Download PDF

1. The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is an independent festival accredited by FIAPF, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and organized according to FIAPF regulations and the regulations of the Festival. The Festival presents: Competitions (International, German, International Children’s and Youth Film, NRW), German MuVi Award (with separate regulations), as well as curated programmes. All submitted films will be previewed for every appropriate festival programme. The deadline for submissions to the competitions is 1 February 2024 (date of receipt). Submissions must be made via the Festival website. Receipt of the submission will be automatically confirmed.Repeated submissions are not possible. Submissions cannot be withdrawn from the competition once the submitter has confirmed their participation in writing (see article 9). The submission of the first five works by one submitter is free of charge. From the sixth submission onwards, a handling fee of 20 euros per film will be charged. This applies to all competitions.

2. Organizer of the Festival is the non-profit company Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH, which is owned by the City of Oberhausen. Main supporter of the Festival is the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

3. International Competition: The International Competition is meant to present artistic developments, in particular new tendencies, in international short film production for discussion, regardless of national representation. Admitted are works of all genres not exceeding a length of 35 minutes. In rare and exceptional cases, the selection committee reserves the right to admit films of longer duration. Only works are eligible that have not been shown at any German festival before Oberhausen. Productions entering the International Competition must have been completed after 1 January 2023. Entries to the International Competition must be submitted via our website no later than 1 February 2024. Eligible entries can also be considered for the International Children’s and Youth Film Competition (no festival premiere required). In addition, the Festival reserves the right to select films that have won prizes at other festivals for inclusion in the programme “Award Winners of Other Festivals”. Eligible for selection for the International Competition are works whose country of production (seat of the production company) is not Germany. This includes co-productions with Germany. Co-productions with Germany must be submitted for the International Competition, provided they comply with the regulations of the International Competition. They will then be considered for either the International Competition or the German Competition, depending on the seat of the main production company. Admitted screening formats are 35 mm, 16 mm, Super 8 and DCP. Details will be checked with the filmmakers after the competition entries have been selected.

4. German Competition: Eligible for the German Competition are works produced or co-produced in Germany (seat of the production company). Co-productions with Germany must be submitted for the International Competition and will be considered for the German as well as for the International Competition, provided they comply with the regulations of the International Competition. Admitted are works of all genres not exceeding a length of 45 minutes. In rare and exceptional cases, the selection committee reserves the right to admit films of longer duration. Productions entering the German Competition must have been completed after 1 January 2023. Entries to the German Competition must be submitted via our website no later than 1 February 2024. Eligible entries to the German Competition can also be considered for the International Children’s and Youth Film Competition, the NRW Competition and the German MuVi Award. In addition, the Festival reserves the right to select films that have won prizes at other festivals for inclusion in the programme “Award Winners of Other Festivals”. Admitted screening formats are 35 mm, 16 mm, Super 8 and DCP. Details will be checked with the filmmakers after the competition entries have been selected. A German festival premiere is not necessary for participation in the German Competition.

5. NRW Competition: Eligible are works produced in North Rhine-Westphalia (seat of the production company). Otherwise, the regulations of the German Competition apply.

6. International Children’s and Youth Film Competition: For works produced in Germany, see the requirements of the German Competition. For international entries, the regulations of the International Competition apply, with one exception: the works do not have to be German festival premieres. In addition to the screenings on site, the films selected for the Children's and Youth Competition will be made available to educational institutions in programmes for viewing in password-protected online screening rooms

7. German MuVi Award: This competition will be organized with its own separate set of regulations.

8. Selection: All submitters will be informed of the selection results in mid-March 2024. A selected work may not be withdrawn from the competition once the submitter has confirmed their participation in writing. If the ownership of a work is transferred to a successor in title after the selection has been made, the successor’s permission for the film to take part in the competition will have to be conveyed to the Festival. No license fees will be paid for competition films.

9. Online presentation: All films selected for the competitions will be presented for 24 hours during the Festival in the Festival Window on THIS IS SHORT, the partner platform of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The films will be made available there online, worldwide and password-protected. Permission for this presentation will be obtained when the selection for the respective competition is announced. Consent to this online presentation is not a condition of participation in the competition.

10. Dispatch of selected contributions: All screening copies and files of films invited to the competitions must arrive in Oberhausen no later than 4 April 2024. It is recommended that contributors have the documents of reimportation (required for the customs authorities) issued before the films are shipped. Shipments from non-EU member states must be clearly labelled “For temporary, cultural purposes only. No commercial value.” Those dispatches must also be accompanied by a pro forma invoice amounting to a maximum of 20 € (under no circumstances should the amount of the actual production costs be given, even if they were higher). Costs arising from wrong declarations will be charged to the sender.

11. Address for dispatch: Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH, Grillostr. 34, 46045 Oberhausen, Germany, shipping@kurzfilmtage.de, phone +49(0)208 825-2463. Forwarding expenses to Oberhausen are to be paid by the sender.

12. Return: Any changes in the return address can only be considered until 20 April 2024. Return shipping costs of the screening copies are paid by the Festival.

13. Insurance: The Festival insurance covering all entered copies takes effect at the moment the shipments are handed over to the Festival organizer by the transport company and ends with the handing over to the respective carrier after the Festival. The transport itself is at the risk of the sender. The corresponding laws of the Federal Republic of Germany apply.

14. Prizes and Awards:
    The International Jury will award the following prizes:
    ── the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen (8,000 €)
    ── the Principal Prize (4,000 €)
    ── the Promotional Prize of the International Competition (1,500 €)
    ── The Jury will also nominate a short film candidate for the European Film Awards 2024.
    The Jury of the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia will award the following prizes:
    ── first prize (5,000€)
    ── second prize (3,000 €)
    The Jury of the FIPRESCI will award a prize.
    The Ecumenical Jury will award a prize (1,500 €).
    The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will award the ZONTA Prize to a female filmmaker in the International or German Competition (1,000 €).
    The Jury of the German Competition will award the following prizes:
    ── the Prize of the German Competition (5,000 €)
    ── the Promotional Prize of the German Competition (1,500 €)
    ── the 3sat Emerging Talent Prize (2,500 €). This award includes an offer by 3sat to purchase the winning title and present it on 3sat.
    The Jury of the NRW Competition will award the following prizes:
    ── the Prize of the NRW Competition (1,000 €)
    ── the Promotional Prize of the NRW Competition (500 €)
    An audience jury will award the following prize:
    Prize of the WDR Westart Audience Jury (750 €). This award includes an option for WDR to purchase the winning title and present it on WDR.
    Two children’s and youth juries from Oberhausen will award one prize each in the International Children’s and Youth Film Competition (1,000 € each).
    The Children’s Jury will also award a Promotional Prize (1,000 €).
    The Ecumenical Jury of the Children’s and Youth Film Competition will award a prize (1,500 €).
    The Jury of the European Children's Film Association (ECFA) will nominate a film in the International Children’s and Youth Film Competition for the ECFA Short Film Award, which will be conferred at the general assembly during the 2025 Berlinale.
    
    The awards and premiums will be given to the filmmakers.

15. Video Library: All submitted viewing links, basic information and contact emails for the films are automatically part of the Video Library. The viewing links are available to accredited persons for individual viewing, unless the Festival receives written instructions to the contrary by 30 March 2024 (date of receipt). The Video Library is password-protected; only accredited persons have access on site during the Festival. Access is free for accredited persons. An online market catalogue will be published containinga brief description of the contributions and the password-protected contact addresses. Participation in the Video Library is free of charge. After the Festival, competition entries will be made available online to accredited professionals, password protected, for individual viewing purposes in the online Video Library until 6 June 2024. In accordance with FIAPF regulations, the Festival undertakes to obtain consent from rights holders for any additional use of their film.

16. By submitting your film/s to the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen you are authorizing us to process the data entered by you for the purpose of organizing the activities of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (festival, distribution, archive). This authorization provides the legal base for processing your data (art. 6 sect.1a, European General Data Protection Regulation). Your data will be stored for no longer than is necessary for the purposes referred to above and will not be passed on to third parties. You will find more detailed information about data protection and your rights according to the GDPR on www.kurzfilmtage.de at “Data Protection”.

17. These regulations are available in German and English. In case of doubt the German version applies.

As of: August 2023, subject to change

Download-PDF MuVi

1. The German MuVi Award for the best German music video is organized by the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH and will be awarded at the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Kurzfilmtage). The deadline for submissions is 22 February 2024 (date of receipt). Submissions must be made via the Festival website. Repeated submissions are not possible. Receipt of the submission will be automatically confirmed. The submission of the first five works by one submitter is free of charge. From the sixth submission onwards, a handling fee of 20 Euros per video will be charged. This applies to all competitions.

2. Organizer of the Festival is the non-profit company Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH which is owned by the City of Oberhausen. Main supporter of the Festival is the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

3. The Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH will appoint a selection committee consisting of a minimum of three members. The Festival management will appoint an independent jury consisting of three members who will select the winning titles from the entries nominated by the selection committee.

4. Selection: On the basis of all the submissions, the selection committee nominates ten to twelve music videos for the MuVi Award, which will be publicly presented at the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The essential criterion of selection is not the quality or type of music but only the visualization of the musical concept. Submitters will be informed of the selection results in mid-March 2024. If the ownership of a work is transferred to a successor in title after the selection has been made, the successor’s permission for the video to take part in the competition will have to be conveyed to the Festival. Submissions will also be considered for the Festival’s NRW Competition and International Children’s and Youth Film Competition.

5. Conditions for participation: Eligible are music videos not exceeding a duration of 15 minutes and produced after 1 January 2023. In rare and exceptional cases, the selection committee reserves the right to admit videos of longer duration. The director or production of the video must be based in Germany. The director or production of the video must be authorized by the owner of the rights to the piece of music used to produce a music video for this title. The piece of music used in the music video must be available for sale on a sound storage medium in the formats LP/12’’, CD, MC, MD or as a digital audio file on a publicly accessible Internet platform. The performer’s or composer’s country of origin are irrelevant. Submissions must be made via our website by 22 February 2024.

6. Dispatch of selected contributions: All screening copies and files of films invited to the competition must arrive in Oberhausen no later than 4 April 2024. Screening format is DCP. Details will be clarified with the filmmakers after the selection of the nominations. Entries are at the risk and expense of the submitters.

7. Online presentation: All music videos selected for the competition will be presented for 24 hours during the Festival in the Festival Window on THIS IS SHORT, the partner platform of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The videos will be made available there online, worldwide and password-protected. Permission for this presentation will be obtained when the selection for the respective competition is announced. Consent to this online presentation is not a condition of participation in the competition.

8. Address for dispatch: Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen gGmbH, Grillostr. 34, 46045 Oberhausen, Germany, shipping@kurzfilmtage.de, phone +49(0)208 825-2463. Forwarding expenses to Oberhausen are to be paid by the sender.

9. Return: Any changes in the return address can only be considered until 27 April 2022. Return shipping costs of the screening copies are paid by the Festival.

10. Insurance: The Festival insurance covering all entered prints takes effect at the moment the shipments are handed over to the Festival organizer by the transport company and ends with the handing over to the respective carrier after the Festival. The transport itself is at the risk of the sender. The corresponding laws of the Federal Republic of Germany apply.

11. Prizes: The MuVi Jury will award the following prizes: 1st Prize, worth 2,000 €, and 2nd Prize, worth 1,000 €. In addition, there will be an Audience Prize worth 500 €. The awards and premiums will be given to the directors.

12. Video Library: All submitted viewing links, basic information and contact emails for the films are automatically part of the Video Library. The viewing links are available to accredited persons for individual viewing, unless the festival receives written instructions to the contrary by 30 March 2024 (date of receipt). The Video Library is password-protected; only accredited persons have access on site during the Festival. Access is free for accredited persons. An online market catalogue will be published with a brief description of the contributions and the password-protected contact addresses. Participation in the Video Library is free of charge. After the Festival, competition entries will be made available online to accredited professionals, password protected, for individual viewing purposes in the online Video Library until 6 June 2024.

13. By submitting your work/s to the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen you are authorizing us to process the data entered by you for the purpose of organizing the activities of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (festival, distribution, and archive). This authorization provides the legal base for processing your data (art. 6 sect.1a, European General Data Protection Regulation). Your data will be stored for no longer than is necessary for the purposes referred to above and will not be passed on to third parties. You will find more detailed information about data protection and your rights according to the GDPR on www.kurzfilmtage.de at “Data Protection”.

14. Exceptions and all cases of doubt regarding these regulations will be decided by the selection committee in consultation with the festival management of the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

15. These regulations are available in German and English. In case of doubt the German version applies.

As of: August 2023, subject to change