Tokyo Documentary Film Festival (TDFF) 2024 Call for Entries
Visual anthropology and Ethnographic film Competition
Organized by Documentary Magazine NEONEO Editorial Office

Tokyo Documentary Film Festival (TDFF) is a film festival specializing in documentary works including film, TV show, video for the Internet, artistic video, ethnographic film etc. Since 2018, it has been held for two weeks every year at K's Cinema in Shinjuku, Tokyo’s largest downtown area.

Every December, dozens of works selected from the entries from all over the country and abroad are screened at the theater. In each competition of Feature films, Short films and Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic films, the judges select the Grand Prix and the Runner-up Prize. The most distinctive feature of TDFF is the "Audience Award." It is chosen by avid documentary film fans and receives a lot of attention every year. At most of the screenings, the directors, cast and crew will appear on the stage to greet the audience, and there will be a Q&A session in the lobby after the showing.

The host is an organization that runs and publishes Documentary Magazine NEONEO and other books and online magazines. Through these interviews and reviews before and after the festival, the entries are presented to the Japanese mass media. In addition, many domestic film distributors and film industry officials will be in attendance. Besides, there will be various events such as pre-events, symposiums, parties for the directors and the festival officials, and so on. The organizer has run the festival with a grant from the incorporated administrative agency administered by Tokyo and the Japanese government.

For the first five years, we have focused mainly on discovering and promoting Japanese documentary works more broadly. As a result, many of the feature films were released in theaters after their premieres at the festival. Many of the short films were given a chance to be featured on movie distribution sites. And from 2023, we decided to call for foreign entries with English subtitles in the Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Film Competition. Last year, we screened 6 films from all over the world. And films got good notices. We are looking forward to seeing a variety of work from all over the world, including yours!

Awards & Prizes

【Selection and Announcement】
・The selection results will be announced on the official website and via e-mail
・Selected films will be screened at the Tokyo Documentary Film Festival 2024 (scheduled to be held in winter 2024).
・The winning films for the "Miyamoto Keitaro Prize (Grand Prix)" and "Runner-Up Prize" in the Visual anthropology and Ethnographic film Competition, will be awarded a cash prize and commemorative gifts.

Rules & Terms

Application Guidelines:

【Eligibility requirements】
TDFF welcomes all application, regardless of experience, age, gender and nationality.

【Entry fee】
JPY 1,000

【Submission requirements】
The applicant must fulfill all the following requirements:

・The film must have been completed after January 1, 2020.
・The film must be no more than 120 minutes in length, credits included.
・All necessary procedures regarding copyrights for videos, images, and music used in the film must have been completed before submitting.
・The filmmaker must have made the film intending it to be a documentary.
・The film must be available on Blu-ray or digital format.
・If the film is/was part of a television program, the applicant must have the necessary screening rights to be screened at least twice during the festival.
・If the film's original language is not Japanese, subtitles in English must be provided.
・The film must be submitted via URL (youtube or vimeo link).

【Application Details】
The application form must include all the following information:

The title, length in minutes, director's name, year of production, submitter's name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and URL of the film (youtube or vimeo link)
+ please make sure you have selected the "Anthropology and Folkloric Film" category/box

Upon receipt, you will receive an auto-reply e-mail from the form.

【Copyrights】
・All copyrights belong to the filmmaker/s.
・The TDFF office reserves the rights to screen the submitted films during the festival, at least twice per each.