Golden Tree International Documentary Festival

Competition Rules

Article 1 Theme, Time and Location
Theme: Roots and Inheritance of Culture
Time: Sep. 25th - Sep. 28th, 2019
Location: Frankfurt, Germany

Article 2 Registration Time
October 1st, 2018- April 15th, 2019

Article 3 Awards and Prize
1. Best Feature Film, 1 Winner, Prize: 5000 EUR
2. Best Medium-Length Documentary, 1 Winner, Prize: 4000 EUR
3. Best Short Documentary, 1 Winner, Prize: 2500 EUR
4. Best Mini Documentary, 1 Winner, Prize: 1500 EUR
5. Best Director, 1 Winner, Prize: 5000 EUR
6. Best Cinematographer, 1 Winner, Prize: 5000 EUR
7. Best Editor, 1 Winner, Prize: 5000 EUR
8. Audience Choice Award, 1 Winner, Prize: 3000 EUR

Article 4 Entry Rules
1. Film genre: Documentary
2. Theme: Roots and Inheritance of Culture
3. Film length definition:
Documentary Long: Longer than 60 minutes;
Documentary Medium-Length: 26-60 minutes (including 60 minutes);
Documentary Short: 7-26 minutes (including 26 minutes);
Documentary Mini: 7 minutes or less (including 7 minutes);
4. Film completion time: After January 1st, 2017.
5. Registration fee: 20USD
In case of other currencies, it’s subject to the exchange rate on the day of registration.
6. Subtitles: All registered films must come with English subtitles.
7. Application notes: The registered film must be a completely finished documentary film. All films that register for the Golden Tree International Documentary Festival shall not contain any elements that are hostile to other countries, cause religious or ethnic conflicts etc, and shall not cover pornography, violence and racial discrimination.

Article 5 Registration Methods
1. Online registration
Log in FilmFreeway Registration website, finish filling in registration form, uploading film videos and photos, and paying registration fee:
https://filmfreeway.com/GoldenTreeInternationalDocumentaryFestival
2. Other registration methods
For applicants in the areas which have no access to the FilmFreeway, or have weak internet coverage, applicants can contact the organizing committee to send the required application materials by email or mail.
Submitting application materials by email
Videos: provide the downloadable link, and fill it in the registration form
Registration form (please see attachment) and photos: shall be put in a folder and compressed in a zip. Or rar. file, named in the form of film title+contact person, send to the email of organizing committee: info@goldentreefestival.com
Submitting application materials by express
Copy all the required application materials to a USB stick or hard disk, and express to the office of organizing committee:
German office: Hanauer Landstr. 52, 60314 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Contact Person: Zhang Weiwei
Number：+49 69 87005342
3. Requirements for application materials
Registration form: If you register on FilmFreeway, please finish filling in the registration form online directly. If you register in other methods, please fill in the registration form, and ensure it filled in completely.
Photo materials: poster, stills, requirements: JPG format (with a pixel size of at least 300 DPI);
The whole documentary film, requirements: MP4 format, 720p or 1080p;
Trailer of the documentary film (length: less than 3 minutes), requirements: MP4 format, 720p or 1080p.
4. Notes for application materials
Applicants shall ensure the authenticity, completeness and accuracy of the registration information, and bear the legal liability arising from false information. All application materials will not be returned and will be retained by the organizing committee for archival purposes, please keep a backup for yourself.

Article 6 Declaration of Applicants
1. The applicant (individual or institution) who registered the film shall have full copyrights or agent rights of the film. Moreover, the applicant shall guarantee that the film is not involved in any kind of copyright dispute, while also ensuring to own the copyrights of the music, video image and creative text of the works or the authorization of the copyright owner of the work. In case of any disputes regarding the film’s copyright, the applicant will bear full responsibility.
2. The organizing committee has the right to use the rapplication materials including the stills, posters and trailers of the registered film on printed products, publicity trailers, cinemas, television, internet, mobile television and other public places.
3. The organizing committee of the Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival shall obtain the right to duplicate the registered film, while only doing that for the purpose of document preservation and archive use, and not for any kind of commercial use.

Article 7 Declaration of the Organizing Committee of the Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival
1. All registered films must strictly comply with the rules and regulations of the 4th Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival 2019.
2. The Golden Tree International Documentary Festival shall not be responsible for any consequences caused by the errors during the process of filling out the information, submitting the materials.
3. If there are any changes to the rules, the date of change shall be announced on the official website of the Golden Tree. Applicants are entitled to withdraw from the event if they do not accept the amended terms. If the applicant has not notified the organizing committee about withdrawing from the competition after 10 working days following the announcement, it means the applicant accepts the amended terms.
4. Applicants that register for the 4th Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival 2019 are considered to accept all the aforementioned terms and rules. In the case of legal disputes, the final decision shall lie with the national judiciary of the host.

Article 8 The right to interpret these rules belongs to the Organizing Committee of the 4th Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival.