Simple. Fair. Transparent.
CINE PRAGUE is committed to providing every filmmaker with a fair, transparent, and professional submission process. Please read the following guidelines carefully before submitting your film.
The festival is open to filmmakers from all countries and welcomes both professional and independent productions.
Eligible submissions include:
There are no age restrictions for filmmakers.
All submitted films must be completed at the time of submission.
Submissions should include:
Optional materials such as trailers, production photos, and press releases are very welcome.
CINE PRAGUE welcomes films created using artificial intelligence as well as traditional filmmaking techniques.
Filmmakers are encouraged to state how AI tools were used during production. This information is used solely to help the jury better understand the creative process and does not affect the evaluation in favor of or against any submission.
Creativity, originality, and storytelling remain the primary evaluation criteria.
Copyright and Ownership
The filmmaker retains full ownership and copyright of all submitted materials.
By submitting a film, the submitter confirms that they own all necessary rights or have obtained all required permissions to use music, images, performances, trademarks, and any other copyrighted material included in the submission.
The submitter assumes full legal responsibility for the submitted work.
Promotional Rights
By submitting a film, the submitter grants CINE PRAGUE a permanent, worldwide, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to use the film title, synopsis, poster, trailer, teaser, stills, director's biography, and excerpts of up to 60 seconds for promotional, educational, archival, and marketing purposes.
These materials may be published before, during, and after the festival via official websites, social media, online videos, press releases, partner publications, and future promotional campaigns related to CINE PRAGUE.
Copyright to the submitted work always remains with the filmmaker.
Screening Rights
Selected films may be screened during official CINE PRAGUE events, partner screenings, and festival presentations.
The festival will not distribute, sell, or commercially exploit submitted films beyond promotional and official festival activities without the written consent of the copyright holder.
All official selections are independently judged by members of the international jury.
Each film is judged based on:
The decisions of the jury are final.
Once a film is officially selected and the filmmaker accepts the invitation, it may not be withdrawn from the festival program without the written consent of CINE PRAGUE.
The festival reserves the right to reject or disqualify any submission that:
These rules set out the terms and conditions for submission, selection, competition, public screenings, and any further presentation of films at the CINE PRAGUE festival.
By submitting a film to CINE PRAGUE, the submitter confirms that they are authorized to submit the film and allow the festival to evaluate it, include it in the program, and conduct public screenings to the extent defined by these rules.
Submitting a film does not in itself guarantee its selection, nomination, public screening, participation in competition, or granting of an award.
Each film may be submitted to only one competitive category.
If an author wishes to submit the same film to multiple categories, they must submit it to each category separately and pay the applicable entry fee for each submission.
The festival reserves the right, based on its professional judgment, to change the category in which a film was submitted if its content, form, or character better corresponds to another competitive category according to the festival's opinion.
Such reclassification does not establish a right to a refund of the entry fee.
All films submitted to CINE PRAGUE must be presented in a landscape format.
Vertical videos, Reels, TikTok-style videos, and other primarily vertical formats are not eligible for CINE PRAGUE.
The recommended aspect ratio is 16:9.
The festival reserves the right to reject or disqualify any film that does not meet the required format.
All submitted films must contain only original, freely usable, public-domain, or duly licensed sound and visual materials.
The film must not contain music, sound recordings, film footage, photographs, graphics, artwork, or other third-party content that could cause unresolved copyright, licensing, or other financial claims by a third party in connection with festival screening or presentation.
By submitting a film, the submitter confirms that the film does not contain materials that could establish an unresolved obligation for CINE PRAGUE to pay copyright, licensing, collective, or other fees.
CINE PRAGUE reserves the right to disqualify any film that does not meet this requirement.
The submitted film, its music, individual parts of the work, or data provided in the submission must not use designations, titles, or other elements in a way that could create an impression among the public of connection, cooperation, endorsement, licensing, or other association with an existing well-known brand, organization, person, or other protected or general designation, unless such an association truly exists.
CINE PRAGUE reserves the right to ask the submitter for an explanation or correction of data that may be misleading, confusing, or create an unauthorized impression of connection with another entity or work.
If the submitter fails to adjust such designation or provide a sufficient explanation, the festival may reject, disqualify, or modify the publicly displayed data of the film.
Films submitted to the Best Commercial category may contain product names, trademarks, logos, products, and other commercial designations.
A commercial film may be screened by the festival in the form in which it was submitted. However, CINE PRAGUE reserves the right during public festival screenings to cover, blur, mask, or otherwise visually modify visible product names, trademarks, logos, or other commercial designations.
This right applies especially in cases where a public screening would constitute unpaid or otherwise unapproved promotion of a specific commercial entity.
If a specific brand, product, or commercial designation is to be presented without restriction during a festival screening as an official part of promotion, CINE PRAGUE may enter into a separate promotional or partnership agreement with the respective brand, client, or rights holder.
CINE PRAGUE may present selected films to television stations, streaming platforms, film distributors, producers, and other professional entities for the purpose of potential acquisition, licensing, broadcasting, streaming, or other professional distribution.
Any license for commercial distribution, television broadcasting, streaming, or other commercial use of the film is subject to a separate agreement with the rights holder of the film.
The mere submission of a film to CINE PRAGUE or its screening at the festival does not constitute a transfer of copyright or an automatic grant of a license for its commercial distribution.
CINE PRAGUE does not accept or evaluate films whose primary purpose is political propaganda or political agitation in favor of a specific government, political movement, military force, or party of an ongoing armed conflict, regardless of which side of the conflict the film supports.
Films dealing with war, peace, violence, human suffering, human rights, or humanitarian issues are not excluded solely because they express an anti-war, peace, or critical view.
Such a film may be accepted if its primary purpose is an artistic, documentary, narrative, or humanitarian message, rather than political propaganda or agitation in favor of a specific party to an armed conflict.
This rule applies equally to all sides of any conflict.
The festival reserves the right, based on the content and overall purpose of the film, to assess whether a particular submission falls into this category.
Submitting a film does not guarantee its selection, nomination, screening, or participation in the CINE PRAGUE competition.
The selection committee and/or jury reserves the right, according to its own professional assessment, to accept, reject, disqualify, or withdraw a film from the program at any stage of the selection or competition process.
The decisions of the selection committee and jury are final and not subject to appeal.
Submitting a film does not establish any legal right or claim to its selection, nomination, screening, participation in competition, or consideration for an award.
CINE PRAGUE is not obligated to state reasons or provide explanations for decisions regarding the selection or exclusion of a film.
By submitting a film, the submitter confirms that they have familiarized themselves with the CINE PRAGUE rules and agree to their terms.
CINE PRAGUE reserves the right to reasonably update or supplement these festival rules, especially if necessary for organizational, technical, legal, or production reasons.
The current wording of the rules published on the official festival website is decisive for the given edition of the festival.
Check the guidelines, prepare your materials, and submit your film to CINE PRAGUE. We look forward to your work.