Introduction

The 22nd Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as the Festival) will be held in Kyiv on 6–13 June 2025. Due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by russia, the traditional dates of the festival have been temporarily changed. The festival is non-political and non-commercial. After it ends, Docudays UA will present the best films in the regions of Ukraine within the Docudays UA Travelling Festival. Screenings will take place from October up until and including November.

Objective of the Festival

To facilitate the respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, to establish an understanding of human dignity as the highest value, to raise the level of civil activity in Ukraine, to promote the development of documentary filmmaking.

Vision

We are creating a society of free people.

Mission of the Festival

We create opportunities for every person in Ukraine to watch talented and relevant human rights documentary films from all over the world. We promote an active civic position and respect for human dignity. We support the development of the Ukrainian film industry.

Organisers

• Non-Governmental Organization “Docudays”.

• Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

• Charity Organization “Charity and Health Fund”. 

• Centre for Contemporary Information Technology and Visual Arts.

The Festival programme, guest lists, juries, topics of the seminars and masterclasses, etc., are formed by the Festival team, led by the Executive Director of NGO Docudays.

Criteria for Participation 

• Non-fiction films of any genre or running time created no earlier than 2023 can participate in the competition programmes.
  
  

• Only films not screened earlier in competition programmes of other Ukrainian festivals, on Ukrainian television, in Ukrainian cinemas, or on the internet can participate in the international competition programmes.

• There is no restriction on genre, running time or year of production for non-fiction films participating in the non-competition programmes. The topics for the non-competition programmes are defined annually by the Festival team. The films for the non-competition programmes are selected by the Selection Council based on the defined topics.
  
  

• The premiere requirement of Docudays UA is the Ukrainian premiere. Exceptions can be made for non-competition programmes.
  
  

• A film can be submitted for a competition programme only once. If a film is submitted again next year, the Selection Council has the right not to consider its application for participation in a competition programme.
  
  

• Films which were made to order, or represent reports on the activities of organisations, or realisation of certain projects, films of pronounced propaganda nature, which were created to lobby political or commercial interests, instructional or training films are debarred from participation.
  
  

• All the submitted online links are stored in the Festival Archive (in the FilmFreeway online database).
  
  

• If a film has been selected for the Festival programme, the Festival has the right to use sequences from the film, up to a total length of 3 minutes, for the purpose of its popularisation.
  
  

• NGO Docudays has the right to upload all the films included in its film programme to its online library. The resource is managed by NGO Docudays, begins working two weeks before the Festival, and continues working during the Festival and for three months after it ends. The purpose of the online library is to provide online access to the Festival film programme only to the accredited participants and guests during the Festival week. Accordingly, persons accredited at the Festival will receive three months of access to watch the Festival films online (starting from the opening day of the Festival). The access is individual and cannot be transferred to third parties. None of the films in the online library can be copied, published elsewhere, downloaded, uploaded, transferred, screened, accessed by or distributed to any third parties.
  
  

Programme

Competition Programme

Creative documentaries in which ethical and legal problems are revealed through expressive artistic means. The competition programme consists of three sections:

• DOCU/WORLD, an international competition of feature- and medium-length documentaries which are longer than 40 minutes.
  
  

• DOCU/SHORT, an international competition of short documentaries which are up to 40 minutes long.
  
  

• DOCU/UKRAINE, a national competition. It includes documentaries of varying lengths, created in Ukraine or in co-production with Ukraine. Films created by Ukrainian filmmakers and foreign production companies are also welcome to apply.

NGO Docudays also awards a special prize to the winner among the films nominated for the RIGHTS NOW! award. 

RIGHTS NOW! is a prize awarded to creative documentaries that explore and analyse the contemporary world and make a significant contribution to the discussion about human dignity, freedom and equality. Up to ten films from all Festival film programmes can be nominated for it.

Non-Competition Programme

Every year, the Festival chooses the main topic whose various aspects are presented in the non-competition programmes. In addition, the Festival offers traditional programmes: DOCU/BEST (international award-winning films), DOCU/ART (films that focus on art and artists as well as on the consideration of cinema as a medium), DOCU/YOUTH (a programme for children and teenagers), and retrospectives of prominent directors.

DOCU/SYNTHESIS Interdisciplinary Art Programme

In 2021, the Festival team launched the DOCU/SYNTHESIS Interdisciplinary Art Programme, which creates a space for critical reflection and dialogue between documentary cinema, contemporary art, science and technology. It explores the medium of cinema on the intersection of different disciplines.

The programme consists of an exhibition (exhibitions, collections, screenings) and/or artworks, as well as thematic discussions, moderated conversations with participants. The programme includes both finished art projects selected by curators and artworks/exhibitions created as part of the interdisciplinary art programme on the main festival theme and based on an original curatorial concept.

In 2024, the interdisciplinary art lab LAB: DOCU/SYNTHESIS x Ukraine War Archive was launched. Within its framework, several art projects and documentary films dedicated to the subjects of memory and cultural heritage preservation will be created. The exhibition and presentation of the works will take place at the 22nd Docudays UA.

DOCU/PRO Industry Platform 

Every year, the Festival programme includes the events of the DOCU/PRO Industry Platform. The platform is created to promote the development of the Ukrainian film industry, to establish contacts with international experts in the documentary world, and to create Ukrainian film projects. In particular, it includes training programs and pitchings for directors, as well as workshops and discussions for everyone who is interested in documentary film.

The main events of DOCU/PRO:

Ukrainian Doc Preview is a presentation of relevant Ukrainian films at the rough cut or post-production stage to a group of festival programmers and representatives of international sales companies and funds. The authors of each project will present 15 minutes from their rough cut and answer the audience’s questions. Ukrainian Doc Preview participants are selected by the Festival team in an open competition.

RAW DOC is a programme designed for filmmakers who are working on rough cuts of their films and want to conduct test screenings for international industry experts and receive professional feedback. During the closed screenings, participants will have the opportunity to interact with potential partners, including representatives of European public broadcasters, sales agents, and festivals.

Meet Professionals offers a chance to arrange a face-to-face meeting with international film industry experts and to benefit from their professional advice and networks. Any Festival participant with an industry accreditation for the Festival can sign up for individual sessions.

Within DOCU/PRO, the Festival works with Ukrainian and international organisations and institutions whose purpose is to develop Ukrainian and global documentary cinema, to promote the Ukrainian culture and to develop the Ukrainian film industry by integrating it into the global context.

Jury*

• RIGHTS NOW! Jury (human rights jury, 3 people) who award the special prize to the winner among the nominated films.
  
  

• DOCU/WORLD Competition Jury (3 people).
  
  

• DOCU/UKRAINE Competition Jury (3 people).
  
  

• DOCU/SHORT Competition Jury (3 people).
  
  

• Student Jury.
  
  

The Docudays UA team invites prominent Ukrainian and international filmmakers and human rights advocates to participate in the Jury. The Festival team also invites young people with an active civic position who are interested in documentary film to participate in the Student Jury.

Awards*

• Special Award from the RIGHTS NOW! Jury: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

• DOCU/WORLD Competition Jury Award: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

• DOCU/UKRAINE Competition Jury Award: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

• DOCU/SHORT Competition Jury Award: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

• Andriy Matrosov Award, founded by Docudays UA organisers in the memory of Andriy Matrosov, the Festival’s producer who died in a car accident on 16 February 2010: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

• Student Jury Award: 35,000 UAH.
  
  

The awards in all the programmes and nominations are given out to the film director(s).
Additionally, in each of these nominations, the Jury can give special mentions to up to two films.

Based on an audience survey, the Audience Award (35,000 UAH) winner will be determined.  

Organisations and private individuals can award their own special prizes upon recommendation of the Selection Council and decision of the Executive Director of NGO Docudays.

Application and Selection Procedures

The films that participate in the Festival’s competition programmes are selected by the Selection Council.

The Selection Council members include professionals in the documentary industry and human rights advocacy.

The call for applications for the 22nd Docudays UA opens on 1 August 2024.

The final application deadline for the programme of the 22nd Docudays UA is 22 December 2024.

Applications for participation in the festival's competition programmes are subject to a fee. Payment must be made online when submitting a film through the FilmFreeway service. Film submission fees are non-refundable. When filling out the application form, the applicant can choose several nominations/competitions to which they want to submit their film.

Submission deadlines and payment

* In some cases, you can submit your film for free or with a 50% discount. The following films are exempt from submission fees: nationally produced projects or projects created by Ukrainian filmmakers in cooperation with foreign production companies; as well as projects from the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cook Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Suriname, Eswatini, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Due to russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, we do not accept films produced by the aggressor country and its citizens, as well as countries that directly support russia's terrorist actions, assist and/or supply weapons to the aggressor country. Films from russia, Belarus and Iran are not eligible for consideration.

Conditions of Application

• You can only apply via the FilmFreeway service. Your application will be considered by the Selection Council only after it is filled in online.

• In the application form, you can upload the film directly with your application or provide a closed online link to Vimeo/YouTube. Links to downloads in file-sharing services (WeTransfer, MegaUpload, etc.) will not be considered by the Selection Council. Please make sure that your link works until the end of May 2025.

• When you submit an application, you confirm that you agree with the Festival Regulations and give the Festival the right to use the materials you provided for non-commercial purposes.

All participants will receive an email about the results of the selection no later than 15 April 2025.

Films mailing, insurance and return

The applicant bears all postage expenses for sending films to the Festival. To reduce postage expenses as much as possible (including customs duties), please indicate merely symbolic (token) value of packages (for example, $1). NGO Docudays covers insurance expenses for copies on DCP and 16 mm or 35 mm film. Film copies on hard drives, DCP and 16 mm and 35 mm film are to be returned at the expense of NGO Docudays within 30 days after the end of the Festival to the address indicated in your application form. If your film is sent via mail, please mark the parcel: “For cultural purposes only. No commercial value.” You must inform the Programming Department by email at [email protected] about any possible changes in the return address before the beginning of the Festival.

To send film copies via the Internet, we ask applicants to upload the film copies to the NGO Docudays FTP server using the details provided by the Programming Department.

Screenings

The number of screenings of each film is determined by the Programming Department of the Festival and the rights holders. Films are demonstrated in their original language with English and Ukrainian subtitles. The costs of the Ukrainian translation will be covered by the Docudays UA Festival. The costs of creating English subtitles for the films whose country of production is Ukraine must be covered by the producers/rights holders. In addition, the rights holders of films in Russian must provide a copy with Ukrainian and English subtitles created at their own expense. NGO Docudays and the Festival organisers provide the accredited Festival participants and guests with access to the video library (as well as the online video library) which stores all the films that participate in the Festival. The film screenings are discussed directly with the authors and rights holders of the films.

Invitation and Participation*

Directors, scriptwriters, producers of the films selected for participation in the competition and non-competition programmes are invited as Festival participants. NGO Docudays covers their hotel accommodation and travel expenses. No per diem is paid.

Promotion and Advertising

Festival organisers can prepare and give to television stations special reels of selected films up to three minutes in length (using the projection copies that have been sent in). The organisers can also use film fragments of up to one minute in length to create a Festival announcement aimed for the media and to demonstrate them before film screenings. NGO Docudays has the right to use sequences from the film, up to a total length of 3 minutes, for the purpose of the Festival’s popularisation. The organisers provide free-of-charge placement of ads and information about the films that participate in the Festival programme and about the partner organisations of the Festival.

Access for the press

The organisers ask to send film copies with watermarks in order to create a special video library for press and media representatives for the purpose of proper promotion of festival events and films.

The Travelling Festival

After the end of the Festival in Kyiv, the organisers carry out the Travelling Docudays UA Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in the regions of Ukraine. The screenings are held in October–November in cinemas, houses of culture, universities, schools, youth clubs, book stores, libraries, as well as in prisons and jails and in educational facilities for future penitentiary system workers, etc. The screenings of festival films in the regions are reinforced by discussions on human rights with involvement of experts.

The Travelling Festival is a non-profit event; however, to reduce renting costs for cinema halls, the organisers reserve the right to allow cinema owners to sell entry tickets, provided that the ticket price does not exceed the technical operational costs. The organisers have no right to profit from such ticket sales. If you as a Festival participant agree to your film’s participation in the Travelling Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, please mark your application form accordingly.

Archive

The films can be used by the organisers (Non-Governmental Оrganization “Docudays”, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Charity Organization “Charity and Health Fund”, and Centre for Contemporary Information Technology and Visual Arts) in their work related to the implementation of the purposes and objectives of their organisations—strictly for educational, not commercial reasons, and with prior consent of the rights holders.

Other

Any issue not provided for in the Regulations is to be considered directly by the Executive Director of NGO Docudays, taking into account the opinion of Festival Organisers and the Selection Council, in accordance with the procedures for holding international festivals. A filled-in and signed application form submitted to the Selection Council confirms that the applicant agrees with the conditions stated in the Regulations.

* Under the conditions imposed by Decree 64/2022 of the President of Ukraine of 24 February 2022 “On implementing martial law in Ukraine,” approved by the Law of Ukraine 2102-IX of 24 February 2022 (with amendments); the Procedures for Conducting Events during the Introduction of Curfew and Establishment of a Special Light Masking Regime in Specific Areas where Martial Law Has Been Implemented, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Decree 573 of 8 July 2020; the Law of Ukraine “On the legal regime of martial law” and other legislative and regulatory acts adopted by government bodies due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as for the purpose of preventing the emergence of or eliminating threats to the life and safety of individuals, the interests of society or the state, and ensuring public order, the organisers reserve the right to make changes to these Regulations with further informing of all the interested parties by publishing the changes on www.docudays.ua, and to make changes which concern, in particular but not exclusively:

— the competition and non-competition programme, particularly by excluding certain sections of the competition programme. If certain sections of the competition or non-competition programme are excluded, organisers will not screen the announced films, together with the ones whose applications have been approved;

— main DOCU/PRO events, particularly by excluding them completely or partially;

— moving dates.

Official Festival website: www.docudays.ua 

22ND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

6–13 June 2025