COMPETITION

RULES & REGULATIONS

Please read these Rules & Terms carefully before you submit your film. By submitting your film into competition in the Druk International Film Festival (DIFF), you expressly acknowledge and agree that you shall be bound by the terms of these Rules & Terms.

DIFF is open to any film completed after January 1, 2000, regardless of content, subject, or origin. Submitting your film to the DIFF is not a guarantee of selection. All the official selection, nominees and the award winners will be listed on our website permanently. All the winning films will receive an award or a certificate. Please note that we do not offer application fee waivers. We treat every filmmaker equally.

Films made in languages other than English must have English subtitles otherwise they will be summarily rejected.
The film submitted to the DIFF for a particular month can be re-submitted at any time for a second chance, considering that we have different judges’ panels for each season.
A film director, film producer film in a category and more than one category at a time.
The DIFF is hereby granted the rights to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted for promotional purposes of the film festival within India only. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements, rules and regulations.
The DIFF reserves the right to refuse entries.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the DIFF, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits and publicity.
The DIFF will not refund any fees if the filmmaker fails to submit the film in the correct category. Films submitted without the correct fees or proper submission media may be deemed ineligible at the discretion of the DIFF programming director or executive director. The film festival does not cover any of the expenses incurred by the filmmaker.
After a film has been an official selection, the filmmaker will be notified, and eventually the film will be listed on the film festival website under Official Selections. The Official Selection status doesn’t mean that your film will be screened at the film festival. It means that your film has been appreciated by our judges of panel and you can use the film festival logo on your poster.
A nominee will be privately screened for the DIFF judging panel, and will not be screened initially to the public.
“Best” films of each category will receive a laurel & certificate.
A filmmaker’s submission fee will not be reimbursed if they decide to withdraw their submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
We require an official trailer or poster, synopsis and a link to your film . Please select the correct category while submitting to avoid disqualification. We reserve right to re-assign films to the appropriate category.
DIFF may without advance notice amend these Rules & Terms from time to time. Each and every such amendment shall become effective immediately. It is your responsibility to periodically check for updates of these Rules & Terms.

DISCLAIMER

All filmmakers understand and accept that if their film is accepted for presentation and film screening at the film festival, they grant full and unrestricted permission for DIFF to screen the film/video at times of the film festival’s choice and to charge an admission fee for the presentation of the digital video program. All the presented film/videos do win GOLDEN DRAGON AWARDS from the film festival, DIFF only screens winners.

The Filmmaker understands and accepts that they do not participate in receiving any funds from the Box-office proceeds which are fully retained by the film festival to help cover the overall cost of the film festival presentation. It should be noted for the record that box-office proceeds never cover the cost of presentation of the Features and Short Film Programs. The filmmaker releases the film festival (DIFF) from any and all liability for dam-ages or destruction of the entered DCP.

The Filmmaker understands that the entered DCP will be retained in a secure facility by the film festival, and every effort will be taken to protect and control the viewing of this production. The film festival assumes no liability whatsoever for theft, copyright violations or piracy of the entry. The Filmmaker accepts and understands that the film festival will do everything possible to present the video in the best possible manner but the film festival (DIFF) is not responsible for any and all malfunctions during the presentation of the production at the film festival screening.

We use Professional Pioneer International playback systems, all formats, all regions, including Region 0. All entries are carefully pre-screened prior to the public showing to assure that the DCP does perform to industry Standards. The Film Festival (DIFF) assumes no responsibility for any technical difficulties in the presentation of this video at the actual event.

The Film Festival (DIFF) reserves the complete right to make changes in the program dates and times and to possibly not screen the video, despite its being selected for film screening.

The filmmaker will endeavour to present to The Film Festival (DIFF) a new and pre-checked Hard disk / DCP for the actual presentation of the video at the festival.

CATEGORIES

The officially selected project in each month receives DIFF laurel and certificate. All monthly Award Winners receive laurel and customized certificate and are rated on their respective IMDb pages (if applicable). Each month, most representatives of monthly award winners are screened in Paro.

  1. Best Director
  2. Best Young Filmmaker (under 18)
  3. Best Debut Filmmaker
  4. Best Cinematography
  5. Best Editing
  6. Best Sound Designing
  7. Best Actor
  8. Best Actress
  9. Best Supporting Actor
  10. Best Supporting Actress
  11. Best LGBT Film
  12. Best Animated Film
  13. Best Family/Children Film
  14. Best Educational Film
  15. Best Film on Disability Issue
  16. Best Film on Religion
  17. Best Film on Nature/Environment/Wildlife
  18. Best Travel Film
  19. Best Silent Film
  20. Best One Minute Film
  21. Best Short Script
  1. BestBhutanese Narrative Feature
  2. Best International Narrative Feature
  3. Best Documentary Film
  4. Best Experimental Film
  5. Best Bhutanese Short Film
  6. Best International Short Film
  7. Best Student Film
  8. Best VR/AR and 360º Film
  9. Best Drone Film
  10. Best Web and New Media Film
  11. Best Mobile Film
  12. Best Horror/Science Fiction Feature Film
  13. Best Women’s Film
  14. Best Postmodern Film
  15. Best Free Speech Film
  16. Best Television/Pilot Program or Series
  17. Best Commercial/Advertisement
  18. Best Music Video
  19. Best Film Score/Soundtrack
  20. Best Trailer/Teaser
  21. Best Film/Video Poster
  22. Best Photography
  23. Best Treatment/ Synopsis
  24. Best Feature Script

Besides the BEST OF THE CATEGORY AWARDS, there are also OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS, CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS, which are given, in all categories.

Each year we select the Best of the Best (From the pool of all award winners from all Seasons) and the FINAL WINNERS receive the prestigious GOLDEN DRAGON AWARDS and are screened in the theatre at Paro in front of live audience.

2022 Winners will have a chance to meet with the audience and participate in the Q&A session after the screening.

DATES & DEADLINES

  • March 2nd, 2024 Opening Date
  • March 4th, 2024: Earlybird Deadline
  • April 4th, 2024: Extended Deadline
  • April 6th, 2024: Notification Date
  • April 8th, 2024: Event Date