The TRT World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival provides a platform for filmmakers to explore global humanitarian issues from a unique and creative perspective.

The many crises that affect our world, including war and violent conflict, global pandemic, the migration crisis, climate change and pollution, women's rights, hunger and food scarcity, homelessness, and poverty, have drastic impacts on the lives of billions around the world, most of whom remain unseen and unheard. The aim of our festival is to share the stories of these individuals, and provide a platform to elevate their voices and narratives.

We are currently accepting only short film submissions. Documentaries are not eligible. Your submission should be a fictional narrative that highlights the human impacts of one of the many humanitarian crises around the world.

First Prize: $5,000

Second Prize: $3,000

Third Prize: $2,000

All of our semi-finalists will receive an all-inclusive trip to Istanbul to attend the 2024 World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival, where your short film will be screened for a live audience.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

Applicants have accepted all the terms and results of the competition, by reading and approving this Application Process and Conditions of Participation document.

A. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION AND GENERAL TERMS

1. Films that will participate in the Festival must be in the form of short stories of 5 - 20 minutes.
2. Films that will participate in the Festival must be dubbed in English or with English subtitles.
3. Films must be completed after 1st of January 2019.
4. Those who fill in the application form and approve the conditions of participation are deemed to have accepted the conditions of participation. TRT reserves the right to make changes in matters such as Festival date, Festival venue and award category, the details of which are regulated in this document. These changes will be announced through communication channels related to the Festival.
5. All obligations and responsibilities regarding the submission of the application through the application portal on the web address and the sending of the Films belong to the Applicant.
6. It is obligatory that the Films have not been presented to the public, except for the TRT World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival, until the festival process is completed and the award winners are screened. Otherwise, the Film cannot participate in the competition and even if it does, it will not be evaluated. In addition, films produced, financed or initiated by a major film studio or television network cannot participate in the competition and will not be evaluated.
7. Films made available to the public via any paid or free platform on the Internet cannot participate in the competition.
8. Films contrary to the statues at large of the Republic of Turkey regarding broadcasting, good manners, public decency and public order; Films that insult any nation, country, religion, person, community or have the characteristics of propaganda; Films that promote or support violence, war, drug use or pornography, praise all kinds of fanaticism, and Films containing advertising elements cannot participate in the competition. Even if they do, they will not be evaluated.
9. Films must be the original work of the producers or directors who are the Applicants. The Applicant accepts, declares and undertakes that, she/he has the right, authority and power to participate in the competition and to grant TRT the rights set forth in this text which will be transferred/licensed to TRT in case of being a semi-finalist, that all rights of the Films belong to himself/herself, the Films are free from third party rights and claims; does not violate any right of any third party, especially copyright and there is no conflict regarding the Films. Otherwise, he/she accepts, declares and undertakes that all legal, administrative, penal and financial responsibility will be his/her own and that TRT will recourse to himself/herself for compensation(including reasonable attorneys' fees) and/ or claim compensation for its losses.
10. The Applicant accepts, declares and undertakes that, while preparing the Film, she/he has obtained written consent for the transfer of the rights with a full license from the contributors or persons who are right owners, and that she/he will submit them to TRT upon request. Likewise, if the Film is based on another person's life, a book or other fundamental work, Applicants must have obtained all necessary permits/licenses to make such adaptations and submit them to TRT upon request.
11. Necessary permissions will be obtained by the Applicant for musical works, original music, lyrics, etc. used in Films, whose rights holders are known and/or whose rights are managed by professional associations, collecting societies or edition companies, and necessary payments will be made to the relevant right holders/related third parties.
12. The Applicant accepts and declares that all revenues/incomes to be obtained by TRT, due to the use of the rights to be transferred/licensed to TRT in case of being a semi-finalist, by TRT in person or through third parties, will belong exclusively to TRT, and TRT will not pay make any payment to itself, except for the Award/prize if it is gained.
13. The information of the Applicants can be processed by TRT within the scope of the competition, and detailed information about this processing is available at https://www.worldcitizenfilmfestival.com . Applicants are deemed to have read, understood and accepted the Clarification Text and Consent Form in this link while sending Films to the Festival.
14. TRT reserves the right to reject or disqualify any Film in accordance with the conditions in this document and/or after the evaluation by the jury. Even if the Film has passed the evaluation and received an award, TRT has the right to withdraw the award and the prize in case of detection of a situation that does not comply with the conditions of the competition.
15. The Applicant must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.

16. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
16.1. The Applicant accepts, declares and undertakes that; if he/she makes it to the semi-finals and/or wins an award, within the scope of the Turkish Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846 (“FSEK”), the Film itself or its processing, original music (with or without words), script, format, characters, dialogue, any audio, written or visual work or performance related to Film(partly, part-by-part and as a whole, including flashbacks; along with the Film, in other content, together with the content or alone);
16.1.1. According to article 21 of the Turkish Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846 (FSEK), Rights to Adapt in all kinds of visual, audio and/or written formats in existing format or in different formats, including dubbing and adding subtitles, mosaicing, muting audio or cutting some parts,
16.1.2. According to article 24 of the FSEK, Rights to Perform, by recording on image carriers, media, and other media and/or directly; reading, playing, performing and showing all kinds of images, signs, sounds, designs, drawings, graphics or pictures and other means used to transfer them in the Festival, in the halls determined by TRT in Turkey and abroad, and in other public places,
16.1.3. According to article 25 of the FSEK, The Rights of Public Access, Broadcasting and Re-Broadcasting/Transmission and Public Transmission, broadcasting rights on all TRT television channels (including but not limited cable, satellite, internet, terrestrial, digital, analog, encrypted/non-encrypted means, free/pay, basic, pay TV, premium pay TV, smart TV and other means to be developed in the future), related mobile devices and on all kinds of printing or electronic detection methods and on demand broadcasts (Audio On Demand, Video On Demand, F-VOD, S-VOD, A-VOD, P-VOD, T-VOD, N-VOD, PPV, WEBTV etc.), on websites, digital platforms, mobile applications, social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, Tiktok, snapchat, twich, iTunes, Soundcloud, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Muud, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast etc.) that are owned and/or will be owned in the future by TRT and/or bearing the TRT logo, and in other mediums and/or events organized by TRT,
16.1.4. To the extent necessary to exercise the Rights to Perform and Rights of Public Access, Broadcasting and Re-Broadcasting/Transmission and Public Transmission as set forth above; pursuant to FSEK article 22 Rights to Dublicate and pursuant to FSEK article 23 Rights to Disseminate,
16.1.5. Any and all Promotion Rights for its use with the purpose of advertising and promotion, on all kinds of platforms mentioned above, on television, on radio, on all digital platforms, on internet sites and other media, in printed media or virtual platforms, on product packages and any other promotional materials, its use for product placement, sponsorship, subband, and in artistic activities,
16.1.6. And rights of transfer, assignment, licensing, leasing etc., providing with or without consideration, to TRT and TRT Affiliates for the exercise of above mentioned rights in and out of Turkey,
16.1.7. Pursuant to article 14, 15, 16 and 17 of FSEK the authority to exercise moral rights,
The Applicant accepts, declares and undertakes that; she/he will license the Film with all the above mentioned rights to TRT (together with all broadcasting companies with the TRT logo and all TRT affiliates) with a simple license, without being limited to time, place, number, material and medium, with his free consent, irrevocably and unlimitedly, and that he will consent to its use by TRT in addition, she/he will sign the consent letter prepared in this regard and submit it to TRT after the final results of the semi-finals are announced and before the Festival.
17. The rights specified in Article 16 will be licensed by the Applicant to TRT with a simple license in case of making to the semi-finals and/or winning an award. The Applicant may use these rights herself/himself or license it to third parties with a simple license.
18. Jury Evaluation will take place between May and August, 2024. When the jury members are determined, they will be announced through the communication channels related to the Festival.
19. The selection criteria to be evaluated by the jury members will be originality/creativity, dialogues/texts, cinematography, direction, actor performances, production quality, flow/speed, structure and sound/music.
20. TRT does not accept any liability or responsibility for any comments, notes or opinions expressed about a Film by its staff and/or other persons.
21. The winners will be announced at the TRT World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival. The Festival will be held in September 2024.
22. Films that make it to the Semi-Finals will be announced on the website and a certain period of time to be determined by TRT will be given to the Applicants to submit their objections regarding the Films that made it to the Semi-Finals. Objections made within this period and their reasons will be evaluated by the members of the jury and the final results will be announced again. After the evaluation of the objections, the decisions of the members of the Jury regarding the Semi-Final and the Final are certain.
23. Cash prize winners are solely responsible for payment of all applicable local, state and federal etc. taxes.
24. Ankara Courts and Execution Offices are authorized to resolve disputes arising from the application of this document; Turkish Law shall be applied in the interpretation of this document and in any dispute.
25. The transportation and accommodation expenses approved by TRT will be covered by TRT for the Applicants who qualify to participate in the Festival by making it to the Semi-Finals.
B. APPLICATION PROCESS
1. Applicants must pay 5 (five) Dollars to apply for the TRT World Citizen 2024 Humanitarian Film Festival.
2. Films must be submitted online through the FilmFreeway platform. Applicants accept, declare and undertake that they know that they are participating in the competition through FilmFreeway, all kinds of responsibility belongs to them, TRT and themselves will be deemed to have accepted all conditions regarding the use of the platform, especially the Terms of Service and Security Policy on the https://filmfreeway.com site and the updates to be made from time to time, and that TRT has no connection with FilmFreeway other than the collection of the Films within the scope of the competition and TRT and FilmFreeway are different institutions. Applicant accepts, declares and undertakes that FilmFreeway will be responsible for any damages that may be incurred by the Applicant after sending the Film through the FilmFreeway platform and that no claim can be made to TRT in this regard.
3. Except for the application method mentioned above; applications submitted by other means (mail, hand delivery, etc.) will not be evaluated.
4. Those who want to participate in the competition must have completed their applications and uploaded their Films to the system, starting from 12/01/2024, until 23:59 on 17/05/2024, which is the deadline. Applications submitted after this date will not be evaluated.
5. Applicants will notify the technical problems they experienced during the application via e-mail to filmfestival@trtworld.com.
6. As long as their duties at TRT continue, the Chairman of the Executive Board and Executive Board Members of the Turkish Radio-Television Corporation, Deputy Director General, those appointed as permanent or substitute members in the selection committee related to the organization, all TRT Personnel whether or not they take part in the Festival, their spouses and the companies they are the biggest share holder and their first degree relatives cannot participate in the competition.
C. PRIZES AND PAYMENT OF THE PRIZE AMOUNT
1. At the end of the competition, the top 3 films will receive awards.
First Prize : $5,000
Second Prize : $3,000
Third Prize : $2,000
2. The award amounts are paid after the Applicants, who are declared to have won the award, submit the documents requested by TRT to TRT and the Financial Rights Transfer Agreement is signed by the parties.
3. Applicants accept, declare and undertake that if the commitments are not fulfilled, the information specified in the application form is not correct or if it is determined by TRT that there is a violation of the participation conditions, no payment will be made; if there is a payment made, it is withdrawn together with the legal interest.

Clarification Text for Festival Audiences under the Law on No. 6698 Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (“PDPL”)

As the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (“TRT”); Within the scope of the TRT World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival process we conduct, we process some of your personal data in order to carry out the festival information, announcement and promotion processes, to increase the recognition and awareness of the festival, to make news broadcasts with your processed personal datas on TRT World Citizen Humanitarian social media accounts, festival website and TRT channels and in case you win an award, to provide the presentation and delivery of your award and to meet your transportation and accommodation within the scope of the competition. in accordance with the general principles stipulated in Article 4 of the PDPL. The personal data we process are as follows;
• Your identity information (Name, surname, age, gender, passport information),
• Your contact information (Phone number, e-mail address),
• Your bank account information (IBAN, bank)
• Your professional experience information (Educational status, university information, work institution),
• Your visual and audio recordings (Visual and audio recordings in photographs, video and audio recordings),
• Your social media account information.

We process your personal data through FilmFreeway site automatically, within the scope of the data processing conditions “It is necessary for the legitimate interests of the data controller, provided that the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject are not harmed” stipulated under the Law No. 6698 Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (“PDPL”)

We can transfer your personal data to courts and authorized public institutions and organizations, if necessary, in order to follow legal and judicial processes. In addition, your personal data will be shared with the hotel and transportation company in order to meet your transportation and accommodation, the bank in order to deliver the award to you if you win an award, and the competition social media account, website and other relevant TRT channels for the promotion and announcement of the competition. Except for the specified third parties, we do not share your personal data with unrelated and unauthorized third parties.
For detailed information you can visit our website (https://www.trt.net.tr/Kurumsal/GizlilikPolitikasi.aspx) and submit your requests in accordance with Article 11 of the PDPL “Regulating the rights of the data subject” to us in accordance with the Communique on the Principles and Procedures For The Request to Data Controller.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Gisella Gobbi

    It was a great honour for me to have participated in the TRT World Citizen Humanitarian Film Festival.
    Your Festival was a wonderful experience both on the human and professional level.
    Congratulations once again to the whole team, you were fantastic in welcoming us and making us feel part of a group. Gisella Gobbi

    November 2023
  • Huge and professional festival
    It was great honor

    November 2023
  • Safar Ali Danish

    It was wonderful film festival, I have no words to explain, I have attended many other international festivals also, but this one was very special for me.

    November 2023
  • Laurent Yannick Dorego

    Excellent festival particulièrement pour une deuxième edition.

    September 2022
  • Mosayeb Hanaei

    A great festival that follows important and global issues, I hope to see the progress of this festival every year.

    April 2022