***CRITERIA***

We are looking for:

– Features and short films. Mostly ‘human’ portrait and awareness documentaries, but also fiction films that are specifically made to create awareness or give voice.

– Films that give voice to a person and that allows human voices (not literally voices, but

essentially the stories, issues, missions of human beings) to be heard; think of people we otherwise never hear off or see.

– Films that are specifically made to create awareness; overtly pertaining to an individual or group/subculture through whose cinematic journey we become aware of particular issues, situations, difficulties, discoveries, concerns, passions and much more.

– Films that specifically regard social justice

– Films that give a voice for nature and the natural ecological environment.

– Films that regard subcultures that need to be discovered or their stories told.

– Films that display or study the human ‘nature’.

– Films that regard society, issues, complexities, events, good or bad.

– Films that regard the good things of human beings that mainstream media do not display.

– Films about marginalized groups, persons, cultures, minorities, majorities, all sorts of diasporas’, people of all colors, about gender, lgbtq+ communities, allies, religion, ethnicity, race, politics, cultures, nationalities, statelessness, Amsterdam (local events and or issues), migration, immigration, refugees, poverty, wealth, privilege.

***RULES AND TERMS***

– Your film has to be made in the past 2 years. At the moment it should have been completed in either 2018 or 2019.

– We will not accept films that have been screened a year ago or longer at major film festivals in the Netherlands. If the film is to be screened a few months prior to ours then it’s okay to submit.

– The following films will NOT be accepted since we are not looking for these films this edition; pure entertainment films, big blockbuster films, action movies, fantasy films, animation films, horror films, cartoons, video essays, experimental, romance, silent films, typical TV documentaries, multimedia/video art installations or music videos.

– We are not looking for documentary films that overtly show talking head interview settings or films that rely a lot on text on screen. A minimal amount is okay, but we prefer innovative documentary formats that show the POV of the lead(s) in your documentary. A format that gives voice to the people in your documentary.

– We will not consider one-worded submissions. If you cannot passionately explain to us why your film literally gives voice to a person or people. If you can’t explain how and about what you are trying to create awareness. Or why you made a portrait documentary about a person on a mission to change something. Then how could we be passionate enough to consider your film? Please think about that.

– The deadlines after the early bird deadline have a small fee. The fee stands as a symbol that should make you think and consider if your film really is what we are looking for this edition. That is why it is important to compare your film to all the rules, terms, criteria and descriptions on this page. If we wouldn’t place a fee we would receive too many films that do not even apply to any of the rules, criteria and terms that we have set. Besides that, the fee that you pay supports the film festival and it is non-refundable. We also made sure that the fee isn’t too high. Submitting your film to our film festival automatically means that you have read everything and that you comply and agree with the rules, criteria, descriptions and terms that we’ve set and described on this page.

– No films that spread hate or division, polarization, (confirmation) bias, cherry-picking,

discrimination, and racism to anyone. Rather films that study, try to create understanding and give voice.

– Although it is highly preferred to receive films of a high and good quality grade as we live in Amsterdam which is an international and very competitive capital city. There is a slight chance that we are open to receiving films that might not be up to industry standards (for example films filmed with a with a low-quality camera or cell phone are welcome ONLY if it’s of great significance; for example: Why didn’t anybody tell me it would become this bad in Afghanistan (2007) was entirely shot via cell Phone by Cyrus Frisch). We will critique how it serves meaning, purpose, if the quality is befitting (as in justifying the imagery and the cause) of the narrative or if the story itself is moving enough to be captivating to our audiences.