Festival Regulations of the IFF ART FILM 2025 (International Film Festival ART FILM)
1. General information
1.1. ART FILM FEST s.r.o., headquartered at Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice, Company ID No.: 48 284 254, a company registered in the Commercial Register of the Košice District Court, Section Sro, Insert No. 58934/V (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”), is the organizer of the International Film Festival ART FILM (hereinafter referred to as IFF ART FILM).
1.2. The 31st edition of the IFF ART FILM (hereinafter referred to as the Festival) will be held from 20 to 27 June 2025 in Košice, Slovakia. In its programme, the Festival offers a multifaceted space for the presenta-tion of works of the latest world cinema, important titles of film history and, last but not least, an exten-sive showcase of films from the Slovak audiovisual industry.
1.3. The Festival programme is dominated by three competition sections.
a) The International Competition of Feature Films is open to film directors who have made their first, second or third feature film in professional conditions.
b) The International Competition of Short Films is open to short films of all genres.
c) The International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe (a list of former Eastern Bloc countries selected by the Festival) is open to film directors who have made a feature-length fiction, documentary or animated film in professional conditions from countries eligible for the Interna-tional Competition: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Lith-uania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Albania, Armenia.
1.4. The main organizer of the Festival is a Slovak legal entity:
ART FILM FEST s.r.o., Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice, Slovak Republic; ID No.: 48 284 254.
2. Competition sections, statutory prizes
2.1 The International Competition of Feature Films covers:
- feature films that are the first, second or third feature-length film of a director,
- feature films produced after 1 January 2024
- feature films available in DCP 2D format
- feature films over 60 minutes
- feature films must be accompanied by English subtitles
2.1.1 Jury and Prizes
The winners of the Blue Angel Statutory Awards are decided by a three-member international jury of the Competi-tion of Feature Films. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.
The Jury of the International Competition of Feature Films awards 4 statutory prizes:
- The Blue Angel for the best film (awarded to the producer of the film) is coupled with a financial reward of EUR 2000.
- Blue Angel for Best Director (awarded to the director of the film)
- Blue Angel for Best Actress (awarded to the director of the film)
- Blue Angel for Best Male Performance
The Jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, called Special Mentions, to other film titles in the Internation-al Competition of Feature Films. Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.
2.2. The International Competition of Short Films covers:
- film productions up to 30 minutes (short films),
- fiction, documentary, experimental or animated short films,
- professional or student short films,
- short films produced after 1 January 2024,
- short films available in DCP 2D format,
- short films must be accompanied by English subtitles
2.2.1. Jury and Prizes
The winner of the Blue Angel Statutory Award for the best short film is decided by a three-member international jury of the short film competition. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.
The Jury of the International Competition of Short Films awards 1 statutory prize:
The Blue Angel for the best short film (awarded to the director of the film) is coupled with a financial re-ward of EUR 500.
The Jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, called Special Mentions, to other film titles from the Interna-tional Short Film Competition.
Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.
2.3 The International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe covers:
- film productions over 60 minutes,
- fiction, documentary, experimental or animated films,
- produced after 1 January 2024,
- films available in DCP 2D format.
- films must be accompanied by English subtitles
- in the case of co-productions, the main condition for admission to the competition is the majority share of the eligible country in the production of the film.
- Eligible countries from Central and Eastern Europe are: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Albania, Armenia
2.3.1 Jury and Prizes
The winner of the Blue Angel Statutory Award for the best film from Central and Eastern Europe is decided by a three-member international jury. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.
The Jury of the International Competition for the best film from Central and Eastern Europe awards 1 statutory prize:
The Blue Angel for the best film (awarded to the film producer) is coupled with a financial reward of 1500 EUR.
The jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, the so-called Special Mentions, to other film titles from the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe.
Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.
3. Submission of films
For IFF ART FILM 2025, film submissions for competitions will be open from December 1, 2024, until the deadline specified in Section 10 of these Statutes. Films can be submitted to the competition sections via the entry form. In 2025, film submissions will be subject to a fee in accordance with the applicable price list.
4. Selection of films
The programme team reserves the right to set up three competition sections of its choice.
5. Promotion of selected films
The Festival reserves the right to use excerpts from the films for the purpose of promoting the Festival as follows:
a) feature-length fiction, documentary and animated films - up to 3 minutes
b) short films - up to 30 seconds.
The Festival reserves the right to create a film excerpt from the official trailer of the film. In case the official trailer is not delivered on time, the Festival reserves the right to create previews for the purpose of promotion from the available screening format. Official trailers or previews will be shown on the Festival premises, broadcast on TV stations promoting the Festival, on the Festival website, during multimedia presentations during the Festival itself, or as part of the Festival Reverberations.
The Festival reserves the right - if the artistic concept of the Festival spot so requires - to use any excerpts from the films in the Festival spot, up to a maximum of 10 seconds.
The Festival reserves the right to use official film stills from the films on its promotional materials and to provide them to the media for the purpose of informing them about the Festival.
6. Guests
Guest invitations are determined by the Main Organizer, with priority given to creators of competing films. The Festival will cover the accommodation costs for invited creators for an agreed number of days and reimburse their travel expenses up to an amount agreed upon with each creator, based on the Festival's budget.
7. Rules for Refunding the Paid Submission Fee
If the submitter does not meet the requirements set for the respective competition category as stated in the Regu-lations of IFF ART FILM 2025, the fee paid for film submission will not be refunded by the main organizer. It is the responsibility of the submitter to thoroughly study and fulfil all criteria specified for the category of the submitted film, ensuring compliance of the submitted film with the Regulations of IFF ART FILM 2025 and the submission instructions.
8. Financial Prize and Income Tax
8.1. The financial prize represents a reward before taxation.
8.2. The financial prize from public competitions is considered other income subject to income tax in accordance with § 8 para. 1 letter j) of Act No. 595/2003 Coll. on income tax as amended by later regulations, with the excep-tion of a prize not exceeding EUR 350, which is exempt from tax in accordance with § 9 para. 2 letter m) point. 2 of the Income Tax Act.
8.3. In accordance with § 43 para. 3 letter d) of the Income Tax Act, the main organizer will deduct income tax at a rate of 19% from the cash prize (Financial Prize) each time it is paid. If the prize is paid, remitted, or credited to the taxpayer in a non-contracting state under § 2 para. x) of the Income Tax Act, the tax rate of 35% will be applied. The Organizer is not responsible for fulfilling tax obligations for non-resident taxpayers or taxpayers with limited tax liability arising from the country in which they are tax residents.
9. Privacy Policy
In accordance with our commitment to transparency and data protection, submitters utilizing the FilmFreeway platform for film submissions are kindly reminded to adhere to the Privacy Policy established by FilmFreeway, the service through which films are submitted to the ART FILM 2025 (International Film Festival ART FILM).
For a comprehensive understanding of how your data is handled and protected during the submission process, please refer to FilmFreeway's Privacy Policy, available at FilmFreeway Privacy Policy: https://filmfreeway.com/page/privacy-policy
The organizer, ART FILM FEST s.r.o., shall not be held responsible for any issues arising from the handling of personal information on the FilmFreeway platform. Submitters are encouraged to review and comply with FilmFreeway's Privacy Policy independently.
30.4.2025 - Deadline for submissions to the three international film competitions
15.5.2025 - deadline for the selection of films for the Festival
31.5.2025 - Deadline for delivery of documentation for selected films
10.6. 2025 - deadline for delivery of the screening media of the selected films
20 - 27 June 2025 – 31st IFF ART FILM Košice
31.7. 2025 - deadline for announcement of export destinations for all screening media
Festival office address / postal address:
ART FILM FEST Ltd.
Kukučínova 81/2
040 01 Košice
Slovak Republic
E-mail: info@iffartfilm.com
Website: www.iffartfilm.com
Tel: +421 2 20 85 51 00
Update of the Festival Regulations of the IFF ART FILM 2025 (International Film Festival) on November 22, 2024.
