Golden Tree International Documentary Festival

The GOLDEN TREE International Documentary Film Festival (GTIDFF), founded in 2016, takes place every fall in Frankfurt, Germany. The Festival’s aim is to focus the world’s attention on documentaries, encourage the exhibition of quality films worldwide , deeply explore different cultures and countries, and promote mutual exchanges and learning through the art of cinematography.

The theme of the 6th GOLDEN TREE International Documentary Film Festival is “Roots of Culture: Nature Tells Us”, focusing on habitat and other areas of human existence, including animals, plants, human history, natural environment and other content. The festival is planned for early-mid October 2021 in Frankfurt, Germany. The onsite Festival includes the Opening Ceremony, Film Competitions and Screenings, Theme Forum, Joint Meeting Hall, Closing and Award Ceremony, and Beijing Special Events Series.

1.Film Competitions
Registration for the 6th GTIDFF will start on January 1, 2021 and end on June 30, 2021. The three juries (preliminary assessment jury, pre-selection jury and final jury) are composed of 44 experts, scholars and professionals from all over the world.
After the three stages of evaluation including preliminary assessment, pre-selection and final selection, the final winning films will be announced at the Closing and Award Ceremony. In addition, the films from the previous edition of the festival in 2020 (which was cancelled due to the pandemic) will also be awarded during the 6th Award Ceremony.

2. Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony will be held on the first day of the 6th GOLDEN TREE International Documentary Film Festival and will include the screening of the Opening Film and a wine Reception.

3. Film Screening
Twenty carefully selected films will be screened at the event, and their film teams will be invited to share their stories behind the creation of documentaries with the audience. At the same time, the films will be shown for free in German universities, communities, arthouse cinemas and other relevant locations, and a GOLDEN TREE International Documentary Festival channel will be set up on the online video platform for online exhibition.

4.Forum
Six academic forums on documentary themes will be held during the festival. One of the forums will be on the theme of "Dialogue among International Young Documentary Makers".

5.Joint Meeting Hall
The Joint Meeting is a special section of the GOLDEN TREE Festival. During this 3-day activity, investors, acquisition executives, copyright holders, directors and film producers will gather to discuss and conduct cooperation agreements. A newly created award, "Golden Fruit Plan", will be included in the final special pitch conference and the best project proposal will receive an award.

6.Closing and Award Ceremony
The 6th GTIDFF will present a total of 9 awards: GOLDEN TREE Award, Best Feature Documentary Award, Best Medium-length Documentary Award, Best Short Documentary Award, Best Life of Nature Documentary Award, Best History Documentary Award, Best Human Discovery Documentary Award, Best Cinematography Award and Best Proposal Award.

7.Beijing Special Event of the 6th GTIDFF in 2021
The Beijing Special Event of the GOLDEN TREE International Documentary Film Festival is planned to be held in Beijing, China in late October 2021. It will include 2 theme forums, the “Golden Fruit Plan" special pitch conference, "Documentary Night" and film screening.

GTIDFF encourages the participation of filmmakers with documentaries that are culturally relevant, unique, innovative and meaningful.

There is no registration fee. Proof of registration entitles you to two (2) free passes to the GOLDEN TREE Festival, giving you access to all of the 6th GTIDFF industry activities.