The International Earth (zamin) Film Festival (IEFF) was founded in 2020 with the goals of promoting the culture, lifestyle and management schemes based on “sustainable development”, and of supporting artists and filmmakers active in relevant fields by broadcasting and publicizing their products for the general Iranian audience. This festival is fully independent and is organized by Ordibehesht Oudlajan cultural institute and the Green Civilization NGO of artists protecting the environment.
The Earth Film Festival is the first and only cinematic and cultural festival in Iran and the region that deals with the topic of Sustainable Development as the huge challenge of the world today, and with related issues such as social and ecosystem resilience, cultural, social and economic development as well as environmental conservation. The Earth Festival intends to take effective steps in disseminating information on the mentioned issues by broadcasting educational and informative films and holding workshops and seminars/webinars.
The organizers of this festival who have long and substantial careers as cinematic, socio-cultural and environmental professionals and have organized other reputable events in the country such as the Iran International Green Film Festival, are determined to adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach and cover all the fields related to sustainable development in this event and thus play a role in correcting and quickening the country’s development while encouraging sustainability. They aim at raising awareness among the Iranian society, with the help of Iran’s most prominent experts in various scientific and professional fields of environment, economy, culture, health, cinema and media, etc.
The IEFF is a member of the Green Film Network and is determined to increase its reach worldwide and to create international cooperation in relevant fields.
The second IEFF edition's main theme is "Sustainable Economy" and therefore movies that deal with issues such as economic sustainability, green economy, fair and green trade, local and indigenous economy, green industries, social corporate responsibility, green and conscious consumerism, economic resilience, green energies, sustainable livelihoods and employment, etc. will have more chance to get selected and to win the competition.

Awards & Prizes

• Long feature movies (more than 40 minutes)
500 USD prize + Golden Trophy
• Short feature movies (less than 40 minutes)
300 USD prize + Golden Trophy
• Long documentary movies (more than 40 minutes)
300 USD prize + Golden Trophy
• Short documentary movies (less than 40 minutes)
150 USD prize + Golden Trophy
• Educational and experimental movies/clips
150 USD prize + Golden Trophy
• Animated movies
300 USD prize + Golden Trophy

Rules & Terms

- The main topic of IEFF is sustainable development and therefore only relevant movies will be selected for the competition
- Broadcasting selected movies will be subject to the laws and regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and therefore the festival secretariat may make very minor displaying changes and corrections to abide by them
- Movies’ release date must not be earlier than January 1st 2019
- Movies should be submitted to the festival’s secretariat no later than August 31st
- Directors and producers submitting movies to the festival, if selected for the competition, should send the high quality original version of their movies no later than September 5th or they might risk falling out of the competition.
- Changing the version or resending movies is not possible once the previously-claimed final version is admitted in competition
- The timetable and broadcasting time and order for selected movies will be decided by the festival organizers considering various managerial factors and cannot be the subject of complaints. The same applies for choosing festival venues.
- Movies with technical problems in their final version will be left out of the competition
- Mailed movies will not be sent back
- In case of winning the competition, the winners (or their official representatives) are required to be present in the festival’s closing ceremony either online or in person provided that necessary means and preparations are taken care of by the festival
- If needed, the festival will make limited copies of the selected movies to be broadcasted at different festival venues. These copies will never be given to any person or entities outside the festival
- IEFF authorities will not take responsibility for submissions and registrations with fake identities. Also if all documents and information needed for submission and registration of a movie are not sent to the secretariat in a timely and transparent manner, festival authorities have the right to leave the movie out of competition
- There are no limitations for the number of movies submitted by one person or organization
- Registering and submitting movies for the festival should be done online using the festival’s official website www.zaminfestival.org
- To enter competition, registration by one of the movie producer(s) or director(s) in the festival’s website is necessary. Participants must fill in the form (to be found on the festival’s website) and receive a tracking code. In special cases that will be decided by festival organizers, other forms of registration and submitting movies may be accepted
- Movies will be accepted in following formats: MP4, AVI, MOV and with HD, FHD or 4K quality
- DVD, DVcam and HDcam copies will not be accepted by the festival
- Registering and submitting movies to the festival means accepting the festival’s rules and regulations
- The costs of uploading or sending movies must be paid by participants
- If complications occur, the festival’s director will have the final say
- After the final list of selected films is published, it will not be possible to withdraw films from the competition
- Films in the competition will be subtitled in Farsi for the Iranian audience and will be broadcasted in accordance with relevant legislations of the I.R. of Iran
- For non-English movies, English subtitle is required
- Registration and participation is free, as the Earth Film Festival does not operate to generate revenues or financial profits; watching movies is also free for the audience and no tickets are sold
- The Earth Film Festival guarantees that it will never give away any of the received and registered movies to any third party for any purposes. The movies received and accepted will be solely broadcasted during and in the framework of the IEFF's official events, in festival venue(s) and on the official website of the festival and/or its official web broadcasting partner bearing the festival's logo.
- All received movies are protected under the laws of The I.R. of Iran. The festival will not take responsibility for any act of theft and hacking by criminals or for unrelated third party's mischief e.g when damaged during the mailing process
- The Festival may use short (up to 30 seconds) fragments of selected movies solely for making advertising clips for the event and without gaining any profits from them
- The Earth Film Festival organizers may decide to add awards, honorary diplomas or trophies to encourage and distinguish more filmmakers. Also in special occasions such as absence of enough qualified movies (at least 5), they may decide to cancel some competition categories
- Main news and announcements will be communicated to the owners of submitted works and the audience only through the festival’s official website and social media pages.