Please read the following terms carefully before submitting your film. Films that do not adhere to these guidelines are automatically ineligible to be considered for the Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival (further ‘Samizdat’). Films that are submitted will be considered as sent in accordance and agreement with the terms below.
WHY SHOULD I SUBMIT?
We see our festival as an amazing opportunity – particularly for early-career filmmakers – to share their short films at Scotland’s first event dedicated exclusively to Eastern European cinema. Our last year’s edition was attended by nearly 1,400 spectators across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Ayr.
Between Eastern European diasporic attendees and locals who are interested in expanding their knowledge of the region's cultures, this is a chance to present your work to an audience that will truly appreciate it.
Each selected film will be screened at the Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. The winning title may also be additionally screened in other festival locations. Selected films will also be eligible for the Samizdat Audience Award – an additional prize of £200 (or equivalent in local currency).
WHO CAN SUBMIT?
- Applicants may submit only one film. If you submit more than one film, we will only consider the one that was sent last.
- Applicants must have the legal rights required to submit the film they are submitting.
All films submitted to the festival must not have been screened elsewhere in Scotland (online or offline).
We welcome submissions from all filmmakers who associate themselves with Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The countries that we include in this list are: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan*, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. We particularly welcome indigenous cinema, activist cinema, and submissions from Ukrainian filmmakers. We also welcome diasporic cinema. If your work doesn’t fall within our regional definition but you still consider it fitting for our festival, please contact us, and we will discuss it.
We don't accept short films funded by the governments of russia and Azerbaijan, or any institutions closely associated with them. However, we actively welcome submissions from filmmakers who identify with russia's and Azerbaijan's numerous indigenous and migrant communities, as well as other marginalised ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups.
As a festival with anti-imperialist programming politics, we unequivocally stand with Ukraine and regard it a political mandate of the times to do whatever is in our power to accommodate Ukrainian filmmakers and amplify Ukrainian voices. Against the backdrop of centuries of epistemic injustice and cultural erasure that Ukrainian art has been subjected to prior to the full-scale invasion, we are choosing to avoid screening any works produced in the russian federation (with the exception of Indigenous cinemas) and/or promoting russian culture and amplifying issues faced by people who self-identify as russian. At the very least till the end of the war, this stance is an important solidarity practice. Explicitly anti-imperialist and anti-war films submitted by filmmakers who self-identify as russian might be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
In the similar spirit, we extend this position to the ongoing occupation of Artsakh: films from Azerbaijani filmmakers are welcome only where they explicitly engage in critical reflection on their actions or are accompanied with a director's statement unequivocally condemning violence against and ethnic cleansing of civilians by all and any state and non-state actors. Works that ignore, normalise, or implicitly endorse the official politics of the country fall outside the scope of our programming values.
As a signatory of PACBI, Samizdat follows all relevant guidelines and does not accept films funded or commissioned by the Israeli government, its official bodies, or associated cultural institutions. We particularly encourage submissions from Palestinian filmmakers in exile and diaspora, who are currently working in the countries within our programming scope.
WHAT IS THE SELECTION PROCESS?
• The festival programme will be compiled by Samizdat’s curatorial team at the complete discretion of its members.
• Each submitted film will be viewed by at least one member of the curatorial team.
• Person(s) who submit a selected film will be notified by the Samizdat team before the announcement of the festival programme.
WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES?
• If you submit your film, you automatically permit Samizdat, in case of the film’s selection, to use any photos and stills and up to a minute of footage of the film in the promotional materials of the festival.
• Once the festival programme is officially announced, you can no longer withdraw your submission.
SCREENING FEES AND AWARDS
- If your short film is selected for the festival, you will be awarded a £50 (or equivalent in local currency) screening fee. As we are a non-profit festival, this amount is not negotiable and should be carefully considered prior to submission.
- An additional £200 (or equivalent in local currency) will be issued to the winner of Samizdat Audience Award 2026.
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Please feel free to email us for any further guidance at shorts@samizdatfest.co.uk
Visit our website for further information at https://samizdatfest.co.uk/
