CFF14

Film Submission Regulation

The 14th Chania Film Festival will take place from 21 to 31 October 2026, in Chania, Crete.

The 14th Chania Film Festival has a Competition and a General Section and awards jury and audience awards.

The awards concern the following categories:

1. Best Short Fiction Film [duration up to 30 minutes]
2. Best Medium Fiction Film [duration from 31 to 60 minutes]
3. Best Feature Film [duration over 60 minutes]
4. Best Short Documentary Film [duration up to 30 minutes]
5. Best Medium Documentary Film [duration from 31 to 60 minutes]
6. Best Feature Documentary Film [duration over 60 minutes]
7. Βραβείο Ταινίας Animation
8. Student Film Award
9. Βραβείο Νεανικής Επιτροπής

The above awards are given to films of Greek production and respectively to films of international production.

As far as audience awards are concerned, the Festival is responsible for the proper voting and awarding process.

Films that will participate in the Competition Section and/or in the special awards, mentioned below, will be evaluated by juries that will be established for this purpose.

The members of the jury will be announced after the end of the film submission period and before the start of the 14th Chania Film Festival.

The following special awards will also be awarded within the framework of the 14th Chania Film Festival:

A) "Mikis Theodorakis" Award in collaboration with the Pancretan Association of Friends of Mikis Theodorakis.

B) "Walter Lasalle" Educational Creativity Award established and awarded by EKKOMED - Greek Film Center.

C) "#ThisisEU-European Values" Award established and awarded by the Representation of the European Commission in Athens.

D) Awards of the Federation of Film Clubs (OKLE).

E) The "History, Culture and Tradition of Crete" Prize is awarded by the Historical Folklore Society of Crete

G) Right to Life Award.

H) Documentary Podcast Award.

I) Animation award from the joint action of CHANIAFILMFESTIVAL and ANIMASIROS

I) Short documentary award from gr2me (a new platform aiming to promote Greek culture around the world)

Some of the films screened at the Festival, participate in the awards program with the indication, “CFF14 Award Nomination” and some of them in the general screening program with the indication, “CFF14 Official Selection”, as well as in the special sections following a relevant decision of the Festival. Part of the films participates in the parallel and/or online program. The selection of films in each category is the exclusive right of the artistic director of the festival.

For the participation of a film in the Chania International Film Festival, no exclusivity of screening or Greek premiere of the film is required. Απαιτείται όμως να είναι παραγωγή των τριών τελευταίων χρόνων (2024 – 2026) καθώς και η πρεμιέρα της ταινίας σε Χανιά.

Film submissions will be open from January 1, 2026, through May 31, 2026. Festival qualifiers will be notified electronically by the end of July 2026.

Participants in the 14th Chania Film Festival agree to the screening of their film, either at the physical venue of the event, or in a secure online environment with controlled access.

The Chania Film Festival screens fiction, documentary and animation films. Films under 30 minutes are considered short, from 30 to 60 minutes are considered medium-length, and over 60 minutes are considered full-length.

Applications are submitted ONLY electronically through the platform  https://filmfreeway.com/CHANIAFILMFESTIVAL-931525

For the qualifying selection stage, the submission of the films should be done via a web link, YouTube or Vimeo, sending along the passwords.

The selected films must be sent by post on a USB stick or hard drive (return after the end of the Festival, if requested) to the address: Cultural Society of Crete / Chania / Democracy Film Festival and Hali, Vamvakopoulos P.C. 73135 Chania Crete. (Alternatively and upon request they can be sent electronically through a relevant platform.)

Greek-speaking films should have hard-coded subtitles on the image.

Non-Greek-speaking films should have hard-coded subtitles on the image. For non-Greek-speaking films that do not have embedded Greek subtitles, the film should be sent without subtitles ("net") along with a separate file with the English subtitles, clocked in SRT format.

Also, a Trailer with English subtitles should be sent, as well as a full presskit (photos, description, full list of actors and crew, poster, etc.) for promotional purposes.

The final copy that will be screened at the Festival should be available in:

DCP ή
File / Αρχείο: mp4
Codec: H.264
Resolution/ Ανάλυση: 1920×1080
Aspectratio: 16:9
Scantype: Progressive
Bitrate: 10000 – 12000 Kbps
Frame rate: 25 fps
Audio / Ήχος: AΑC, 256 – 320 Kbps, 48000 Hz

The material must be collected at the Festival offices by August 20, 2026.

The Festival reserves the right – with the agreement of the creators – to screen part of its program in parallel events, after its end and for the following months.

Films participating in the Chania Film Festival can be the content of research and reference for the educational programs of CFF edu, developed and presented by the Festival throughout the year. In case of interest on the part of the Festival for the inclusion of a film in CFF edu, there will be relevant communication with the creators of the films.

The Festival includes in its program films in special themes and tributes.

The Festival undertakes the hosting of directors [or other representatives of the films] participating in its program in Chania, for two (2) nights.

The Festival reserves the right to reject any application: a) if it has not been completed correctly, b) if it has not been sent within the submission deadline and c) if the content of the film is offensive and promotes hate speech.

The Festival reserves the right not to include in its program films that are not related to its style, character and purposes.

The Festival has the exclusive competence to determine the screening schedule of the films (day and time as well as in which section it will be screened).

The Festival reserves the right to use specific excerpts of the film or its trailer for promotional purposes.

Participants will be asked to give interviews to the communication team and media sponsors of the Festival and to be photographed, if requested.

Part of the Festival will be filmed in order to preserve archival material and promote it to the public. The public or participants, whose presence will be evident in this material, do not have the right to make any claim from the organizing company.

Podcast Section

• The Chania Film Festival includes in its program a special section / section for documentary podcasts.
• The submitted podcasts will be included in the competition section or the general section respectively.
• The submitted podcasts can contain elements of storytelling, interviews, soundscapes, music, and other elements of creative expression.
• The duration of each podcast can be from 10 to 30 minutes. The supported file types for the podcast are as follows: MP3, M4A, WAV, MPG, MOV, MP4. The maximum size of each podcast file should not exceed 250 MB

Participation in the Chania Film Festival implies the acceptance of all the above regulations.

For any clarification or information you can send a message to [email protected].