Festival Film Dokumenter (FFD) Yogyakarta is the first documentary film festival in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Since 2002, this annual program, organized by Forum Film Dokumenter, presents documentary as a medium of expression and knowledge ecosystem through exhibitions, discussions, and workshops.

Documentary has a specific characteristic that distinguishes it from other audiovisual products, which is its power as a media to educate, reflect, and transcend the limitations of time and space. In the rapid current of mass media, documentaries have an important role as an independent media of aspiration.

Past attendees of of film festival include Peter Wintonick, Mark Achbar, Curtis Levy, Anand Patwardhan, Larry Weinstein, Leonard Retel Helmrich, Petr Lom, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, David Bradburry, Alain Compost, Joshua Oppenheimer, Fujioka Asako, Wakai Makiko, Pimpaka Towira, Park Hye-Mi, Christine Hill, Shuhei Hatano, Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Alyx Ayn Arumpac, and more.

Awards & Prizes

International Feature–Length Documentary Competition
Indonesia Feature–Length Documentary Competition
Short Documentary Competition
Student Documentary Competition

Rules & Terms

1. Film submissions for all program categories will close on September 17, 2023 at 23:59 WIB (GMT+7) (postmark).

2. The submission is free of charge.

3. Submitted films must follow the format H.264, ProRes, or Bluray. Provided links for online transfer must include password (if any), and must be active until the festival ends on December 9, 2023. Materials in Blu-Ray/Flash Drive/Hard Disk should be shipped to FFD’s address, provided in the section of ‘Address and Contact Information. Applicants cover the shipment fee, including insurance or any billing incurred in relation to the shipment. For international shipment, please mention: “Temporary export. For cultural purposes only. No commercial value. Insurance value for custom purpose only. No commercial transaction involved” and mark “No value”, or not more than “10 US$”. Please note that Blu-Ray and Flash Drive would not be returned.

4. FFD does not provide a screening fee for selected films in the Competition category.

Competition Program
A. International Feature-Length Documentary
The submission is open for public, for all age and citizenship.
The minimum film duration is 41 minutes, including credit title.
Production year of 2021-2023.
Provided with English subtitle, including films in English language.

B. Indonesia Feature-Length Documentary
The submission is open for Indonesian filmmakers.
The minimum film duration is 41 minutes, including credit title.
Production year of 2022-2023.
Provided with English subtitle. Films with regional dialects must include subtitles in both Indonesian and English.

C. Short Documentary
The submission is open for Indonesian filmmakers.
The maximum film duration is 40 minutes, including credit title.
Production year of 2022-2023.
Provided with English subtitle. Films with regional dialects must include subtitles in both Indonesian and English.

D. Student Documentary
The submission is open for Indonesian students, junior to senior high. Director and film crew must be students during the film production. Application must include scan/photo of student id, or official letter from school stating applicant’s student status.
No minimum or maximum duration.
Production year of 2022-2023.
Provided with English subtitles. Films with regional dialects must include subtitles in both Indonesian and English.

Noncompetition Program
FFD selects films for the non-competition program consisting of Perspective, Spectrum, Retrospective, Lanskap, and Doc-Interactive. Each program has different ideas and characters to find various developments of language, approaches, and technology in documentary films.

The submission is open for public, for all age and citizenship.
No minimum or maximum duration.
No limitation on production year.
Film must never submitted or screened at Festival Film Dokumenter.
Provided with English subtitle, including films in English language.