The 2024 Folkestone Documentary Festival will feature the best in new feature documentaries, shorts, a VR exhibition, a large-scale group walk and communal meal, late night parties, an industry afternoon, and the chance to hear from amazing filmmakers in post-film Q&As in a friendly and inviting atmosphere.

Taking place in The Silver Screen, Folkestone's gem of an independent cinema, Creative Folkestone's flagship Quarterhouse venue and The Green Room at the Grand Hotel, Folkestone's newest arts space.

All feature and short films screened at the festival will receive a screening fee and where possible an invite to the festival with accomodation/travel expenses covered for the director.

"We had a really wonderful time at Folkestone Doc Fest and really hope the festival goes from strength to strength. For many of us filmmakers, festivals make the long arduous process of making films worth it, but they can also be prohibitively expensive. So, thank you so much for covering the expenses for our travel, accommodation, feeding us, and the cherry on top, the prize money for the Audience Award. We will spend this on the Movie Makers, and raise a glass to Folkestone Doc Fest and the future of cinema."

Kim Hopkins and Margareta Szabo
Director and Producer "A Bunch of Amateurs", Labor of Love Films

Awards & Prizes

In 2024 FDF will have the following award:

Audience Award
Presented by Violet Pictures - previous winners include A Bunch of Amateurs and White Nanny Black Child.

Best Short Film Award (first award 2024)
Presented by Violet Pictures

Rules & Terms

The Folkestone Documentary Festival will take place between 17 October – 20 October 2024. By submitting your film (Film) to the Folkestone Documentary Festival, you agree to the following:

1. All the information provided either through the online entry form or through email correspondence with The Folkestone Documentary Festival is true and accurate. Please also ensure that if your email changes, this is updated on FilmFreeway and/or in correspondence with the Folkestone Documentary Festival.

2. You either own the rights to, or have received permission to use, footage, sound, music, images, and all other contributions that are part of the screen work to the extent necessary to submit the Film to the Festival and, if accepted, screen the Film at the Folkestone Documentary Festival.

3. The Film must be completed in the past 12 months of the festival with a completion date after 1st of October 2023.

4. To be eligible for consideration, all submissions must meet the following requirements:
4.1 Works accepted are – feature documentary (over 70mins) which must be the director's 1st or 2nd film and short documentaries up to twenty five minutes in length.
4.2 All non-English language films and screen works must be subtitled in English. If selected, the screening version must also be subtitled.

5. Fees:
5.1 All entrants must pay a flat fee per film entered. The fee varies based on the category entered and whether it is submitted in the early bird period or not. Please note that the entry fee is not refundable.
5.2 Selection decisions are final. FDF does not provide feedback on films and is not obligated to enter into any discussion about selection decisions.

6. Official Selection
In the event of your screen work being officially selected, you will be notified by invitation by July 1st 2024. If selected, you will be requested to provide all necessary press and marketing materials as a matter of urgency (stills, press kit, etc.).

6.2 You grant the Folkestone Documentary Festival a royalty-free, non-exclusive UK license license to use film excerpts, film stills, press kits and other promotional materials from the Film for publicity and promotional purposes in relation to the festival, including on its website.

7. Unselected Projects:
7.1 The Folkestone Documentary Film Festival does not offer refunds to films that aren’t selected for the festival.

8. Other Important details:
8.1 Programming decisions are made at the discretion of the co-directors and take into consideration numerous elements and factors for curation of the overall film festival program.