PelDocFest is a feature documentaries festival. The Main Event takes place in the city of Kalamata, Greece, while part of the program is screened in several cities all over the Peloponnese region. The overall attendance every year reaches approximately 12.000 to 13.000 viewers.
The festival includes Special Events, masterclasses, retrospectives, educational screenings, seminars and so on. This year's Special Tribute is "Cities": Documentaries that tell stories about cities, whether it be the history, culture, people, or challenges of urban life.

Awards & Prizes

1. Audience award for the best greek documentary.
2. Audience award for the best international documentary.
3. Equality Award, for the film that best promotes gender equality (positive alternative gender relations or gender identities models, elimination/subversion of gender stereotypes, identification and removal of gender-based discriminations, promotion of the rights and struggles of women). Bestowed by a 3 members international committee.
4. Special Award, for the best documentary of each year's tribute. (3 members jury committee)
5. Honourable Mentions

Previous awards:
-- Τhe 9th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held October 25 - November 5, 2023, in 8 different cities of Peloponnese.
👫 Audience awards 👫
"Musicalement Autre ▪️ Director: Nicolas Moïssakis
"Women Fighters – Triple Liberation" ▪️ Director: Leonidas Vardaros
🎼 Best Music Documentary 🎼
"Improvisations in parallel mode" ▪️ Director: Petros Kolotouros
"Kapr Code" ▪️ Directors: Lucie Králová
👏 Equality Awards- Alexandra Skordaki👏
"Obsessive Hours at the Topos of Reality" ▪️ Director: Rea Wallden
"Destiny" ▪️ Director: Yaser Talebi
Special Mentions
"Sexual Healing" ▪️ Director: Elsbeth Fraanje
"Maka" ▪️ Director: Simone Brioni

-- The 8th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held on April 8-17, 2022, in 12 different cities of Peloponnese.
The Awards:
Equality Award given by the Equality Committee:
Two equal first places:
I am Samuel by Peter Murimi
I am Belmaya by Sue Carpenter
✨ Special Mention: Ultraviolette and the blood-spitters gang by Robin Hunzinger
"Sub-Saharan Africa" Tribute Award given by a group of students from the University of Peloponnese:
The Golden Wolf of Balole by Chloé Aicha Boro
Audience's Choice Award - Best International Documentary:
I am Belmaya by Sue Carpenter
Audience Choice Award - Best Greek Documentary:
Through the Window Glass, Three Acts by Christos Barbas

-- The 7th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held online (exceptionally, because of COVID-19) between 5-14 of the past February, while the physical event took place in open-air cinemas from the 18th of June till the 28th of July 2021, in 11 different cities of Peloponnese.
The Audience Award - Best International Documentary was split between:
Lost Lives, by Michael Hewitt & Dermot Lavery and Photographer of War, by Boris Benjamin Bertram
Jury Prize (Laura Cini, Director, Anne Kjersti Bjørn, Director, Panagiotis Evangelidis, Screenwriter / Director) for Best Equality Documentary:
First Prize: Judy versus Capitalism by Mike Hoolboom
Honourable Mention: Ninosca, by Peter Torbiörnsson
Student Award of the University of Peloponnese for the Best Documentary of the "Claiming Freedom" thematic tribute: Scars, by Agnieszka Zwiefka
Best Greek Documentary - "Sparta Award" was split between:
-The Music of Things by Menios Carayannis and
-The Fourth Character by Katerina Patroni
Honourable Mentions:
-1000 Square Meters of Time by Maro Anostopoulou
-The Weavers by Dimitris Koutsiampasakos
-Sundays by Alethea Avramis
For more information check our official site: https://www.peloponnisosdocfestival.com/en/

-- The 6th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held from January 17th to January 27th 2020. The awards
Audience Award for the Best International Documentary
--- The Silence of Others / El Silencio de Otros ----
by Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar
Audience Award for the Best Greek Documentary
---- Happy Princes- Príncipes Felizes by Panos Deligiannis
The Awards of the Festival's Equality Committee. The Jury members Iara Lee, Robert Rombout and Stella Theodorakis, in films that highlight the issue of gender relations. The Jury saw the 14 films competing with great interest and appreciated their multifaced response to extremely difficult issues concerning humanity and undermining Equality and its legal order.
1. Maid in Hell (Why Slavery Series) by Søren Klovborg's
2. What colour is this world by Ralitza Dimitrova
Honourable mentions to two of the films
«Dancing with Monica» by Anja Dalhoff
«Hell and hope» by Amish Srivastava

In 1017 for best foreign documentary went to the documentary Ketermaya by Lucas Lejderzak and for best Greek documentary to “ The longest run” by Marianna Oikonomou.
in 2018 for best foreign documentary went to the documentary Canto a la vita by Nathalie Rossetti, Turi Finocchiaro and for best greek to «Thessaloniki 1917: the fire that gave birth to a city» by Gregory Vradarinos
In 2019 the audience award for best foreign documentary went to the film A woman captured by Bernadet Tuza Ritter and for best greek to "A tree remembers" by Constantinos Follas. The two awards by the Secretary of equality went to “I itsai Romni” by Evaggelia Goula (Greece) and “Belle de Nuit” by Marie-Eve de Grave ( France) and a special mention to “Punishment Island” by Laura Cini “(Italy).
2 special awards by the committee of the University students went to “Guerrilla Voices” by Sjoerd van Grootheest ( Colombia) and “ Painting by Ioanna Neofytou (Greece)

Rules & Terms

Please be sure to read all rules and regulations before submitting your project.
All decisions of programmers and jurors are final. All entries will be viewed and given equal consideration.

1. All films must be the original work of the filmmakers and all filmmakers must have the necessary rights.
2. All films must be submited via FilmFreeway
3. All films submitted must have been completed on or after January 1, 2021.
4. All films must be submitted with an online screener
5. All films must be in English or have English subtitles.
6. All selected foreign films must have subtitles in both English and Greek (CC script required). Otherwise, the director's or distributor's contribution for the translation of English subtitles into Greek, depending on the film’s length, ranges from 30 to 70 euros. Note that if there is no synced subtitle file in English, Spanish, French or German, but only the transcript is delivered instead, the cost doubles including the syncing cost as well. When ready, the produced srt file is delivered to the director.
7. All Greek submitted films have to have English subtitles and Greek CC script available.
8. All feature documentary submissions must be 30-90 minutes in length.
9. No film may be withdrawn from the festival programme after its selection.
10. Participants agree that all materials related to their film (including excerpts of the film) may be published for any promotional purpose related to the Peloponnisos Documentary Festival, including the Festival Program, Festival trailer, Festival Website, and any local or national media. Posters and images of the film may be used independently or in combination with images from other films to promote the film and the Festival.
11. ALL SUBMISSION FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, festival dates and location are subject to change or we may have to replace the live screenings with an online festival.

39 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Swoop Films

    A phenomenal little gem of a festival, well worth the trip to meet the humble people who host this festival, they promote the festival well through the town with good attendance to screenings. It was a nice theater with a great sound system. It’s set in this wonderful small traditional town on the coast.

    December 2023
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  • Deniz Yuksel

    One of the best festival I've been to. There was a gathering with the other directors every evening, and that allowed us to get closer and establish relationships. It was very well-organized and fun. It was a pleasure to screen my movie "Maffy's Jazz" in the cinema of Kalamata.

    November 2023
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  • Beau Rosario

    We are honored to have been selected to screen our film, The Elephants and the Grass at the Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival. The audience was super attentive and engaged. More than that, the hosts were generous, passionate, and supportive. Highly recommend submitting and attending.

    November 2023
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  • karen kramer

    One of the best European festivals I've been to. Everything works smoothly because it's so well-organized. Excellent communication before and during the fest. Filmically, very professional with a spacious theater that has good seats, sightlines, audio and screen. This festival knows how to take good care of the filmmakers with nightly gatherings at a bar and morning gatherings at a cafe so that filmmakers can get to know each other. Plus, all the films were really top notch. Am so glad I attended

    November 2023
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  • DIMITRIS PAPADOPOULOS

    Excellent organization. Very good quality films. Wonderful city

    November 2023
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