About

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE ANNUAL INDEPENDENT RUSSIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK RUSDOCFILMFEST-3W

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

The annual international independent Russian documentary film festival in New York RusDocFilmFest-3W was created by The New Review Inc. in 2007, with the goal of supporting Russian-language documentary cinema and furthering the creative ties among the world film community. The unofficial slogan of the RusDocFilmFest-3W is “What a Wonderful World” and “Free World.”

The festival is held annually by The New Review Inc. in New York. The festival is a non-profit interactive platform for promoting open creative and artistic dialogue among professional documentary filmmakers.

Since 2016, the festival’s General Sponsor is the Zimin Foundation.

The festival is also made possible with support from private American sponsors and The New Review Corporation.

The festival has an international In-Competition Program. The festival accepts submissions of any films that have won awards at international and national film festivals, made in any country, that reflect themes relevant to the Russian-language Diaspora all over the world, as well as Russia, its past and present, and topics of modern inter-cultural dialogue working in the aesthetics of various schools of documentary filmmaking. Each year, the festival accepts submissions of films released in the festival’s current year, or the year prior.

The festival also has an Non-Competition Program that includes award-winning films released in the two years prior to the festival’s current year.

Winners of RusDocFilmFest-3W are determined by a Jury composed of well-known cultural personae from the USA.

The following programs are included in the Festival:

− “Free World” – a program of socially relevant documentary films
− “In the Beginning was the Word” – program of documentary films that reflect the themes of Russian culture and literature on the screen
− “Remembering the Holocaust in the 21st Century” documentary program
− “At the Crossroads” – student film program
− Master classes, discussion sessions, Q&A sessions with the films’ creators and participants

II. FESTIVAL AWARDS

− Grand Prix – awarded to the best film of the current year. A bronze statue on a wooden base. The statue is modeled on a drawing by Ernst Neizvestny, donated by the artist in 2014 as the official Festival logo. The statue was made in 2017 by American sculptor Jeff Bliumis.
− Special Jury Prize. Crystal Diamond Award with the Festival’s logo. Designed by NY designer Alex Soldier. The Alex Soldier Inc. has been the festival’s sponsor since 2009.
− Faces of Russia. Crystal Diamond Award with contrasted faces image on the crystal. Designed by NY designer Alex Soldier. The Alex Soldier Inc. has been the festival’s sponsor since 2009.
− Special diplomas and awards from the Jury, Festival organizers, Festival partners and sponsors.

III. SUBMITTING TO THE FESTIVAL

Films may be submitted to the Festival from April 1 until June 30 (must arrive by deadline), along with the Application form. Further details and the Application form are available on the Festival’s site – www.rusdocfilmfest.org

Decisions on the festival program selection are made by the Organizing committee (curated by Marina Adamovitch)

Selection procedure:
The films are selected by the Organizing Committee, headed by the Festival Curator (Moscow and New York groups). Films may be submitted after April 1st and must arrive to the Festival organizers by June 30th of the current Festival year. The Committee will inform the film’s creators about their film being selected by contacting the director, producer or distributor of the film after July 5th of the current year.

If your film has been selected, the following additional information will be required by July 25th of the current year:

− Two full-color film stills (no less than 300 dpi)
− Director’s photo (no less than 300 dpi)
− Film trailer, for festival advertising purposes (HD; DVD / file mp4, up to 2 minutes)
− A short film annotation in Russian and English
− Articles and other relevant media coverage of the film (links and texts in Word format)

After a film has been selected for participation in the Festival, the Festival has the right to:

− Use the film’s trailer to advertise the film and the festival
− Use articles and other media coverage of the film for advertising purposes of the film and the Festival
− Retain a DVD copy of the film for the Festival’s archives

The Festival doesn’t pay copyright owners for the right to show their film at the festival or for use of their film for non-commercial purposes for educational purposes. The Festival retains the right to show the winning films one time during the next calendar year and prior to the next Festival (Program “Festival Echo”).

The deadlines and rules for submitting to the student competition program “At the Crossroads” are the same.

IV. FILM COPY DELIVERY

The Festival prefers that film copies be delivered to their address in the US. See our website for details.

Submission deadline: If the Festival Organizing Committee does not receive 2 copies of a participating film and other supporting materials by July 25th of the current Festival year, the Festival retains the right to remove the film from that year’s program.

The cost of film copy delivery to the Festival is covered by the applicant submitting the film.

V. INVITATION TO THE FESTIVAL

If requested by a Festival’s participant, the Festival’s Organizing Committee will send out an official visa invitation, in English, so that the participant may apply for a US visa for the duration of the Festival. The Festival’s Organizing Committee does NOT provide any other visa support.

The Festival’s Organizing Committee does NOT give out travel grants (does not cover travel and living expenses) for participants.

VI. ACCREDITATION

Free guest accreditation is provided for Festival’s participants (film crews that are presenting their films at the Festival and persons featured in the films).

Free “Press” accreditation is provided only to those mass media representatives who cover the work of the Festival during the course of the Festival. To get accredited as press, please write to the Festival’s Organizing Committee by October 1 of the current Festival year, at rusdocfilmfest@gmail.com

The festival does not cover travel and living expenses for accredited persons.

Festival’s Organizing Committee address:

The New Review Inc.
Attn: RusDocFilmFest -3W
611 Broadway, Suite 902
New York, NY 10012 USA

Email: rusdocfilmfest@gmail.com

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