| Submission criteria |
| Diagonale | 25 |

For the Diagonale – Festival of Austrian Film (March 27 to April 1, 2025, in Graz) films of all genres, formats, and lengths can be submitted under the following conditions:

1 CONDITIONS

1.1 The filmmaker lives in Austria or is an Austrian citizen (submission is also possible for Austrians living abroad) and/or Austria is the country of production or co-production.

1.2 The films/videos cannot have been premiered or first screened prior to January 1, 2023.

1.3 A re-submission of films/videos that were already rejected for a past Diagonale is not possible. An exception would be a substantial change, for example, new editing (please note this when submitting).

1.4 All submissions selected for the current program of the Diagonale participate in the Diagonale competitions.
1.4.1 Co-productions participate in the competition if the majority of the production is Austrian. The national share of the production must be documented upon request.
1.4.2 Co-productions with minority Austrian financing and/or significant Austrian creative input may be presented outside of the competition.
1.4.3 Films that have already had their cinema premieres prior to the start of the festival are shown as regular competition entries in the context of the “year in review,” with only one screening.

2 SUBMISSION

2.1 Submission period for Diagonale ’25: September 2 to December 2, 2024.

2.2 Please register the submission in good time online (viewing material can be submitted later until December 6, 2024). The corresponding link can be found on www.diagonale.at starting September 2. During registration, you will first be asked to supply only the key information for your submission. Should you be invited to Diagonale ’25, we will ask you to complete the information in a second step.

2.3 Films/videos, that meet the criteria must be registered by December 2, 2024, at the latest. We urge you to register your film as early as possible and send a screener link if this has not already been provided during the registration process. Should any delays occur in postproduction or the like after submission, we urgently request you to contact us at filmkopien(at)diagonale.at.

3 REVIEW MATERIAL

3.1 Screener links, DVDs, and BluRays can be submitted from the start of the submission period and must be received for review no later than December 6, 2024. Screener links sent separately (with password if required)  should be sent exclusively per email to the following address: filmkopien(at)diagonale.at

Screener links are preferred. Should you nonetheless send DVDs or BluRays, we urge you to submit only discs that can be played on a DVD/BluRay player (under no circumstances data discs that are only suitable for playback on a computer).

Please send discs exclusively to the following address:
Diagonale – Festival des österreichischen Films
z. Hd. Abt. Filmkopien/Einreichung
Rauhensteingasse 5/3/5
1010 Wien

3.2 Shipping of Screener material is at the submitter’s own risk and expense.

3.3 Submitters agree that the sent viewing copies are the property of the Diagonale, and that viewing copies of selected films will be archived by the Diagonale (no commercial use is intended). This also applies to DVDs, etc.  Return shipment of material is not possible.

4 SELECTION

Notification of selection for the Diagonale ’25 program will be sent by end of February 2025 at the latest. Please be patient, the program selection has to be done step by step due to the great number of submissions, and can only be finalized at that time. You will receive a notification in any case.

5 FESTIVAL SCREENING

5.1 Should your submitted film/video be selected for Diagonale ’25, you agree by your submission to the use of film stills as well as film clips (max. 150 seconds) for general promotion in the context of press coverage of the Diagonale (incl. Radio/TV broadcast, website, and social media).

5.2 No rental fees can be paid by Diagonale for screenings within the framework of the Diagonale ’25 competition or if the film was submitted for it.

5.3 For the screening at Diagonale ’25, we request that you provide English subtitles.

5.4 For screening in the cinema, the only possible screening formats are DCP, 35mm film, and 16mm film.

5.5 We kindly ask that any subtitles for the hearing impaired and/or audio descriptions for the visually impaired be communicated in advance and, if possible, provided.

6 DATA REGULATION / GDPR

6.1 Data on all submitted films will be stored in the Diagonale film database beyond the year of submission. If the film is selected and shown at the Diagonale, further data will be gathered and stored.

6.2 In general, we process the personal data of our users only to the extent necessary for provision on the website, in the catalogue, or for allocation in the archive.

6.3 The personal data of those in question will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose of the storage is no longer present. Storage may take place beyond this if it has been provided for by the European or national  legislative authorities in Union regulations, laws, or other provisions to which those responsible are subject. Data will also be blocked or deleted if this is expressly requested by the submitting persons after the festival and a storage period prescribed by the cited norms has expired, unless there is a need for further storage of the data for the conclusion or fulfilment of a contract.

Apply here online.

We are looking forward to your films!