Call for submissions: Goethe-Institut Science Film Festival

The festival is organised by Goethe-Institut and its partners and takes place at education institutions such as museums, science centres, universities and schools in several countries in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America.

Interested participants residing in the countries listed here are eligible to apply. Eligible countries in Africa are Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Namibia.

The festival bestows six awards chosen by an international jury. They are complimented with a cash prize of €1 000 ($1 200) each. The jury prize is complimented with a cash prize of €3 000.

The event presents a wide assortment of films in the following five categories to serve all age groups, but with a focus on content for young audiences:

• Culture and history.
• Family edutainment.
• Ecology and environment.
• Natural science, life science and technology.
• Non-verbal and science shorts.

Application process

• An application form must be submitted before 10 April.
• A pre-screening copy should be submitted no later than 10 April. Entrants should use a separate application form for each film, unless the films are part of a series, in which case one form can be filled out mentioning the submitted films or episodes.
• Applicants should fill in all parts of the application form. Only content produced since 1 January 2018 is accepted.
• There is no submission fee. However, the Science Film Festival principally does not pay licensing fees for films submitted for the competition.

Guidelines

• The Science Film Festival is open to all formats of films including VR and online interactive films, as well as all genres of films on science, technology and the environment. However, the festival programme focuses primarily on edutainment programmes for young audiences and documentary films for the general public, which have been broadcast on television or online.
• A version with separate ME (music and effects) tracks, if selected for the official festival programme, may be submitted for local language synchronisation. Providing a separate ME track without dialogue will facilitate a high-quality synchronisation.
• In case the submissions are standalone films or different series, please use a separate form for each entry. Films cannot be submitted again if they have already been selected into the Science Film Festival in previous years.
• The Science Film Festival pre-jury committees in the participating countries are looking for outstanding examples of contemporary international science communication and filmmaking approaches. Other considerations taken into account include local factors regarding the core festival audience of children and young people, which is why local science education experts are involved in the selection process.

Find more guidelines here.

View the original call here.