Regulations

18th up-and-coming Int. Film Festival 2025

19 to 23 November 2025, at the Künstlerhaus Hannover

German Competition / International Competition

Who can take part?

  • Pupils, young people and students up to the age of 27 can take part; the decisive factor is the age of the director in the year the films were finished.
  • Participants can submit one or more films. The topics and lengths can be freely chosen.
  • Filmmakers from Germany submit their film to the German Competition. Filmmakers from abroad submit their film to the International Competition.
  • If nominated by the preliminary jury, it is mandatory in the German Competition that at least one person from the team is present at the screening of the film at the festival in Hanover.

Start of submissions: March 1, 2025

Deadline: July 15, 2025

Registration portals: www.filmfestivals4u.net, www.filmfreeway.com

Conditions for submitting a film

  • All films for the 2025 festival must have been completed after January 1, 2024.
  • Thefilms must be registered together with the desired accompanying materials and be available digitally by July 15, 2025.
  • Accompanying materials include: texts on the content, the making of the film, photos of the scenes, information about the filmmakers
  • Registration takes place online in the portals www.filmfestivals4u.net or www.filmfreeway.com. There are no fees.
  • The following forms and formats are permitted for registration: Web link for download or direct upload to filmfreeway. Please send the review copy as an mp4 file.
  • By registering, the filmmakers declare that they own all rights to the images, language and sound (sound, music) of the registered film.
  • By registering, the festival regulations are accepted. All rights of those involved in the registered film remain unaffected. Every publication is agreed upon by those involved.

Exclusion clause

  • If the information provided in the registration form in the above-mentioned portals is not truthful - in particular the year the film was made, the year the director was born and if the rights to the image and sound are not owned - the selection/nomination for the festival and, if applicable, an award given by the jury can be revoked. This decision is made by the organizer and sponsoring association of the festival and cannot be appealed.

Language

  • If the original language is not English or German, the film must be subtitled in English.
  • For the German competition, a film with German language should also be subtitled in English (see below).

Nomination

  • All films are pre-selected by the up-and-coming team in collaboration with experts from the film industry and film education and put together for the festival programs (preliminary jury).
  • All films selected for the competition will be compiled into individual program blocks that will be shown in the cinema in the Künstlerhaus during the festival (November 19th - 23rd, 2025). There will be no online streaming. 
  • If nominated by the preliminary jury, it is mandatory in the German competition that at least one person from the team is present at the screening of the film at the festival in Hanover.
  • All entrants will be notified of nomination or non-nomination.

Selection criteria

“Don’t try to copy — be yourself / trust yourself, have your very own visions. Don’t sell your dreams. Because in dreams begin responsibilities.” (Harald InHülsen)

  • We are looking for the special, the creative, the innovative and the original.
  • We want to see and show works that are imaginative, unusual, humorous, provocative and idiosyncratic.
  • First attempts at filmmaking are particularly welcome.
  • The selection is not based on technical perfection, but on the originality and independence of the idea and cinematic implementation.
  • We are looking for films that show their own view of the world, that take a stand on important current social, political and social issues and that reveal the personal attitude of the filmmaker in content and form.
  • We want films that touch and convince us and that experiment with cinematic storytelling beyond the mainstream.

Festival jury

  • The competition films are viewed and judged by an independent festival jury.
  • The jury is on site and watches the competition films with the audience
  • At the end of the festival, the jury decides on the winners.
  • The decisions of the pre-selection and the festival jury are not contestable.
  • The jury is re-formulated for each festival and represents the film and television industry as well as cultural film education.

German Competition Prizes

  • The “Deutsche Nachwuchsfilmpreis” is awarded to three films of equal value. The prize is linked to prize money of €2,000 and a two-year producer sponsorship.
  • A film from a school context is awarded the “Bundes-Schülerfilm-Preis”. The prize is linked to prize money of €2,000.
  • All prize money in the German competition is donated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Prize International Competition

  • The "up-and-coming International Film Award" also goes to three films of equal value. The prize is linked to admission to the “Masterclass Film” by up-and-coming.

Festival location

  • The 18th up-and-coming Int. Film Festival 2025 will take place in the Künstlerhaus Hannover (Sophienstraße 2, 30159 Hannover).

Organizer of the competition

  • Bundesweites Schülerfilm- und Videozentrum e.V., Lange Laube 18, 30159 Hannover
  • The association is recognized as a non-profit organization and is registered in the association register no. 5493 at the Hanover District Court.
  • The "Deutsche Nachwuchsfilmpreis” is protected as a word/image trademark.
  • The competition and the festival are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), nordmedia and the state capital of Hanover.

submission

contact

up-and-coming
Int. Film Festival Hannover
Lange Laube 18
D-30159 Hannover
Germany

info(at)up-and-coming.de