5 Producers and distributors of participating/winning films are requested to include in future promotional material the mention of participation in/winner of official competition at DokuFest 2025, along with the festival’s laurel, available on request by e-mail at info@dokufest.com

3. JURY & AWARDS
3.1. The management of the festival appoints independent international juries for each competition categories. The juries will decide about awards. The jury’s decision is final and jury does not need to justify their decision.
3.2 During the Festival eight international juries select one winner in each of the competitions. Each prize goes to the director(s) of the winning films and each director receives a cash prize ranging from 500 to 3.500 Euros. In addition to the prize the juries can hand out a Special Mention within each competition category.

3.3. Festival will present following awards:
BEST BALKAN DOCUMENTARY AWARD endowed with 1.500 Euro and a trophy
BEST INT’L FEATURE DOX AWARD endowed with 1.000 Euro and a trophy
BEST GREEN DOX AWARD endowed with 1.000 Euro and a trophy
BEST HUMAN RIGHTS DOX AWARD endowed with 1.000 Euro and a trophy
BEST NATIONAL FILM AWARD endowed with 3.500 Euro and a trophy
AUDIENCE AWARD endowed with 1.000 Euro and a trophy
BEST TRUTH FILM AWARD: endowed with 500 Euro and a trophy
BEST SHORT FILM AWARD endowed with 500 Euro and a trophy
BEST INT’L SHORT DOX AWARD endowed with 500 Euro and a trophy

VAT will be excluded from the award amount as per Kosovo applicable laws on VAT.

In addition to the above listed awards, short film competition jury selects a DokuFest Short Film Candidate for European Film Awards. A number of non-juried awards are given at the festival also, such as:
- Distribution Award
- New Wave Grant Award
- Talent Doc Award.

4. PREVIEW LINKS AND SCREENERS:
4.1. Requested materials:
The applicant is requested to submit an online preview link using online submission platform FilmFreeway at https://filmfreeway.com/DokuFest.

5. SELECTION
5.1. On July 1, 2025 the official selection will be published on the festival’s website. We kindly ask producers and filmmakers to refrain from announcing the selection before that date.
5.2. Based on the budget availability filmmakers having their film selected for competitions will be invited to Prizren to personally present their films at the festival.
5.3 Due to large number of submissions only submitters of the selected films will be notified.

6. SELECTED FILMS AND MATERIALS
6.1. Requested materials:
The Festival must receive materials requested below for all selected films in order to compile the festival catalogue and online presentation of the programme. The requested materials should be submitted as soon as possible upon acceptance of the invitation, but no later than June 10, 2025. The Festival accepts no liability for inaccuracies in submitted materials. The written programme notes are entirely at the discretion of the Festival.
6.2. Catalogue credits: The festival catalogue will include the following technical and artistic credits: original title, international title, director, producer, cinematographer/s, editor/s, running time, country(ies) of production, year of production, production company, and contact /world sales, where applicable.

Press and Publicity
6.2.1 The owners of the films participating in the Festival are requested to send separately an adequate amount of electronic press kits (EPK) and stills to be made available to the Festival Press Office for distribution to the press and Festival guests.
6.2.2 After official selection of a film the Festival is qualified to use excerpts from the film, with a maximum of 3 minutes, nationally and internationally for promotional purposes (for documentaries and short films, the total duration of the excerpts is not to exceed more than 10% of the film running time).
6.2.3 For promotion of the whole selection and of each selected film, the Festival website is allowed to use any photo or digital film clip (less than 3′ duration).

6.3. Press kits: Selected films are invited to upload press kits / EPKs.
6.4. Stills: All submitted films are requested to provide a selection of stills in high resolution (print quality) for promotional and press use.
6.5. Video files: Films selected for the festival are requested to provide a trailer wherever possible and a downloadable video file of the final version of the film (in the h.264 .mov format) for translation and subtitling purposes. The festival has permission to use excerpts from selected films, with a maximum of 3 minutes, nationally and internationally for promotional purposes (for short films, the total duration of the excerpts is not to exceed more than 10% of the film’s running time).
6.6 Screening schedule: General scheduling of the public screenings are entirely at the discretion of the festival.
6.7. Withdrawal: A selected film cannot be withdrawn from the programme after June 20, 2025.

7. DISPATCH OF THE PRINTS/VIDEO OF SELECTED FILMS
7.1 Festival prefers to receive all screening materials digitally via Festival’s FileMail account, or via Aspera or similar large file sharing platforms. Where prints or DCP’s are to be sent by mail a detailed print/video shipment information will follow upon acceptance of the film.
7.1.1 Unless authorized by the Festival, the print/video must be made available for the whole festival period and the print/video must arrive in Kosovo before July 10, 2025. Festival prefers to receive screening copies in electronic format. If sending physical print, the sender is requested to inform the festival on the means of dispatch, date of shipment and Airway bill number. In case the Festival will share the print/video with another festival it is the responsibility of the participant to inform both festivals of correct shipping addresses and all contact details.
7.1.2 The film must be sent prepaid by sender. No collect shipments are accepted unless authorized by the Festival. The Festival will pay for the return transportation charges, excluding any additional costs for tax and custom clearance in country of return.
7.1.3 A pro forma invoice must accompany the print/video stating the name of the sender, the title of the film, format, length, and number of reels and whether it is in color or black and white. Please state: “Temporary export. For cultural purpose only. No commercial value. Insurance value for custom purpose only. No commercial transaction involved.”
7.2 All prints will be returned within four weeks after the Festival. It’s the responsibility of each participant to inform the Festival in due time on (any change in) the details of the return address as well as the desired date of arrival at the return address.
7.3 The insurance of the copies comes into effect the moment the film has arrived at the Festival’s office or has been received by the agent at Prishtina Airport. The insurance remains in effect until the film is reshipped. In case of damage to or loss of a DCP or film during the Festival, the Festival is only responsible for the costs involved in making a new DCP/print or replacing the damaged reel(s) based on the current laboratory rates for ordering a standard print.
7.4 Damage to the film print or DCP must be reported to the Festival in writing within a month after return and prior to any following screening. Any claims will be judged by the reported state of the DCP/print. The insurance does not cover any damage during normal screening use.

8. CONCLUSION
Entry and participation of films implies unconditional acceptance of the regulations. In unspecified cases, the Festival Management will make a final decision.