Regulations
The submissions to the 17th Exile Film Festival are now open.
Deadline expires August 31, 2025.
General Conditions
– The Exile Film Festival is an international non-competition festival.
– The festival accepts both feature films and short films.
– The festival accepts all kinds of films: fiction, documentary, animation,
experimental films and more.
This festival edition accepts films in the following program sections:
Main Program
– Exile, a Global Experience
The festival’s main program screen films made by filmmakers in
exile and other filmmakers living outside their countries. Theme is free.
Special Programs
– End the World – (Apocalypse)
This is the central point of view in this year's festival film program.
– Close Up: Palestine´s Image
A cinematic program about a land and a people who, despite the systematic negation
of their very being, rise phoenix-like into existence.
A survey of the past and present of Palestine: of the resistance and struggle of a
resilient and noble people to reclaim their homeland from occupation, and to assert
their democratic rights as a free nation, framed through the lens of truth-seeking
filmmakers.
– Children at War
The forgotten victims—innocence shattered in the crossfire of conflict.
– Words and Images, the human existential soul
A film program about how the freedom of speech is controlled by the global market,
and how it transforms the human soul. In connection with the censorship of political,
ideological and religious power, and the accompanied persecution, jails and death
penalty, it limits people’s possibility for free exp
– Yes, to Peace
A film program how to obtain a lasting peace!
– Exilens porträtt
What will be the situation for the cultural and artistic creators who are forced into
exile?
What happens to their lives and work?
Existence is squeezed in a foreign country, with a foreign culture, a foreign language
and foreign horizons.
This paradoxical situation affects the identity in creation.
It is not only about the structure of the story, but exile affects the mind itself in terms
of both word choice and symbols and codes.
Portrait of Exile highlights exile poets, exile writers and exile artists who have made a
decisive impression worldwide.
– Female Filmmakers – The Focal Point of Integration
How do female filmmakers strive to visualize liberation from both traditional and
“modern” oppression of immigrant women in their new homelands?
.
Side-Programs
– Odyssey of Cinema – Freedom Odyssey
An open program for films that advocate efforts towards solidarity, human rights,
democracy, justice and freedom.
– Another View
Finally, the festival present films made by non-exiled filmmakers about immigrants
and people who live in exile, in an attempt to see from another point-of-view: a look
from the outside.’
Participation
– Online entry forms are available on the official festival web site:
www.exilefilmfestival.com.
– There is no entry fee.
– The festival does not pay screening fees for the screening of the selected films in its
programs.
– The festival reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any film for any festival
submission program.
Submission Procedure
– For each film the applicant is required to fill out a separate online entry form and
submit a preview screener of the film.
– The submitted works must be the final edited version.
– Films with dialogues or narration in languages other than Swedish must have English
subtitles.
– A preview screener can be submitted in two different ways:
1. Online – including the URL for the download of the preview screener within the
entry form. A preview screener must be available for download at the latest
20 August 2025.
2. (Air) mail – preview screener on a USB 3.0 Flash drive or External Hard disk (SSD
preferred) must should reach the festival’s office or its postal address before
31 August 2025.
NOTE! Please, mark: For cultural purposes only, no commercial value.
Postal Address:
Exile Film Festival
Linnégatan 21
Viktoriahuset, uppg. A, 1 tr.
413 04 Gothenburg – SWEDEN
Technical Requirements
– Preview screener of the film´s format:MP4, MKV,
– Screening copy : DCP – no KDM encryption key, MKV, MP4.
Film Selection
– Selection of films is carried out by the festivals film selection committee.
– A list of films selected for the programs will be announced on the festival’s official
web site not later than 31 August 2025.
– All applicants will be notified regarding the selection results.
Screening Copy Transport
– The sender bears the cost of sending the screening copies of selected films for
programs, while the festival covers the cost of the return.
– The sender must inform the festival on the manner and date for sending the screening
copies.
– Parcels arriving from abroad should be marked: ‘For cultural purposes only, no
commercial value.
– Materials sent by express courier (DHL, FedEx, UPS etc.) must be accompanied by a
pro-forma invoice amounting to a maximum of 20 EUR or 20 USD.
-The screening copy will be returned within two weeks after the festival on the address
stated in the entry form.
Rights, Obligations and Responsibilities
– Each applicant declares to be the author or rights owner of the submitted film(s) and
to own all literary, dramatic and musical rights.
– Preview screeners of the films will not be returned, but will be included in the festival’s
library.
– The festival has the right to use all materials related to the submission as well as a film
excerpt up to 10 per cent of the total length of the film that will not exceed more than
3 minutes for promotional purposes.
– The festival takes responsibility for the screening copy of the film from the arrival at
the festival office to its returning. In case of damage during the festival period, the
festival will reimburse only the material value of physical copies (after a presentation
of the original invoice). The festival is not responsible for copies lost in transport,
unless the loss has been caused by the festival’s doings.
Acceptance of Terms
Participation in the festival, and its film submission process, implies acceptance,
without reservation, to the terms of the present regulations. An entry form is valid
without a signature and a seal.
Contact
Exile Film Festival
Linnégatan 21, Viktoriahuset, uppg. A, 1 tr.
413 04 Gothenburg – SWEDEN
E-mail: info@exilefilmfestival.com, exile.filmfestival@usa.net