1. General information

1.1. ART FILM FEST s.r.o., headquartered at Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice, Company ID No.: 48 284 254, a company registered in the Commercial Register of the Košice District Court, Section Sro, Insert No. 58934/V (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”), is the organizer of the In-ternational Film Festival ART FILM (hereinafter referred to as IFF ART FILM).

1.2. The 31st edition of the IFF ART FILM (hereinafter referred to as the Festival) will be held from 20 to 27 June 2025 in Košice, Slovakia. In its programme, the Festival offers a multifaceted space for the presentation of works of the latest world cinema, important titles of film history and, last but not least, an extensive showcase of films from the Slovak audiovisual industry.

1.3. The Festival programme is dominated by three competition sections.

  • a) The International Competition of Feature Films is open to film directors who have made their first, second or third feature film in professional conditions.
  • b) The International Competition of Short Films is open to short films of all genres.
  • c) The International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe (a list of for-mer Eastern Bloc countries selected by the Festival) is open to film directors who have made a feature-length fiction, documentary or animated film in professional conditions from countries el-igible for the International Competition: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Albania, Armenia.

1.4. The main organizer of the Festival is a Slovak legal entity:

ART FILM FEST s.r.o., Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice, Slovak Republic; ID No.: 48 284 254.

2. Competition sections, statutory prizes

2.1 The International Competition of Feature Films covers:

  • feature films that are the first, second or third feature-length film of a director,
  • feature films produced after 1 January 2024
  • feature films available in DCP 2D format
  • feature films over 60 minutes
  • feature films must be accompanied by English subtitles

2.1.1 Jury and Prizes

The winners of the Blue Angel Statutory Awards are decided by a three-member international jury of the Competition of Feature Films. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.

The Jury of the International Competition of Feature Films awards 4 statutory prizes:

  • The Blue Angel for the best film (awarded to the producer of the film) is coupled with a financial reward of EUR 2000.
  • Blue Angel for Best Director (awarded to the director of the film)
  • Blue Angel for Best Actress (awarded to the director of the film)
  • Blue Angel for Best Male Performance

The Jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, called Special Mentions, to other film titles in the International Competition of Feature Films. Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.

2.2. The International Competition of Short Films covers:

  • film productions up to 30 minutes (short films),
  • fiction, documentary, experimental or animated short films,
  • professional or student short films,
  • short films produced after 1 January 2024,
  • short films available in DCP 2D format,
  • short films must be accompanied by English subtitles

2.2.1. Jury and Prizes

The winner of the Blue Angel Statutory Award for the best short film is decided by a three-member in-ternational jury of the short film competition. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.

The Jury of the International Competition of Short Films awards 1 statutory prize:

  • The Blue Angel for the best short film (awarded to the director of the film) is coupled with a finan-cial reward of EUR 500.

The Jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, called Special Mentions, to other film titles from the International Short Film Competition.

Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.

2.3 The International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe covers:

  • film productions over 60 minutes,
  • fiction, documentary, experimental or animated films,
  • produced after 1 January 2024,
  • films available in DCP 2D format.
  • films must be accompanied by English subtitles
  • in the case of co-productions, the main condition for admission to the competition is the majority share of the eligible country in the production of the film.
  • Eligible countries from Central and Eastern Europe are: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Albania, Armenia

2.3.1 Jury and Prizes

The winner of the Blue Angel Statutory Award for the best film from Central and Eastern Europe is decid-ed by a three-member international jury. The jury decides by majority vote of the members present and voting. The jury announces the results at the closing ceremony of the festival.

The Jury of the International Competition for the best film from Central and Eastern Europe awards 1 statutory prize:

  • The Blue Angel for the best film (awarded to the film producer) is coupled with a financial reward of 1500 EUR.

The jury has the right to award non-statutory prizes, the so-called Special Mentions, to other film titles from the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe.

Persons associated with the films in competition may not be members of the jury or present during the decision-making process.

3. Submission of films

For IFF ART FILM 2025, film submissions for competitions will be open from December 1, 2024, until the deadline specified in Section 10 of these Statutes. Films can be submitted to the competition sections via the entry form. In 2025, film submissions will be subject to a fee in accordance with the applicable price list.

4. Selection of films

The programme team reserves the right to set up three competition sections of its choice.

5. Promotion of selected films

The Festival reserves the right to use excerpts from the films for the purpose of promoting the Festival as follows:

  • a) feature-length fiction, documentary and animated films – up to 3 minutes
  • b) short films – up to 30 seconds.

The Festival reserves the right to create a film excerpt from the official trailer of the film. In case the official trailer is not delivered on time, the Festival reserves the right to create previews for the purpose of promotion from the available screening format. Official trailers or previews will be shown on the Festi-val premises, broadcast on TV stations promoting the Festival, on the Festival website, during multime-dia presentations during the Festival itself, or as part of the Festival Reverberations.

The Festival reserves the right – if the artistic concept of the Festival spot so requires – to use any ex-cerpts from the films in the Festival spot, up to a maximum of 10 seconds.

The Festival reserves the right to use official film stills from the films on its promotional materials and to provide them to the media for the purpose of informing them about the Festival.

6. Guests

Guest invitations are determined by the Main Organizer, with priority given to creators of competing films. The Festival will cover the accommodation costs for invited creators for an agreed number of days and reimburse their travel expenses up to an amount agreed upon with each creator, based on the Festi-val’s budget.

7. Rules for Refunding the Paid Submission Fee

If the submitter does not meet the requirements set for the respective competition category as stated in the Regulations of IFF ART FILM 2025, the fee paid for film submission will not be refunded by the main organizer. It is the responsibility of the submitter to thoroughly study and fulfil all criteria specified for the category of the submitted film, ensuring compliance of the submitted film with the Regulations of IFF ART FILM 2025 and the submission instructions.

8. Financial Prize and Income Tax

8.1. The financial prize represents a reward before taxation.

8.2. The financial prize from public competitions is considered other income subject to income tax in accordance with § 8 para. 1 letter j) of Act No. 595/2003 Coll. on income tax as amended by later regu-lations, with the exception of a prize not exceeding EUR 350, which is exempt from tax in accordance with § 9 para. 2 letter m) point. 2 of the Income Tax Act.

8.3. In accordance with § 43 para. 3 letter d) of the Income Tax Act, the main organizer will deduct in-come tax at a rate of 19% from the cash prize (Financial Prize) each time it is paid. If the prize is paid, remitted, or credited to the taxpayer in a non-contracting state under § 2 para. x) of the Income Tax Act, the tax rate of 35% will be applied. The Organizer is not responsible for fulfilling tax obligations for non-resident taxpayers or taxpayers with limited tax liability arising from the country in which they are tax residents.

9. Consent to the processing of personal data

9.1. The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Article 6 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural per-sons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR”) and § 13 of Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on personal data protection and on the amendment and supplement of certain laws (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”).

9.2. Consent to the Provision of Personal Data – Film Submission Application

By filling out and submitting the application form at https://www.iffartfilm.com/prihlaska-filmu/ or https://www.iffartfilm.com/en/submit-film,

a) a person voluntarily agrees to the processing of personal data in the information system of the company ART FILM FEST s.r.o., Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice, ID No: 48 284 254 (hereinafter “Operator”) to the extent of:

  • name, surname, title
  • email contact
  • phone contact
  • company
  • job position.

b) for the purpose of: – recording applications from producers/interested parties submitting their films in the competitions International Feature Film Competition, International Short Film Competition, and International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe at the IFF ART FILM.

c) for a duration of: – max. 2 years from the granting of consent

In case of not providing the above-mentioned personal data, it is not possible to accept, process, and include the film in the competition.

9.3. Consent to the Provision of Personal Data – Data Archiving

By completing and submitting the registration form and expressing consent through this form, an individ-ual may voluntarily grant permission for the processing of personal data within the information system of ART FILM FEST s.r.o., located at Kukučínova 81/2, 040 01 Košice – Juh, Company ID: 48 284 254 (here-inafter referred to as the “Operator”), beyond the expiration of Consent A, in its original scope.

for the purpose: – archiving the film and contact personal data of natural person in the Operator’s information system for cases of later interest in submitted films.

for a duration: – during the conduct of international film festivals under the name IFF ART FILM.

This consent is voluntary and does not affect the inclusion of the submitted film in the competition. In case of not providing this consent, the festival organizer undertakes to completely remove information obtained through the application (A. Consent to the Provision of Personal Data – Film Submission Applica-tion) from the records of submitted films after the expiration of the validity period.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF DATA SUBJECTS AND OTHER FACTS

The right to access the provided personal data can be best exercised by the data subject through a writ-ten request sent to the email address of the Operator: dpo@iffartfilm.com.

Responsible person: Peter Jurák

Next right:

  • to request rectification of personal data,
  • restriction of processing of personal data provided,
  • request the erasure of your personal data from the information system of the Data Controller,
  • object to the processing of personal data,
  • to file a petition to initiate proceedings pursuant to Section 100 of Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on the protection of personal data.

You can also exercise the protection of your rights through a complaint addressed to the Office for Per-sonal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic.

We will provide the provided personal data to other categories of recipients (hereinafter referred to as “Processor”), namely:

  • technical support and software development,
  • staff/external collaborators.

The reason for this sharing is to cover the registration system from a technological point of view and the organizational preparation of the festival. The Operator, as well as the Intermediary, undertakes to pro-tect the personal data collected against accidental as well as unlawful damage and destruction, accidental loss, alteration, unauthorised access and disclosure, as well as against any other impermissible forms of processing.

The Operator does not intend to transfer the personal data collected to third countries or to an interna-tional organisation.

10. Summary of deadlines and key dates

  • 30.4.2025 – Deadline for submissions to the three international film competitions
  • 15.5.2025 – deadline for the selection of films for the Festival
  • 31.5.2025 – Deadline for delivery of documentation for selected films
  • 10.6. 2025 – deadline for delivery of the screening media of the selected films
  • 20 – 27 June 2025 – 31st IFF ART FILM Košice
  • 31.7. 2025 – deadline for announcement of export destinations for all screening media

Registered Address / postal address:

ART FILM FEST Ltd.
Kukučínova 81/2
040 01 Košice
Slovak Republic

Office Address:

ART FILM FEST Ltd.
Tomasikova 30C
821 01 Bratislava
Slovak Republic

E-mail: info@iffartfilm.com
Web: www.iffartfilm.com
Tel.: +421 2 20 85 51 00

These Regulations become valid and effective on the day of their publication on the website of the Main Organizer: www.iffartfilm.com.

Update of the Festival Regulations of the IFF ART FILM 2025 (International Film Festival) on 22.11.2024.