FilmFestival concept 2021

Status

of the III International Ethnographic Film Festival “OКO”-2022

(September 10-17), Bolhrad town, Odesa region, Ukraine

“OKO” – Ethno Film Festival

About the Festival

“OKO” is the festival that unites filmmakers, film lovers and those who honor customs and traditions. It is a holiday of ethnographic and anthropological documentary and fiction films. It is a place where you can see and feel the heartbeat of small and large peoples, communities, villages’ and cities’ inhabitants. At the same time, it is a platform where filmmakers and folklorists, ethnographers, and anthropologists can meet and find out more about each other, share their ideas and, possibly, arrange some future mutual projects. The festival is divided into competitive and non-competitive programs and accepts applications for international and national, documentary and fiction, short and full-length sections.

The objectives of the Festival

To archive and make public the customs and traditions, folk arts and crafts, life and morals of the peoples of Bessarabia and other cultures and civilizations from all over the world.
To generate the interest in ethnographic and anthropological material, folk arts and crafts among young filmmakers as well as to encourage their creativity and enthusiasm for working in this field.
To create the conditions for professional communication of cinematographers and folklorists, to encourage the creation of mutual film projects and to promote the dialogue of different cultures.
To popularize Ukraine and Ukrainian Bessarabia inside and outside the country.
To contribute to the development of intercultural and interethnic dialogue in order to reduce the acts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination, through showing the films about the cultural diversity of different peoples and ethnic groups.

“OKO” is an annual and international festival which is held in Krynychne village, Odessa region, Ukraine. In 2022, the festival will be carried out in a combined format. The online version of the “OKO” will be held on the website of the film festival: after registration, you will be able to watch most of the films of the international and national competition programs. And the offline part of the festival will take place in the capital of the Bessarabian Bulgarians – the town of Bolhrad, Odesa region. There will be an opportunity to watch open-air films, including interesting films that won’t be available for viewing online, as well as workshops and exhibitions accessible to guests of the event. In addition, there will be meetings with directors, panel discussions, concerts and full immersion in the atmosphere of the ethnographic film festival.

The Film Festival is focused on uniting the creative efforts of both aspiring and mature filmmakers, amateurs and experienced folklorists.

Dates

September 10 – 17, 2022

Terms and Conditions

Short and full-length films, international and national documentaries with ethnographic and anthropological content are accepted for the competition program and must correspond to the main theme of the festival. Feature films are also invited to participate in out-of-competition part.
The registration of the contest participants is carried out through the online link, given on the web-site page of “OKO” and in the Facebook profile of the festival, as well as on the specialized Film Freeway media. Each competition work should be accompanied by a completed application, which is a document required to include works in the list of the contestants.
Applications and movies are accepted online. The Contest Application should contain a link to the work that has been submitted in order to be viewed through online screenshots (closed links for downloading or online viewing on Vimeo, YouTube, etc.) Acceptance of the works by both international and Ukrainian cinematographers will last from December 1, 2021, till July 1, 2022.
Submission for participation in the competition program for all the authors from Ukraine is free.
The requirements to the Contest works are: Codec (preferably) – H.264, container – MP4, MPEG. Video resolution is preferred to be 1920 × 1080 (Full HD, 1080p), but not less than 720 × 576. Sound frequency shall be from 24 kHz and above. If there is no copy of the film online, please, send copy on memory card by post.
There are no restrictions on the date of production.
Each work must have titles: you must specify the last names and first names of all project participants (including those who were involved), as well as the date of publication.
Subtitle languages: Ukrainian, Russian, English.
Any interested person (individual authors and groups of authors) who submitted all the materials according to the terms of the Contest shall be entitled to take part in the Contest.
There is a possibility that the second festival will take place online or partly online. Making a submission, filmmakers agree to screen their films on the festival website.
The Festival has the right to use short fragments of selected films, not longer than 3 minutes for Festival-advertising purposes.
After the main festival in Krynychne "OKO" will travel to the regions of Ukraine with the films-winners which will be demonstrated, particularly, in film theaters, palaces of culture, higher educational institutions, schools, youth clubs, bookstores, libraries and in frontline areas.
Every participant with the submission gives his consent to screening his film during the “OKO” Traveling Festival, which will take place straight after the main festival.
Submission of the application means that you agree with the proposed rules and acknowledge the right of the Festival to use the submitted materials for non-commercial purposes.

First run

To participate in the Festival, the film's screening does not need to be the first run, but it shouldn’t be publicly available on the Internet.

Procedure of determining and awarding the winners of the Contest

In order to determine the winners of the Contest, the organizing Committee of the Film Festival has created a Contest Commission (the jury of the Contest), which consists of the organizers of the Film Festival, experts in the field of folklore, representatives of the public organizations, the media and the film industry.
The Contest Commission will evaluate each work according to the following criteria: the director's vision, the camera work, the creativity of the idea, the value of folklore material.
According to the results of the Contest, 4 winners will be determined as well as films that will receive special mention from the jury and audience award. All of them will be awarded with diplomas and valuable prizes from the organizers and the partners of the “OKO” Film Festival.
All the participants of contest and out-of-contest programs will receive diplomas and gifts to commemorate their participation in the Film Festival.

Awards

Winner in the short meter category (national program) – 500 dollars;
Winner in the short meter category (international program) – 500 dollars;
Winner in the full meter category (national program) – 1000 dollars;
Winner in the full meter category (international program) – 1000 dollars;
Special mention (the jury selects any film).
The audience award from the hosts of the festival – Bolhrad City Council.
The best authors' works will receive organizational and informational support and will be recommended for practical implementation on the MEGOGO service.
The winners of the Film Festival will be awarded at the closing ceremony.

Organizers, Management, Partners and Jury

The organizers

NGO “OKO” – Association of creative personalities.
Bolhrad City Council.

The management

Tetiana Staneva (founder, director and the main producer).
Elena Rubashevska (program director of the “OKO” festival).
Yan Leliuk (technical director).
Olexandr Baron (director of internal communications).
Serhii Bondar (coordinator of volunteers).
Veronica Kryzhna (executive producer).
Tatiana Atmazhova (SMM-specialist).
Dona Todorova (administrator).
Dana Mitanova (editor).

Honorary President of the festival – Dimchoglo Yuri

The partners

Main:

Ukrainian State Film Agency.
Department of Culture, Nationalities, Religions and Protection of the Odesa Regional State Administration Cultural Heritage.
MEGOGO video service.
Ferry complex “Orlivka-Isaccea”.

Additional:

UA: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience.
Regional Development Agency of Odesa Region.
State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine.
Odesa Regional Council.
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Izmail State University of Humanities.
Entrepreneurship Support Fund in Bolhrad district.
Odesa Film Studio.
Folk Studio “Pravytsya”.
Cinema portal.
Non-Governmental Organization “World Embroidery Day”.
Website about the cultural and social life of the Odesa city “Culturemeter”.
Gastronomic Ethno Festival “Budjak Fest”.
Production of audiovisual content “Power Film Production”.
A number of foreign ethnographic twinning film festivals.

The objectives of the Festival

To archive and make public the customs and traditions, folk arts and crafts, life and morals of the peoples of Bessarabia and other cultures and civilizations from all over the world.

To generate the interest in ethnographic and anthropological material, folk arts and crafts among young filmmakers as well as to encourage their creativity and enthusiasm for working in this field.

To create the conditions for professional communication of cinematographers and folklorists, to encourage the creation of mutual film projects and to promote the dialogue of different cultures.

To popularize Ukraine and Ukrainian Bessarabia inside and outside the country.

To contribute to the development of intercultural and interethnic dialogue in order to reduce the acts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination, through showing the films about the cultural diversity of different peoples and ethnic groups.

​

The Film Festival is focused on uniting the creative efforts of both aspiring and mature filmmakers, amateurs and experienced folklorists.

Dates September 10 – 17, 2022

Terms and Conditions

Short and full-length films, international and national documentaries with ethnographic and anthropological content are accepted for the competition program and must correspond to the main theme of the festival. Feature films are also invited to participate in out-of-competition part.

Submission for participation in the competition program for all the authors from Ukraine is free.

There are no restrictions on the date of production.

Each work must have titles: you must specify the last names and first names of all project participants (including those who were involved), as well as the date of publication.

Subtitle languages: Ukrainian, Russian, English.

Any interested person (individual authors and groups of authors) who submitted all the materials according to the terms of the Contest shall be entitled to take part in the Contest.

There is a possibility that the second festival will take place online or partly online. Making a submission, filmmakers agree to screen their films on the festival website.

The Festival has the right to use short fragments of selected films, not longer than 3 minutes for Festival-advertising purposes.

After the main festival in Krynychne "OKO" will travel to the regions of Ukraine with the films-winners which will be demonstrated, particularly, in film theaters, palaces of culture, higher educational institutions, schools, youth clubs, bookstores, libraries and in frontline areas.

Every participant with the submission gives his consent to screening his film during the “OKO” Traveling Festival, which will take place straight after the main festival.

Submission of the application means that you agree with the proposed rules and acknowledge the right of the Festival to use the submitted materials for non-commercial purposes.

First run

To participate in the Festival, the film's screening does not need to be the first run, but it shouldn’t be publicly available on the Internet.

Procedure of determining and awarding the winners of the Contest

The Contest Commission will evaluate each work according to the following criteria: the director's vision, the camera work, the creativity of the idea, the value of folklore material.

According to the results of the Contest, 4 winners will be determined as well as films that will receive special mention from the jury and audience award. All of them will be awarded with diplomas and valuable prizes from the organizers and the partners of the “OKO” Film Festival.

All the participants of contest and out-of-contest programs will receive diplomas and gifts to commemorate their participation in the Film Festival.

Awards

Winner in the short meter category (national program) – 500 dollars;

Winner in the short meter category (international program) – 500 dollars;

Winner in the full meter category (national program) – 1000 dollars;

Winner in the full meter category (international program) – 1000 dollars;

Special mention (the jury selects any film).

The audience award from the hosts of the festival – Bolhrad City Council.

The best authors' works will receive organizational and informational support and will be recommended for practical implementation on the MEGOGO service.

The winners of the Film Festival will be awarded at the closing ceremony.