OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival

IMPORTANT: Full official rules, terms & regulations for holding the Film Festival in 2024 are contained on the official website. Please read them carefully. The rules are posted in English, Ukrainian and Bulgarian. Below is an excerpt from the rules and main provisions.

✓ The program of the Film Festival in 2024 includes the following sections: OKO GLOBAL; NASHE OKO; OKO VISION which including OKO RETROSPECTIVE, OKO FOCUS, OKO SPECIAL; Opening and Closing Films; Special Events.

✓ All films, selected for the programs and sections receive the status of "OKO IEFF 2024 Official Selection" and will be able to use this status, including the official identity and logo of the Film Festival, as well as refer to it in the promotional materials, etc.

✓ OKO GLOBAL – International Competition: Feature Films: A feature-length film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of more than 41 minutes (including the credits). The films produced by any country in the world (including Ukraine and Bulgaria) are admitted to the film selection process.

✓ OKO GLOBAL – International Competition: Short Films: A short film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits. Short films, produced by any country in the world, are admitted to the film selection process. Ukrainian and Bulgarian shorts, as well as films created in co-production, can also participate in this competitive section. If a Ukrainian or Bulgarian short film is included in the program of the OKO GLOBAL short films competition, it cannot be presented simultaneously in the competition section of NASHE OKO. The authors and/or copyright holders, in case of selection for the competition, will be asked to choose one section. No more than 4 (four) Ukrainian and/or Bulgarian short films, including co-productions, may be selected for participation in the OKO GLOBAL short film competition section.

✓ NASHE OKO – Ukrainian-Bulgarian Competition: Short Films: Ukrainian-Bulgarian short films that have a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits, accepted for this competitive section. Short films created by Ukrainian and Bulgarian production companies and/or directors who are the citizens or residents of Ukraine or Bulgaria are admitted to the film selection process; films made in co-production, or films whose authors and rights holders officially indicate Ukraine or Bulgaria as the country of production.

✓ OKO VISION is an out-of-competition screening part of the Film Festival program. It can include sections OKO RETROSPECTIVE (retrospective screenings), OKO FOCUS (films united by a thematic component) and OKO SPECIAL (out-of-competition screenings). The Organizer invites films to participate in the out-of-competition section on its own initiative, and can also offer such an option to films that were submitted to the competition sections, but for one reason or another did not pass the selection for the competition sections and programs. Applications for participation in the out-of-competition program may be also accepted through the FilmFreeway festival platform or by alternative means.

✓ As a 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 two general public screenings of the film within the Film Festival: one in Ukraine and one 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) for promotional purposes. The Film Festival shows films to the audience without receiving a monetary reward. In some cases, the owner of the cinema (or other) venue, where the public festival screening will take place, may receive a screening fee (service fee). 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 of OKO VISION. Online screenings are an official part of the Film Festival program with the status of a festival screening.

- Participants of the competition sections who give their consent to online screenings, additionally take part in the draw for the audience Grand Prix - OKO ONLINE.

- With the consent of the authors and rights holders of the films, the Film Festival can facilitate the further online distribution of the films included in the official selection.

- Online screenings will be protected from copying, duplication and other illegal distribution of content. Obligations of this kind are assumed by the partner of the festival, on whose technical facilities the screening will be held.

✓ Submission, selection and review terms:

- The general term for accepting films through the FilmFreeWay platform runs from January 20, 2024 to July 1, 2024:
* until March 20, the submission of the films is free for all sections and programs;
* from March 21 to July 1, the Festival can set a festival fee for accepting the films, taking into account the "Regular", "Last Call" & extra deadline.

- The program department of the Film Festival reviews the submitted applications until July 20 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 August 20. 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 materials (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.

- By August 22, the finalized list of competitive works will be announced on the official web resources of the Film Festival.

- 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.

- Films from the official selection of OKO VISION and information about special events are announced before the start of the Festival. Also, at any time after the announcement of the line-up, the Film Festival may announce the inclusion of additional films in the official selection list. The OKO VISION program and special events and activities may not be identical during the Film Festival in Ukraine and Bulgaria.

- 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:

- 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 in the competition programs.

- The Film Festival and the Organizer do not consider audiovisual works, created with the participation of the representatives of the aggressor country (the russian federation), in particular by the residents of the aggressor country (or with the involvement of such people); people who support russian military aggression against Ukraine and oppose the territorial integrity of Ukraine, etc.; as well as works whose display violates the national legislation of Ukraine and Bulgaria. If such facts become known after the announcement of the official selection or during the events, the Film Festival may remove such tapes from the programs and deprive them of the status of official selection.

- The number of the films in the competition and non-competition sections is determined by the Organizer based on the number of accepted applications for participation.

✓ General technical requirements for audiovisual works for participation in the competition and screening at the Film Festival:

- 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 (srt format) are required.

- For the films whose authors or rights holders are the residents of Ukraine or if the producing country is Ukraine (co-production films are also taken into account), availability of Ukrainian-language subtitles (or production in case of official selection for the Film Festival) is mandatory.

- For the films whose authors or rights holders are the residents of Bulgaria or if the producing country is Bulgaria (co-production films are also taken into account), availability of Bulgarian-language subtitles (or production in case of official selection for the Film Festival) is mandatory.

✓ General requirements for the films in the OKO GLOBAL and NASHE OKO competition sections:

- The first public showing and/or production of competing films must be no earlier than January 1, 2022. 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 receivedapplications. 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.