Regulations film submission Student Award 2025

Every documentary film submitted for the Student Award 2025 must meet the following requirements:

 

1. General conditions of participation

Only students of the partner universities of DOK.fest München are eligible for submission.

 

  • The Student Award can nominate films of any length. There is no minimum running time.
  • The date of completion is after 1 January 2024.
  • Until the screening at the festival, the submitted film must not have had a regular theatrical release in Germany, or broadcast on a public or free-to-air private channel. Furthermore, films that are available on freely accessible internet platforms are excluded from the festival. In individual cases, the decision on admission is the responsibility of the festival management.
  • The film must be submitted by 16 December 2024 via the online form (for further information, see point 8).

 

2. No fees

Submissions for the Student Award are exempt from payment of the submission fee for the participating universities.

 

3. Language versions

English or German subtitles are required for the viewing process. An exception exists for submissions in French and Spanish. Please write a short comment that you will deliver the subtitles at a later stage. If your film is invited to the festival, German or English subtitles are mandatory. If your film is selected for one of the competitions, English subtitles are required for jury viewing.

 

4. Programming / selection

All programming decisions are made by our selection committee. In the final instance, the programme management is responsible for the film selection and series allocation. Premieres will also be given preference outside of the competition series.

 

5. Granting of rights, legal guarantees and exemptions

By submitting the film, you guarantee to be the sole owner of all rights to the work. This includes the personal rights, copyrights and ancillary copyrights of all persons appearing in the film and those involved in the production of the film as well as the rights of other third parties. The screening rights of the film and the trailer, the right to distribute the press material are to be temporarily granted to DOK.fest München in case your film is selected. The same applies to the transfer of rights for the presentation of the film on the digital screen.

If your film is selected for the festival, you grant DOK.fest München these rights without the need for any further declaration. You shall exempt DOK.fest München from any claims by third parties in connection with the rights referred to in Item 4 Paragraph 1, including the reasonable costs of the necessary legal defense such as, in particular, attorney's fees and court costs.

 

6. Publicitiy / promotion

If your film is selected we require press and photo material to be provided promptly. By accepting the regulations, you assure that you will make the material (online download link, photos, texts, trailers) available to the festival for press relations and promotional purposes in our print materials, on our website as well as on our social media channels in the context of DOK.fest München. Likewise, you agree that DOK.fest München may use film clips of up to three minutes as part of the festival coverage on the website. With your consent, you also grant DOK.fest München the right to pass on photos as well as trailers to selected partners for promotional purposes.

For the presentation of our respective festival edition on the website, you agree to the retention period of the photo material in our archive.

 

7. Presentation formats

The following exhibition formats are required:

  • DCI compliant Digital Cinema Package DCP
  • ProRes File 4.2.2 HQ (sound format 5.1) or a H.264 file

 

  1. 8. Steps to film submission

Film submissions are made via our website under „My Account”.

  • If you are submitting a film for the first time and do not yet have a user account with us, please register here by creating an account.
  • If you already have an account, you can log in at our website at any time and submit a new film. In case you have forgotten your password, you can request a new one via our system.
  • To submit via the online form, select the module "Your films" under "Your account" after logging in. You can then use the button "Submit a film" (top right) to start your submission.

For the free submission for the Student Award, please select the section "Student Award" under "Registration for".

Please fill in the online form completely (including online screening link – a rough cut is sufficient). Please enter correct and, if possible, complete information about the submitted film, as we will work with the information when selecting the film for our programme. The information you provide will be included in our programme booklet as well as on our website.

Upon receipt of your film submission you will receive a confirmation email to the email address you provided during online registration. Submissions that are incomplete or do not meet the above criteria will be considered rejected and will not be screened.

For the time being, please do not send us any digital photos, trailers or transcripts. If your film is selected, we will request this material from you. We ask for your understanding that print material sent in unfortunately cannot be returned.

 

9. Screening fee

DOK.fest München pays screening fees, both for the presentation in the cinemas and additionally on the digital screen. The screening fee is agreed with the rights holders – taking into account the best possible presentation of the festival films, we focus on invitations to the filmmakers and the corresponding (proportional) reimbursement of travel and hotel costs. There is also the opportunity to win a prize in various cross-series competitions (DOK.fest Award of SOS Kinderdörfer weltweit, German Documentary Film Music Award, VFF Documentary Film Production Award). There are no claims to the assumption of costs or to any other form of remuneration.

 

10. Validity of these conditions of participation

By completing the registration using the online form, you accept the validity of the conditions of participation. These entry conditions apply to all current film submissions, even if they have not been expressly agreed upon again. DOK.fest München does not recognize deviating terms and conditions even if they are known, unless DOK.fest München has expressly agreed to their validity in writing.

 

  1. 11. Place of jurisdiction and the application of German law

Munich is understood as the place of jurisdiction as far as it is permissible. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to the exclusion of conflicting laws.

Contact

If you have any questions about the regulations, please contact:

Jan Sebening 
sebening@dokfest-muenchen.de