Rules & Regulations
1. Who can apply
1.1 Submissions are open to filmmakers worldwide. There is no restriction on nationality, residence or age.
1.2 National and international submissions are judged in a single pool under identical rules. There is no separate national competition.
1.3 The applicant must hold all necessary rights to the material submitted, including music and archive footage.
2. Genre and content
2.1 There is no genre restriction. Documentary, fiction, animation, experimental, essay film, video art and hybrid forms are all accepted.
2.2 There is no subject restriction. Your film does not need to be about ecology.
2.3 There is no restriction on how the film was made. Work shot on a phone, made by one person, produced at a film school or made with no budget is judged on exactly the same terms as everything else.
2.4 Work containing hate speech, advocating discrimination, or evidently made in violation of its participants' consent will not be considered.
3. Sections
Each film is submitted to one section only.
3.1 New Circulation
3.1.1 Completed films that have not yet entered circulation.
3.1.2 Running time: 30 minutes maximum.
3.1.3 Year of production: 1 January 2022 or later.
3.1.4 Films eliminated in other festivals' preliminary selection are especially welcome. Having been rejected is not a flaw here — it is the idea this festival was founded on.
3.1.5 There is no premiere requirement, but the film must not have been widely screened. Work that has played at more than three festivals will be redirected to Re-Circulation.
3.2 Re-Circulation
3.2.1 Previously screened films that deserve a second life.
3.2.2 Running time: 30 minutes maximum.
3.2.3 Year of production: no limit.
3.2.4 Premieres are not accepted. The film must have had at least one previous screening.
3.2.5 Award-winning films are accepted. An award is not an obstacle here; it is a reference.
3.2.6 Applications must state where and when the film has previously screened.
3.3 The Unfinished
3.3.1 Work that was abandoned, interrupted, or never completed.
3.3.2 Running time: up to 30 minutes of existing material.
3.3.3 Year of production: no limit.
3.3.4 Rough cuts, assembly edits, unmixed sound, ungraded footage, missing scenes, unresolved endings and raw material that was only ever shot are all accepted.
3.3.5 No intention to finish the film is required. Being unfinished is not a shortcoming in this section — it is the subject of it.
3.3.6 Applications should briefly describe what stopped the film.
3.4 Film Compost — The Second Cut
3.4.1 Films built from existing, disused or other people's footage.
3.4.2 Running time: 30 minutes maximum.
3.4.3 The new work must have been assembled on or after 1 January 2024.
3.4.4 The age of the source material is unrestricted. A 2026 film cut from 1960s home video belongs in this section.
3.4.5 Sources may include archives, found footage, offcuts from a shoot, your own older material, family videos, corporate or educational films and footage from the internet.
3.4.6 Applications must declare the origin of the material and the basis on which it is being used.
4. Running time
4.1 The limit in all four sections is 30 minutes, credits included.
4.2 There is no minimum length.
4.3 For work that exceeds the limit by a small margin, an exception may be requested by contacting the festival before submitting. The decision rests with the festival.
5. Feature films
5.1 Feature films are not accepted into the competition sections, and no open call is issued for them.
5.2 The festival's opening programme consists of a single feature film, invited by the festival and screened out of competition.
6. Language and subtitles
6.1 At the submission stage, films not in Turkish must be submitted with English subtitles. Subtitles may be burned in or supplied as a separate file.
6.2 Turkish-language films do not require subtitles at the submission stage.
6.3 Films without dialogue do not require subtitles.
6.4 If selected, a time-coded subtitle file (.srt, .vtt or .ass) is requested within five days of notification: in Turkish for Turkish-language films, in English for all others.
6.5 Where only burned-in subtitles exist, the festival will work with the filmmaker to find a solution. This alone is not grounds for removal from the selection.
6.6 Turkish subtitles for the screening are produced by the festival at its own expense and provided to the filmmaker free of charge on request.
6.7 A subtitle file is not required in The Unfinished section.
7. Submission
7.1 Submission is free in all sections. No entry or handling fee is charged.
7.2 Submissions are made through FilmFreeway.
7.3 Screening links are accepted via FilmFreeway, Vimeo or YouTube.
7.4 Private and unlisted links, along with any passwords, must remain valid until 30 November 2026.
7.5 More than one film may be submitted. Each film requires a separate submission and goes to one section only.
7.6 If you are unsure which section fits, submit to the closest one; we can move it with your approval.
7.7 Please state whether the film has been submitted to, or accepted by, other festivals in Türkiye.
8. Key dates
Submissions open1 September 2026
Regular deadline5 October 2026
Extended deadline12 October 2026
Notification of results22 October 2026
Screening file delivery31 October 2026
Festival7–8 November 2026
9. Selection and screening
9.1 Selection grants the festival the right to screen the film on 7–8 November 2026 at CerModern, Ankara.
9.2 The festival may use up to 60 seconds of the film in promotional and press material.
9.3 Any circulation beyond this — screenings at other venues in Ankara, screenings on the festival website and online platforms, screenings elsewhere in Türkiye and internationally, and the 2027 schools programme — takes place only with separate written permission from the rights holder.
9.4 Permission granted for any one of these does not constitute permission for the others, and may be withdrawn at any time.
9.5 No screening outside the festival dates carries any cost to the filmmaker.
9.6 The festival does not pay screening fees; travel and accommodation are not covered.
10. Awards
10.1 There is no cash prize.
10.2 One jury award is presented in each of the four sections, along with a single Audience Award.
10.3 Every award consists of the official festival laurel and a grove of trees planted in the film's name.
10.4 Award or no award, every selected film receives a Turkish-subtitled copy free of charge and becomes part of the festival's circulation programme.
10.5 Films selected in The Unfinished are offered an open conversation with the audience about what stopped the film.
11. General
11.1 Submitting constitutes acceptance of these regulations.
11.2 Films may be withdrawn on written request up to the notification date.
11.3
