OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival

📁 2025 OKO IEFF SUBMISSION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

📝 The 6th OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival is scheduled to be held in Ukraine and Bulgaria. The Film Festival will be held in mixed formats: in-person (aka offline) and on-line.

📆 🇺🇦 Ukraine in-person: September 5-14, 2025 - Kyiv & Bolhrad
📆 🇺🇦 Ukraine on-line: September 5-14, 2025* + happy audience weeks September 15-30, 2025* - MEGOGO

📆 🇧🇬 Bulgaria in-person: October 3-11, 2025 - Sofia
📆 🇧🇬 Bulgaria on-line: October 3-31, 2025* - Neterra TV

*The decision to show films in online format on the territory of Ukraine and Bulgaria (geo-limited to Bulgaria and Ukraine) is agreed by the Organizer with the authors & rights holders of the films, submitted to the Film Festival, separately.

• The films selected for the competition programs will be identical both for screenings in Ukraine and Bulgaria. Films from out-of-competition programs and from the online section may differ and are shown depending on the conditions either in Ukraine or in Bulgaria. All films selected for screening both in Ukraine and Bulgaria in any section, both offline and online, receive the status of the OKO IEFF 2025 Official Selection.

📌 The program of the Film Festival in 2025 includes main sections:

⭐️ OKO GLOBAL FICTION - competition program of international (including Ukrainian and Bulgarian) full-length fiction and narrative feature films (a running time of more than 41 minutes)
⭐️ OKO GLOBAL NON-FICTION - competition program of international (may include as an exception Ukrainian and Bulgarian) full-length non-fiction & documentary feature films (a running time of more than 41 minutes)
⭐️ NASHE OKO - competition program of Ukrainian and Bulgarian full-length non-fiction & documentary feature films (a running time of more than 41 minutes)
⭐️ OKO SHORT - competition program of short films (a running time of 40 minutes or less)
⭐️ OKO RETROSPECTIVE – thematic retrospective of personalities, studios, etc. & Best of OKO – a selection of films from past editions of the film festival
⭐️ ОКО FOCUS - out-of-competition thematic selection of films
⭐️ OKO HITS - out-of-competition section for the main jury; consists of films that have been distributed or have been successful at other film festivals
⭐️ OKO SPECIAL - out-of-competition section of special screenings and events

📎 The Festival reserves the right to create additional program competitive and non-competitive sections based on considerations of program completion and the volume of films received by the Festival. As well as to organize other festival activities and events. The opening and closing films of the Film Festival may be included in any section.

• As general rule, by submitting a film to the Film Festival and agreeing to all the terms of the Regulations, the authorized person (author/rightholder) automatically consents to at least four general public screenings of the film within the Film Festival: two in Ukraine and two in Bulgaria. In some cases, the parties decide on the number of additional screenings. The Film Festival has the right to use short fragments of selected films (no longer than three minutes) and other materials for promotional purposes. The Organizer has the right to organize charity meetings for any needs, without the goal of making a profit during all film festival events.

📌 Online screenings:

• All films included in the list of official selection will be offered the option of screening in online format on the territory of Ukraine and Bulgaria during the dates specified for this purpose. Online screenings will take place with the support and using the technical capabilities and resources of the Film Festival's partners VOD and OTT services MEGOGO (Ukraine) and Neterra.TV (Bulgaria). Also, films that will not be shown in the offline format may be selected for the online section. Online screenings are an official part of the Film Festival program with the status of a festival screening and festival official selection status.

📌 Submission, selection and review terms:

• The general term for accepting films through the FilmFreeway platform runs from February 03, 2025 to June 30, 2025 (until March 01, the submission of the films is fee free). As a general rule the program department reviews the submitted applications until July 01 and informs the applicants through the status on the FilmFreeway platform (or by alternative means) about the results of the review by this date. Applicants must submit all materials*, film copies and subtitles (or dialogue/editing sheets) to the Film Festival by July 15. In case of failure to provide the necessary materials and a film copy, the film will be deprived of the status of an official participant of the Film Festival and will be excluded from the competitive or non-competitive program.

• List of the promomaterials (not exhaustive): written consent to participate; filled out festival questionnaire; vertical poster (if available) or poster-equivalent image in hi-res JPEG format; 4 frames from the film in digital form of polygraphic quality in hi-res JPEG format; photo of the director in digital print quality in hi-res JPEG format. Other promotional materials - upon separate request. In some cases, the Organizer may offer other terms and alternative methods of submission/acceptance, receipt of materials, film copies, etc. with the mutual consent of all interested parties, which is agreed in each case individually. The person submitting the film for consideration (selection) is responsible for the film's compliance with copyright/related rights and assumes the authority to conduct further negotiations with the Film Festival.

📌 General film requirements & technical requirements for all screener film copies

• Audiovisual works of any type (fiction and non-fiction) and genres, created in any technique, and which correspond to the main focus and theme of the Film Festival, are accepted for participation.

• Availability (or production in case of official selection for the Film Festival) of a copy with the technical parameters: codec (mostly) H.264, container – MP4, MPEG. Video extension - 1920 × 1080 (Full HD, 1080p), but not less than 720 × 576. Sound frequency from 24 kHz and higher. If there is no copy of the film online, the participant has to send it to the Organizer on a flash drive by mail or in another way.

• Accurate, legible English-language subtitles are required. Subtitles must be provided with timing as a separate file (srt format), and not embedded into the video image as a hardsub.

📌 General requirements for the films in the competition sections:

• The first public showing and/or production of competing films must be no earlier than January 1, 2023. The Film Festival reserves the right to determine whether the film corresponds to the section, chosen by the applicant and, in such a case, to change the competition section/category, as well as to offer a screening in the out-of-competition section, if the film was not selected for the competition program. The Organizer determines the number of the films in the competition section independently, based on the number of the received applications. Also, the Organizer has the right not to select a film for either the competitive or non-competitive program for any reason.

• Prior to screening at the Film Festival, the film may have any festival and/or theatrical distribution and public exhibition, including being placed on VOD and OTT services and publicly available on the streaming platforms and video streaming websites. However, preference will be given to the applicant films for which the screening within the Film Festival will be the premiere in Ukraine and/or Bulgaria, and/or which have not had a theatrical or other form of distribution or public screenings, other than film festivals, or a limited number of public screenings. The Organizer and the program department of the Film Festival have the right to determine whether an audiovisual work corresponds to the selection criteria for the competition sections or not independently.

• The Film Festival does not allow the films whose production is incomplete before the date of the event, parts of films, series episodes (unless a part of the series is a separate film and has distribution as a separate audiovisual work), audiovisual content intended for social networks to participate in the competition sections, music and video clips. The Organizer and program department of the Film Festival can make an exception to this rule in extraordinary cases.

• The Organizer has the right to exclude the film from the Film Festival program in case of receiving evidence of violation of copyright/related rights of third people by the person who submitted the film for participation in the Film Festival. A film may also be removed from the festival and deprived of its official selection status if inconsistencies and gross violations of regulations are identified, as well as for other reasons, including reputational risks.

‼️ IMPORTANT NOTE: Full official rules, terms & regulations for holding the Film Festival in 2025 are contained on the official website. Please read them carefully. The rules are posted in English, Ukrainian and Bulgarian. Only an excerpt from the rules and guidelines has been provided here. Submitting a film through this platform means that the applicant has read the rules and accepted their terms. The organizers may change some rules based on the current situation, publishing such changes on their official website or making announcements on their official social media accounts.

🇬🇧 Regulations of the VI OKO IEFF: https://en.okofilmfest.com.ua/regulations-2025
🇺🇦 Регламент VI МЕКФ «ОКО»: https://www.okofilmfest.com.ua/regulations-2025
🇧🇬 Регламент на VI МФЕК „ОКО“: https://bg.okofilmfest.com.ua/regulations-2025

=== Note-bonus from festival team: thank you if you have carefully read our rules & terms; as a reward, the festival offers you entry fee waiver code: selifonik ===