Films for the Earth is...
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... an international non-profit organisation, a centre of excellence for environmental documentaries and a network of environmental country sections. Founded as non- profit 2007 and awarded by the UNESCO 2010, we want to reach as many people as possible with selected films, pass on knowledge about sustainability and inspire them to act. Films for the Earth has the ability to bring 100’000 people a year before documentaries.

Our for big non-profit activities are the International Films for the Earth Festival, our comprehensive filmdatabase on https://FILMSfortheEARTH.org/en/films (2500+ long and short films), cinema releases and school campaigns where we provide thousands of students access to films we have the educational rights for.

The International Films for the Earth Festival...
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Since 2011 we do one of the biggest environmental festivals in the German speaking area. At one day in autumn, implemented by 200 volunteers, we present the best environmental films of the year in 20+ cities in Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein to a total audience of 18'000 people in more than 40 halls (cinemas and others) and more than 140 screenings. The screenings are surrounded by opening talks, exhibitions of partnering environmental NGOs and many eventisation elements. Schools and adults both have free entries and the festival is maintained by donations, sponsoring and public offices support.

Your Benefits with a Submission...
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- a beautiful trilingual database entry -> visibility on our website and higher discoverability in the Google index
- our analysis of your films leads to a detailed indexing
- social media communication about your film
- other environmental festivals screen our website for new films
- you can sell your film later over our website with no costs (via Vimeo embedded player)

Your Benefits with a Nomination...
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- extra attention in the promotional phase of the festival with a reach of over 10 million views
- possible contract for theatrical, non-theatrical, online and educational in D-A-CH-LI with us or one of our partners

Our Selection Process...
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We select 10 out of 100 films for use in our festival but also other activities and we recommend them during the year and later as the best environmental films of the year. We have very high content requirements, the selection process is therefore very hard and a nomination is award for itself. We search films that movie viewers deeply, lead to behaviour change, have impressive footage and music and uncover new data and topics that are relevant for humanities transition into a sustainable planetary civilisation. We compare your film with very best in this field, as f.e. Rob Stewarts, Louie Psihoyos, Denis Delestrac, Valentin Thurns, Matthew Testas, Davis Guggenheims work. Films for the Earth is considered being a quality label in the German speaking area.

Awards & Prizes

All nominated films will receive an Selection Award.

Rules & Terms

What We Need...
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First have a look, if your film is not already in our database at https://filmsfortheearth.org/en/films. If yes, we evaluated it already. If not: In order to make a professional database entry please provide at least
- poster ( in high resolution)
- filmstills ( in high resolution)
- short synopsis
- trailer (with English audio or subtitles)
- technical data (director, producer, script, music, year, country of origin, languages available, official website, press kit)

In order to give us the possibility to evaluate your art
- screener (Vimeo link or downloadable mp4) with english or German audio or subtitles)

In order to make a distribution contract possible
- who has the rights (world sales or even already D-A-CH-LI distributors)
- distribution plans (mainly cinema and VoD start in D-A-CH-LI)
- the contacts we need to make a proposal and how to reach them best (can be difficult :)
- Could the festivals screening be a premiere in our area?
- list of files you could deliver (f.e. ProRes for feature and trailer, English subtitles, Artwork, promotional audio extracts)

If nominated we will need from you a textless Prores of trailer and feature, a subtitles file (art) and the artwork with filmstills.

Reasons for Refusal
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- Your film has no trailers, no posters, no film stills.
- Communication to the rights holder is not possible within the required time frame.
- Your film has little or nothing to do with sustainability.
- Environmental and sustainability issues are not explicitly shown in the film.
- Your film is already listed on our website.
- Your film is technically confused and of amateurish quality.
- Your film is propagandistic, scientifically false, journalistically unethical, agitational, green washing, one-sided accusatory, pornographic or shows explicit, extreme violence.

Further Terms
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Fees are not refundable. Therefor only submit a film that surely fits our criteria (see above). You are also always welcomed to ask if you are unsure: mail@films4the.earth // 0041 77 420 63 60 (UTC+1 office hours). A submission is not guaranteeing a database entry or festival nomination or selection.

With an submission you give us the right to promote your film with (<10s) parts of your film, the filmstills, trailers and teaser you provide.

The communication about nominations and selections is done to all filmmakers at once.