The 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival“D20 Nomination” Call for Entry
This announcement is an open call for entries of documentaries for “D20 Nomination” Competition of the 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival (IDF 2020).01 | West Lake International Documentary Festival (IDF)West Lake International Documentary Festival (IDF) is a high standard platform for the arts and the humanities that promotes documentaries through screenings, competition, pitching, forums and workshops, which is held by the side of West Lake, Hangzhou during every golden autumn.
IDF stands for “I-Documentary-Fact” and aims to explore the relationship between documentary creation subjects, objects, and methods. The festival is centered on “discovering documentary subjects, designing experiments for youth, holding high the will of the people, and reshaping the poetry of oriental culture”. Furthermore, IDF promotes the values associated with honest observation and humanitarian responsibility. IDF encourages reflection on human existence, especially in the natural world, through the lenses of documentaries. Through this form of record, we can also think about the inheritance of culture through changing times, about the artistic expression of oriental poetry in a pluralistic society, and about initiating the return of documentary to its authentic core, returning us to the positive values of humanistic care.
The 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival will be held in Hangzhou from 17th October to 19th October 2020 with the theme of “Life, Lives”.
“People can’t live without water and fire”; the ancient Chinese thinker Mencius once said.
Through the annual theme, ‘Life, Lives’, we try to unfold a view of not only individual life, but the myriad of lives and their daily life in which they live, and for which they fight.
The spring of 2020 is long and difficult for everyone. This worldwide calamity which we are facing together, caused a huge pain in everyone’s mind, while we also realize deeply that we, as a whole, share a common present and future and this connection will not be constrained by time and distance.
There are thousands of great works of art and literature being created in the time of crisis. For documentary filmmakers, the setbacks and difficulties brought by changing circumstances are, on the other side, a turning point for self-promoting, strengthening will-power and re-examining life.
Where there is a living, there is a life. Embracing that modest attitude to explore the essences of life and living, IDF hopes to record the image which tells the life stories of thousands of lives, for the next ten years.
03 | “D20 Nomination” Competition“D20 Nomination” Competition is the main competition section of the West Lake International Documentary Festival. Its aim is to highlight outstanding documentary filmmakers as well as films, all the while encouraging documentary filmmakers to be curious and persistent on their journey of creation. The festival conducts an open call for submission and the recommendation by international film selection consultants. The submission opens to feature-length documentaries (60 minutes and above), short documentaries (less than 60 minutes) and documentary series (2 episodes or more, or associated series) completed after 1st January, 2019. After first-round evaluation and nomination of candidates by the selection committee and re-evaluation and examination by the academic committee, 20 documentaries will be shortlisted, entering “D20 Nomination” competition of the 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival. The finalists will be evaluated by an international jury committee and compete for a grand prize of 650,000 RMB.
IDF2020 openly calls for documentaries around the world, including feature-length documentaries, short documentaries and documentary series. Entries must satisfy the following conditions:
1）The documentary must be completed after 1st Jan, 2019.2）The duration of feature-length documentary should be over 60 minutes; the duration of short documentary should be within 60 minutes; the documentary series contains at least two episodes or above, or relevant documentary videos.3）The work must be directly participated by the entrant, and the entrant must be the copyright holder or representative of the copyright owner of the work.4）Priority to documentaries with World Premiere or Chinese Premiere status.5）The documentary which has been shortlisted in the previous “D20 Nomination” Competition or has been selected in the previous “Glory of Documentary” Screening Section, cannot be participated in again with the competition.
The documentaries must be entered online at the official website of West Lake International Documentary Festival (www.westlakeidf.com). No entry fee is required. Please fill in the application form carefully, once the information being uploaded, the entrant can not re-edit it.1) IDF Best Documentary of the Year | 200,000 yuan (RMB)2) D20 Best Documentary Series | 150,000 yuan (RMB)3) D20 Best Feature-Length Documentary | 100,000 yuan (RMB)4) D20 Filmmaker of the Year | 100,000 yuan (RMB)5) Special Mention | 100,000 yuan (RMB)
Entry for the 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival registration is open from now. The deadline for entry is 20th July, 2020. The documentaries submitted beyond this deadline will not be included in the evaluation process.
The documentaries must be entered through the official website www.westlakeidf.com of West Lake International Documentary Festival within the entry period. Please read the Announcement of IDF 2020 The 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival “D20 Nomination” carefully, fill in the required information, submit the requested materials, upload the full-length documentary according to requirement, and complete the entry.If you prefer to submit the hard copy, please send the Blue-ray Disc or Mobile Hard Disk Drive to IDF Office (Please mark “D20 Nomination Registration”, film title, name of the entrant and the contact number). If you send cross-border materials through international express, please fill in customs declaration value within 10 dollars, and mark “only for cultural purposes” and “no-commercial value” on the mail parcel.
All materials that been sent to IDF Office must have paid the mailing fee and customs duties, otherwise, the organizing committee has the right to reject the parcel. You can also deliver the hard drive to IDF Office in person (Please contact the organizing committee in advance to check the office hour).
All submitted materials will keep in the archive and won’t be returned.
The organizing committee shall not bear the mailing cost and the insurance cost of the materials, nor shall it bear the responsibility for loss, error or damage of the materials caused by the mailing process or other irresistible factors.
West Lake International Documentary Festival Organizing Committee 11/F, Building 7, China Academy of Art, NO.352 XiangShan, Hangzhou, P. R. China
Postcode: 310024
Contact: Xiaoan SHI
Mobile: 0086 - 15868110424
Tel: 0086 - 571 - 87200617
Fax: 0086 - 571 - 87200617
Email: idf@westlakeidf.com
1）Version required for Competition Evaluation- The version for “D20 Nomination” competition evaluation must be no less than 1920*1080, no more than 3GB MOV/MP4 format;- At least two episodes of documentary series are required to be uploaded;- All the documentary must have English subtitles, all Chinese documentaries must be subtitled in Chinese except for no dialogue films;- If you need to add watermark, please mark “IDF Preview” in the upper right corner of the screen, no other watermark is allowed.- Synopsis and director’s statement (around 300 words)- Trailer (within 3 min): MOV or MP4 format, resolution no less than 1920*1080- 1 poster, 3 to 5 film stills, JPG format (the pixel shall not be lower than 300 dpi)- A recent photo of director, JPG format (the pixel shall not be lower than 300 dpi)- Subtitles with time-code in “.srt” or “.ass” format or in “.doc” or “.txt” format
Please upload the documentary for competition evaluation together with the required materials on IDF official website www.westlakeidf.com within the registration period. The entrant will receive the notification email from the organizing committee after processing the materials. Otherwise, it means the application has not been completed (including incomplete information, missing required materials or uploading failure, etc.) After the application process, documentaries that have been registered shall not be withdrawn or quit from the competition for any reason.
04 | Legal Liability StatementThe entrant must be the copyright holder or representative of the copyright owner of the work and will guarantee that the materials used in the documentary, including but not limited to music, recordings, videos, images or other works and materials, are original or have been authorized by the copyright owner according to law. If there are other people’s portraits, the entrant will guarantee to obtain the shooting license and the right of portrait of the photographed person. Once there are any legal disputes, including intellectual property disputes, arising from the above-mentioned reasons, the entrant shall take all legal liabilities, including entire liability for intellectual property rights infringement and liability for compensation. The Committee reserves the right to refuse the documentary when the documentary involved in any copyright disputes or portrait right infringement.
- All the documentaries nominated at the first-round will enter into the second-round evaluation after which the academic committee of West Lake International Documentary Festival will decide the shortlist for “D20 Nomination”. The organizing committee will formally notify the entrant by email and announce the official shortlist.- The entrant should provide a 422HQ MOV or DCP file for screening. In addition to the technical adjustment of subtitle translation, the version must be consistent with the initial review version. The digital file must be sent to the organizing committee through hard disk (equipped data lines, power lines, transfer interfaces, and other necessary accessories), and the deadline will be noticed on the official invitation letter. The mailing cost should bear by the entrant.* If the screening version isn’t provided according to the requirement, the organizing committee has the right to cancel the screening of the documentary during the festival.
* Before the screening in IDF, no public screening for shortlisted documentaries, which probably affect the premiere status, is allowed.
- Information and stills of nominated documentaries will be presented in the IDF catalogue, official website, online and offline promotional materials. The organizing committee has the right to reserve high-resolution video file in IDF’s archive, in purpose of education program and non-commercial use.- The organizing committee will invite the filmmaker of D20 nominated documentaries to attend the 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival including the opening ceremony, award ceremony, post-screening Q&A, IDF Forum and related events. The organizing committee will cover the expense of round-way transportation and accommodation for the invited filmmaker (if the nominated documentary has more than one filmmaker, the organizing committee will only cover the expense for one filmmaker).- The nominated documentaries will be publicly screened during the festival, and the schedule and the location for the screening will be determined by the organizing committee. After the award ceremony, the winning documentary will be publicly screened again, and the committee keeps the rights to negotiate and explain on the schedule and location for screening.- For all nominated and award-winning documentaries, the organizing committee will provide the corresponding laurel. The laurel with the logo of West Lake International Documentary Festival must be presented in subsequent promotional materials.
By submitting the application, the applicant shall be deemed to have read, understand and agreed to all provisions of this announcement.The organizing committee of the 4th West Lake International Documentary Festival (IDF 2020) reserves the right to amend this charter, rules, terms or other related conventions. If there are any revisions or matters not mentioned in this announcement, the IDF Committee will promulgate it separately. The IDF organizing committee owns the final right to interpret on this charter without public discussion.The Organizing Committee
of the 4th West Lake
International Documentary Festival
April, 2020
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