SunChild International Environmental Festival (13)

Festival start: 03 October 2025      Festival end: 07 October 2025

The SunChild 13th International Environmental Festival will take place from October 3rd to the 7th, 2025, screening over 40 of the best environmental films worldwide. On a planet that faces complex issues that threaten to tear us apart, we hope to provide a platform to find the connection to sustain life․ SunChild IEF is a celebration of nature, creating space for people to come together, learn, and create solutions.

About the Festival

SunChild International Environmental Festival, established by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC), is the first and the only environmental festival in the South Caucasus region. More than 780 films from 150 countries worldwide were screened over its last 15 years of existence. The film festival includes various activities such as carnival marches, dozens of workshops, conferences, and exhibitions. Besides being rich in content, all events are eye-catching due to their colorful and unique approaches. The festival travels in the regions of Armenia throughout the whole year, involving a large number of children and youth, facilitating identification and creative solutions to community environmental issues by organizing thematic film screenings, discussions, and other initiatives. Directly targeting communities through encouragement and support to take action locally, will create a lasting effect within the community. The festival aims to bring nature, wildlife, and the environment into the focus of public attention and increase knowledge about issues among citizens, especially among children and youth.

Theme: Symbiosis between Humans and Nature

Each year SunChild IEF highlights different environmental topics to raise awareness and become a platform for discussion. For the 13th edition of the festival, we chose Symbiosis in a Non-Anthropocentric World as a central theme. All of our events in some way or another aim to unveil the complex nature of symbiosis conservation challenges in Armenia, the South Caucasus Region, and beyond. The symbiotic relationship between humans and nature has a large footnote in human history. By highlighting a potential dying value, we can educate citizens on our micro-destruction/abandonment of habitats that once encouraged a non-anthropocentric civilization. To contrast the abandonment, solutions can be proposed by conserving stories that exemplify our current harmony with nature. With the help of showcasing the destruction, the harmony, and additional conceptual solutions/visions, we can raise awareness of a value that deserves to be recognized and upheld by future generations.

SunChild 13th International Environmental Festival has 4 nominations

• Feature-length Documentaries about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature within the lens of Abandoning Symbiosis and/or Symbiotic Harmony.
This program is dedicated to promoting public awareness of stories, issues, and challenges about symbiosis on earth. Our responsibility is to protect habitats and relationships between humans and nature that are slowly losing contact. Showcasing films that focus on either the abandonment of symbiosis or the encouragement of symbiosis, can emphasize the current problems and solutions we face in modern civilization. Films that may be submitted could be solely about symbiotic separation, and symbiotic harmony, or include both thematic elements.
Documentaries released after March 2024 are welcome to be submitted for this competition.
The film may run between 60 minutes and 3 hours. To have a longer film considered, please contact SunChild IEF.

• Short Films about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature within the lens of Abandoning Symbiosis and/or Symbiotic Harmony.
This program is dedicated to promoting public awareness of stories, issues, and challenges about symbiosis worldwide. Showcasing short films that focus on either the abandonment of symbiosis or the encouragement of symbiosis can emphasize the current problems and solutions we face in modern civilization. Films that may be submitted could be solely about symbiotic separation and symbiotic harmony or include both thematic elements.
Short films of any genre released after March 2024 are welcome to be submitted for this competition. The film may be 5-59 minutes in length.

• John Burton Conservation Award: Films about Conservationists
Films about Conservationists from all around the world.
Named after conservationist John Burton, this award will spotlight films about nature conservation with a strong directorial vision.
With this award, SunChild IEF wants to honor the memory of John Burton, who died in May 2022.
The award will be granted to the best conservation films about individuals, who strive to make a change in the world. John Burton was a revolutionary, visionary, and inspirational conservationist whose creative thinking saved over 300,000 hectares of threatened habitat from damaging development. He challenged the usual approaches to preserving wild creatures and their habitats. Sir David Attenborough described him as “a truly wonderful man, more altruistic, more energetic, braver and more original than almost anyone I have known.”
Films released after March 2024 are welcome to be submitted for this competition.

• Non-Competition Films for Environmental Educational/Awareness-Raising.
In this Non-Competition Program, we highly encourage films to be submitted but not limited to the theme of Symbiosis between Humans and Nature. In this category, we welcome films about environmental issues and challenges from all around the world.
Films of any genre released before March 2024 are welcome to be submitted for this competition.
The film may run between 5 minutes and 2 hours. To have a shorter or longer film considered, please contact SunChild IEF.

Cash Prizes: 6,000€

SunChild IEF winners will receive the following:

- Unique handmade trophies symbolizing SunChild IEF

- Certificates

- Monetary prize:

• Feature-length Documentaries about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature - 2500 USD

• Short Films/Documentaries about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature - 1500 USD

• John Burton Conservation Award: Films about Conservationists - 2000 USD

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR 2025 SUBMISSIONS

The following is an explanation of the Rules and Guidelines governing film submissions to the 2025 SunChild International Environmental Festival (13th Edition). The Festival will take place from the 3rd to the 7th of October, 2025. Compliance with these Rules and Guidelines is necessary to participate in the Film Festival. Submission of a film implies unconditional acceptance of the Rules & Guidelines, therefore, please carefully read through the Rules before submitting your film. If you have any questions, please contact us at film@fpwc.org.
The SunChild International Film Festival accepts submissions for films in the following categories:
• Feature-length Documentaries about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature (over 60 min)
• Short Films about Symbiosis between Humans and Nature (from 5 to 59 min)
• John Burton Award: Films about Conservationists
• Non-Competition Films for Environmental Educational/Awareness-Raising
*Learn more about each Film Category in the Event Description

Eligible for “Feature-length Documentaries about Biodiversity Conservation” and “Short Films about Biodiversity conservation” competitive sections - films that had their first public screening after March 2024

Eligible for “Youth and Children about the Environmental Conservation” and “John Burton Award” and Educational program sections - films that had their first public screening after March 2024

1. The Entrant/s submitting the film must hold all legal rights for the submission, as well as all necessary clearances for public exhibition. The Filmmaker/s retain/s all submission and intellectual property rights.

2. Entries submitted by post, email or any form other than online are not eligible for the festival.

3. The deadline for preselection submission is May 30, 2025.
The Festival reserves the right to refuse later submissions.

4. Upon confirmation of the film to the competition or non-competition sections of the Festival, the applicant agrees to:
- Provide a trailer of the film online by a non-expiring link or HD resolution file;
- Provide materials for localization (dialogue lists in English, spotting list, screener, and poster artwork);

5. Materials must be delivered digitally to film@fpwc.org stating the local and English titles of the film in the email subject line. The Festival does not accept deliveries on hard drives, USBs, or any other physical carriers.

6. Filmmakers are allowed to submit more than one film for the Festival provided that each film is submitted separately and meets SCIEF guidelines.

7. The final selection is made by the Selection Committee, and its decision is not subject to appeal.
Unfortunately, we cannot leave feedback if your film is not selected.

8. Entrants may contact us to find out if the Festival received the submission at film@fpwc.org. Filmmakers submitting through FilmFreeway can check their status through the website.

9. SCIEF accepts DCP and non-DCP films for screening. Based on scheduling and circumstance. Each film will receive specific communication about what is needed for film delivery.
We encourage feature films to have a DCP for specific venues.

10. Each film can have no more than three screenings at the Festival. In case the film wins an award, the organizers shall run one extra screening on the last day of the Festival.

11. All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language). All films in the competition will be screened at the Festival in their original languages with English and Armenian subtitles.

12. SCIEF reserves the right to use images from films selected in the Festival for marketing purposes.

13. The final decision of the Selection Committee will be announced by April 18, 2025.

Applicants acknowledge that SCIEF reserves the right to change the nature of screenings and events due to circumstances related to public health and welfare or at the direction of local, state, or federal authorities. In such cases, no submission refunds shall be issued.