CALL FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMS

Applications are open to the XVII^th edition of the Faito Doc Festival, for the International Competition of Feature Films, the International Competition of Short Films and the International Competition of Film School Shorts. Applications are open to arthouse, experimental, animated, long, short and ultrashort documentaries. This XVIIIth edition is dedicated to the theme: Contact.

How important is contact in the life of a human being?
For a newborn, a teenager, a man, a woman, for the elders?
Through their gaze, how do directors define and tell us about contact?
The dictionary teaches us that this word comes from the latin “contactus –us”, derived from “contingĕre”, touch. Touching something or oneself. It can also mean a relationship, a connection…
It is a word that is used in numerous environments, from astronomy to electronics, chemistry, linguistics….
And when you cut that word in half, “con-tact”, doesn’t it seem to mean “with tact”? With sensitivity, softness?
How much is sensitivity needed in relationships today?
Poor contact can create sparks and destroy a mechanism, but a good contact can start a motor, create a spark of love, initiate a uniting project…
We use this word in science, in art and in spirituality.
How do directors understand it, from a philosophical, political, conflictual, therapeutical point of view… Or do they understand it from yet another standpoint?

We invite directors and producers to enter their films in the XVIII^th edition of the Faito Doc Festival. The doors are also open to experimental documentaries or animated documentaries that tackle, or make contact with this theme in one way or another.
The programmers favor films offering an original point of view, in which they can sense a long fieldwork. Special attention is given to poetic films with sincere testimonies, in which one can feel that the filmmakers have immersed themselves in a place, a universe or a story with sensitivity and empathy toward their characters.

The evaluation criteria of the programmers are:
– The author’s viewpoint: the original way the director looks at reality, his vision.
– The empathy the director shows towards the people they film and who become their characters.
– The cinematic language: the ways of storytelling, the original staging of the narrated story through authentic and striking shots in its service and never settling for “reportage” alone, through personal visual and sound editing, a sense of rhythm and the art of mixing. A poetic, sensitive and original language.
– Taking into account the edition’s theme : Contact.
– Finally, the need to show, through cinema, visions of the reality of the human being and the world in which it lives, films that prompt reflection, productive “conflict”, in order to enrich one’s knowledge and encourage every spectator in their life journey.

How to participate: Every author may submit a maximum of two works. To submit and register a film, send an e-mail to: faitodocfestival@gmail.com with the Vimeo link to the movie, a synopsis, a technical file, along with a short biography and a photograph of the director.

The official website is accessible at: https://faitodocfestival.com/en. The Festival will take place between July 16 and 23, 2025.

Around 50 films will be selected and shown to the public in MONTE FAITO (at an altitude of 1131 meters on the Sorrento Peninsula, overlooking the breathtaking Gulf of Naples).

Directors, protagonists, technicians or producers will be invited for two days by the organisers and will share, along with the staff, the jury, the invited artists and the public, the projections, concerts, exhibitions, shared meals, workshops and hikes. To the selected films should be attached a list of dialogues (with time codes), and a .srt subtitles file.

The deadline for applications is March 17^th, 2025.