IDF Competition is the main section of West Lake International Documentary Festival. Its aim is to highlight outstanding documentary filmmakers, all the while encouraging documentary filmmakers to be curious and persistent on their journey of creation. The festival conducts an open call for submission and the recommendation by international film selection consultants. The submission opens to feature-length documentaries (60 minutes and above), short documentaries (less than 60 minutes) and documentary series (2 episodes or more, or associated series) completed after 1st January, 2020.
The competition begins with the selection committee conducting the first round of evaluation of works from all over the world. Afterwards, the professional judges invited by the IDF Academic Committee conduct a re-evaluation and then vote, selecting outstanding documentaries to be nominated in IDF Competition. The jury of the IDF Competition is formed by international and Chinese scholars, directors and producers, all invited by the IDF Academic Committee. The finalists compete for a grand prize of 750,000 RMB.
* for more details please refer to the announcement of open call for entries of IDF Competition of the 5th West Lake International Documentary Festival