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Regulations 2009

DOK Leipzig is an annual festival for documentary and animated films. The City of Leipzig as the responsible authority has commissioned Leipziger DOK-Filmwochen GmbH, a non-profit-making limited liability company, to organise, prepare and manage the Festival.

Under the motto “The HeArt of Documentary”, the DOK Festival serves the promotion and increased circulation of international documentary and animated films and provides film-makers, producers, distributors, commissioning editors, journalists and media scientists with an opportunity to meet and exchange views with each other as well as with the Leipzig cinema audiences.

PLEASE NOTE: This year's submission deadline has expired! Thank you for your understanding.

1. PROGRAMME SECTIONS AND COMPETITIONS

The Festival programme consists of:

competitions
information and special programmes
retrospectives

The Festival management is in charge of developing the Festival programme and strategy, for selecting the films to be shown and for programming them.

DOK Leipzig has the following competitive sections:

International Competition for Documentary Film
International Competition for Animated Film
International Young Documentary Talent Competition – Generation DOK
German Competition for Documentary Film

The 2009 competitions are open to:

documentary films and videos of any length
animated films and videos of up to 45 minutes length
animadok films and videos (hybrids between documentary and animated films) of any length

For the International Competition for Documentary Film, the International Young Talent Competition for Documentary Film – Generation DOK and the German Competition for Documentary Film only those films can be selected that have never been screened in Germany before (including the Prix Europa). World, international or European premieres will be favoured.

For Generation DOK – the International Young Talent Competition for Documentary Film only films of such directors who have not made more than three documentary films prior to the one submitted shall qualify (excluding those during their training).

World, international or European premieres will be favoured for the International Competition for Animated Film.

Any screening on TV and/or in a theatrical release in Germany before the end of the festival will disqualify a documentary film from the official DOK Leipzig programme (competitions, International Programme). The party submitting a film shall inform the Festival about any such dates, should the film have been scheduled for screening on TV or in a cinema. If the screening is scheduled for a date prior to the end of the festival, or if any such date becomes known, the film will be immediately disqualified and excluded from the official programme. In such case, the Festival reserves the right to claim damages.

Documentary Films can only be selected for any one of the competitions (see section 4 "Selection of films" below).

The Festival accepts entries which can be screened as 16 or 35 mm film prints or as videos in the formats High Definition, Beta Digital PAL or Betacam SP PAL. Films selected for a competitive section will be screened in their original version; documentary films are translated simultaneously into German and English via headphones or are screened in a subtitled version in German or English. HD can only be screened in selected cinemas and programme sections.

2. JURIES AND AWARDS

The members of the juries will be appointed by the Festival Director. The International Jury for Documentary Film consists of five members, all other juries of three members each. The International Jury for Animated Film decides on the Prize for the best German animated film as well.

The decisions of the juries are ultimate. For a detailed list of all prizes please klick here [to be confirmed for 2009].

3. FILM ENTRY TO THE FESTIVAL

PLEASE NOTE: This year's submission deadline has expired. Thank you for your understanding.

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Documentary film productions submitted to the DOK Festival must not have been shown publicly prior to 1 October 2008.

Animated film productions submitted to the Festival must not have been shown publicly prior to 15 March 2008.

Films and videos, that have been completed prior to 1 May 2009, must be submitted by 29 May 2009. All other entries must be sent to the festival’s office by 10 July 2009 (date of the incoming mail). Later entries to the festival cannot be considered. It is requested to send the films as soon as possible.

The film entry assumes unrestricted acceptance of the Festival regulations. By entering their film, applicants agree to the selection of their entry to one of the competitive or other Festival programmes.

For submitting a film please fill in the official entry form on-line which could be found on our service pages. After we have registered the entry form you will get a confirmation by e-mail and a pdf-version of the filled-in entry form. Following that, the items listed below must be submitted:

the official entry form (transmitted by us in pdf format, to be printed out and signed)
a brief synopsis (max. 200 words)
a CV and a filmography of the director (with title, genre and year of production, festivals and broadcasters involved)
a complete dialogue list with time codes in German or English (with foreign productions)
stills and a photo of the director (digital, 300 DPI, JPG is preferred)
press material (credits, electronic press kit, press book, poster etc.)
2 DVDs (no blu ray or HD DVD), VHS viewing cassette or digital data transmission.

When submitting a film for viewing per digital data transmission, please check the relevant box in the entry form. Any further technical information and the access data will then be transmitted automatically by e-mail.

Should an entry be made to the DOK Market, one DVD of the film's final version in English will be requested (which can be submitted under separate cover). It is recommended to submit all documents in German and English.

No entry fees will be charged for submitting films to the festival. However, an administrative flat fee will become due for films entered for the DOK Market (see section 6 "DOK Market Digital" below). The festival organizer will not pay any shipping costs, customs duties or any other expenses incurred in connection with submitting the productions. Documents and DVDs submitted cannot be returned.

All required materials have to be sent to the following address:

DOK LEIPZIG
GROSSE FLEISCHERGASSE 11
04109 LEIPZIG
GERMANY

Shipments with video cassettes and DVDs from non-EU-countries must be marked as follows "NO COMMERCIAL VALUE, FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY". Since the entries to the festival do not represent a commercial value as such (i.e. the goods are not intended for sale and no profit is made), keep the amount as low as possible when declaring the shipment value, so that any customs duties possibly charged are kept to a minimum.

4. SELECTION

The Festival Director will decide, jointly with the Selection Committee, about the selection of films for the Festival programme. The final decision shall rest with the Festival Director.

All those submitting films or videos to the Festival will be informed by e-mail by 30 September 2009 at the latest, whether their entry has been included in the Festival programme. In this case, they must ensure that the screening prints or tapes will arrive in Leipzig by 9 October 2009 at the latest (clearly marked in the internationally accepted manner).

5. AUTHORISATION

No film selected may be withdrawn from the DOK Festival programme after its publication. The Festival shall be entitled to use footage from the film with a maximal length of three minutes for Festival promotion purposes and reports on TV and make such footage available to reporting broadcasters. The Festival shall also be entitled to show footage online on its website. The total duration of these extracts must not exceed ten per cent of a film's total length. During the Festival, the film can be viewed by professional guests in the DOK Market, the digital video library of the Festival. DOK Leipzig is entitled to digitise the submitted production for this internal purpose. The Festival reserves the right to archive selected viewing cassettes and DVDs for internal purposes as well as for non-profit-making and non-public educational work. Any commercial exploitation by the Festival shall be excluded.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is supporting, for the first time, the Healty Workplaces Film Award at DOK Leipzig which is endowed with € 8,000. The Winner of the Healthy Workplaces Film Award grants EU-OSHA the right to

Place a trailer or an excerpt of the winning film of up to five minutes and stills (pictures) on the EU-OSHA website, in press releases or in the EU-OSHA newsletter free of charge.
Show and present the trailer or the winning film in its entirety at non-public and non-commercial EU-OSHA organised events and workshops in Europe free of charge.

By entering their film, applicants signify their willingness to abide by these regulations. Any issues not clarified by these regulations shall be adjudicated by the Festival management.

6. DOK MARKET DIGITAL

With its fully digitized DOK Market video library DOK Leipzig offers an outstanding opportunity for the distribution and promotion of all current productions in the Festival programme as well as 150 additional selected documentary entries. The DOK Market targets at professional visitors to the Festival, i.e. distributors, commissioning editors, buyers, festival programmers, journalists etc. The documentary films selected for the DOK Market will be encluded in a separate DOK Market catalogue with all information necessary for distribution.

Should an entry be made to the DOK Market as well, one DVD of the film’s final version in English will be requested (but can be submitted under separate cover). It is recommended to submit all documents in German and English.

All documentary films screened at the competitions, in the International Programme and as part of the special programme "T.I.A. - This is Africa" will be digitised automatically and free of charge and entered into the DOK Market Digital. The parties submitting a film shall be responsible that all details which are relevant for distribution purposes are updated und that the DOK Market office is informed accordingly. The approval to digitise the films is assumed to have been granted to the Festival management (see section 5 above). If a party submitting a film to the Festival does not wish to enter it into the DOK Market, the DOK Market office shall be explicitly informed in writing.

In addition to that, all animated films selected for the official programme will be made available to expert visitors in the DOK Market. However, these films will not be listed in the separate DOK Market catalogue.

The entry of other documentary films into the DOK Market shall depend on a decision of the Selection Committee and of the Festival Management. Should a film be selected for the DOK Market, a flat fee of € 90.00 plus VAT will be charged. Requests for having a film entered into the DOK Market should be indicated in the relevant field on the application form, by which the applicant also grants his permission to have the film digitised for the DOK Market videotheque.

7. INVITATION

The Festival will invite filmmakers, whose films have been selected for one of the competitive sections, for three to five nights to Leipzig and pay their accommodation for this period. The travel expenses for participants in the competition as well as accommodation expenses for filmmakers, whose films have been selected for one of the other programmes, can only be borne by the festival in exceptional cases, provided there are sufficient funds.

8. TRANSPORTATION OF SCREENING PRINTS OR TAPES

The shipping costs to the Festival to Leipzig shall be borne by the sender. A pro-forma invoice must be attached to shipments from abroad. Since the entries to the festival do not represent a commercial value as such (i.e. the goods are not intended for sale and no profit is made), keep the amount as low as possible when declaring the shipment value, so that any customs duties possibly charged are kept to a minimum. Shipments with tapes and prints will have to be endorsed as follows: "NO COMMERCIAL VALUE, FOR CULTURAL/FESTIVAL PURPOSES ONLY".

The Festival organiser takes care of the return costs for exportation and shipping, excluding fees for re-imports storage etc. The sender will have to bear the insurance costs for the shipping to Leipzig as well as from the delivery to the first forwarder during the return shipment. Tapes and prints will be returned through the festival's courier service.

All copies will be insured by the Festival for the replacement costs of the screening print or tape of the same type and quality from the moment they are received by the organisers until they are handed over to the first forwarding agent for the return shipment. The insurance coverage will be limited to the costs for making a new film copy or displacing the damaged reel, or in case of videos, for copying a new screening tape. The assessed costs have to be proven by supporting documents and must not exceed current laboratory prices in Germany. The liability of the Festival shall exclude any potential expenses for (intermediate) negatives or positives, master videotapes or other postproduction costs. In case of a faulty screening the Festival cannot be held responsible for any immaterial damage. Compensation claims shall be filed in writing within 6 weeks after the Festival. Later claims cannot be taken into consideration.

Leipzig, 31 March 2009(updated after submission deadline: 13 July 2009)

Regulations 2009

Regulations

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