RULES OF THE LADEK MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL 2026 FILM COMPETITION

I. GENERAL STATEMENTS

1.1. The Film Competition (“Competition”) taking place during Ladek Mountain Festival (“Festival”) is organized by STOWARZYSZENIE TOWARZYSTWO KRZEWIENIA KULTURY FIZYCZNEJ KOMPAS (“Organization”) located in Pasterka 6, 57-350 Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland, registered at Central Registration and Information on Business under NIP 5832958302.

1.2. The Organization promises to provide the awards for the Competition winners as understood by articles 919 and 921 of the Civil Code.

1.3. The Competition will take place on the territory of the Republic of Poland.

1.4. The Competition will be held from January 10, 2026 to September 6, 2026. The deadline for submissions is May 10, 2026.

1.5. The Competition’s objective is to promote mountains-related filmmaking.

II. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

2.1. As we are a mountain-centered festival, we accept only films about mountain sports (climbing, mountaineering, trail running, biking, wild water, skiing and snowboarding, caving, etc.), mountain culture and films that have mountains as a theme or location. We accept only non-fiction films (documentaries) and animated films. Only films released in 2024 or later can be submitted to the Competition.

2.2. Participation is possible for both Polish and foreign authors (“Entrants”), regardless of whether they are professionals or amateurs.

2.3. During the submission process, there’s an administration fee to pay by the Entrant, which depends on the film’s runtime and the submission’s date:

a) Early Bird (January 10 to February 10, 2026) – it’s 20 USD for a feature documentary film (longer than 40 minutes) and 10 USD for a short (under 40 minutes).

b) Regular (February 11 to April 10, 2026) – it’s 25 USD and 15 USD respectively for long and short films.

c) Late (April 11 to May 10, 2026) –  it’s 35 USD and 20 USD respectively for long and short films.

III. COMPETITION RULES

3.1. To participate, the Entrant must complete the submission at the FilmFreeway platform (filmfreeway.com/LadekMountainFestival) no later than May 10, 2026. Applications submitted after the deadline won’t be considered, resulting in the submitted film not participating in the Competition.

3.2. A properly completed entry form must include the first name and last name of the author, mailing address, contact phone number, e-mail address, film title, year of production, runtime, dialogue language, etc., as specified in the submission form. By submitting a correctly completed entry form, the Entrant becomes a participant of the Competition (“Participant”).

3.3. The submission must include the online screener of the film. Digital file can be delivered by a downloadable link and must be available for the Organization no later than specified in §3.1.). The film file must be accompanied by a transcript in the original language and in English.

3.4. Submitted entries will be subject to a selection, and approximately 30-35 films will get the status of Official Selection. In the selection process, priority will be given to the premieres and to the films that weren’t and won’t be available online for free before September 6, 2026.

3.5. On June 10, 2026 at the latest, the Participants will be notified if the submitted film is included in the Official Selection.

3.6. The Organization provides accommodation and an All-Access Pass to Ladek Mountain Festival to each Participant whose film is included in the Official Selection. June 30, 2026, is the deadline for representatives of the Official Selection films to let the Organization know whether they will come to the festival in person to present their film.

3.7. Judging of the Official Selection films will be performed by the Film Jury, designated by the Organization. The Jurors will evaluate the story, its originality and authenticity, the filmmakers’ creativity, the artistic value of the film and its impact.

3.8. The Competition winners will be announced at the Film Awards Ceremony of the 31st Ladek Mountain Festival not later than September 6, 2026, and online not later than September 10, 2026.

3.9. As the Ladek Mountain Festival is a hybrid event, the films in the Official Selection will take part in:

a) the in-person screenings at the main event in Lądek-Zdrój, September 3 to 6, 2026 – access granted exclusively to the festival audience with passes or tickets. All the films in the Official Selection will be included in this edition of the festival.

b) the in-person screenings in the cinema theatres in Poland, August 31 to September 2, 2026 – access granted exclusively to the festival audience with tickets. Only the films chosen by the Organization will be included in this edition of the festival.

c) the online screenings as part of the Online Festival, September 3 to 30, 2026 and available for watching as a protected DRM streaming on our platform filmygorskie.pl, geoblocked to Poland. Access to the online screenings will be granted exclusively to the festival’s audience with passes. There will be passes for the in-person & online screenings and for the online screenings only.

3.10. The Organization will not pay screening fees for the in-person screenings in Lądek-Zdrój, in the cinema theatres, nor for the Online Festival screenings.

3.11. The Organization can offer to the Participant the post-festival distribution of the submitted film. The agreements concerning the Ladek Film Distribution will be discussed separately, and the agreed license fees will be paid to the Participant.

IV. AWARDS

4.1. The Film Jury will award the following prizes:

a) Grand Prize – 3000 EUR at least

b) Best Film About Climbing – 800 EUR at least

c) Best Film About Mountaineering – 800 EUR at least

d) Best Film About People and Mountains – 800 EUR at least

e) Best Film About Biking – 800 EUR at least (NEW!)

f) Best Film About Mountain Sports – 800 EUR at least

g) Best Film About Adventure and Exploration – 800 EUR at least

h) Best Polish Film – 3000 PLN at least

i) Best Short Film – 600 EUR at least

j) Ladek Audience Award – 1000 EUR at least

k)Cinema Audience Award – 1000 EUR at least

4.2. After the submission deadline and before the Jury starts the judging process, the Director of the Film Program can decide to change the names of the categories so they correspond better to the submitted films.

4.3. Besides the awards listed in §4.1. a) – i), the Film Jury can award Special Mentions. The number of Special Mentions is at the sole discretion of the Jury.

4.4. The Film Jury, the Director of the Film Program and the Festival’s Director can also award special prizes for the outstanding films. Special prizes can be awarded only with the consent of the Organization. The name of the special prize and its value will be announced to Participants only after the decision and its further acceptance by the Organization.

4.5. The verdict of the Film Jury is definitive.

4.6. During the Festival, the following Audience Awards are voted and awarded, each of them worth at least 1000 euro:

a) Ladek Audience Award – the winner is the film that gets the most votes from the audience of the in-person screenings at the main event in Lądek-Zdrój, September 3 to 6, 2026 (§3.9.a).

b) Cinema Audience Award – the winner is the film which gets the most votes from the audience of the in-person screenings in the cinema theatres in Poland, August 31 to September 3, 2026 (§3.9.b).

4.7. The winners will be asked to issue an invoice for the financial prize. The prizes will be sent by bank transfers.

4.8. The financial prizes are subject to the Polish tax law.

4.9. The Participant cannot transfer the award to any other party.

4.10. The Organization informs that the sponsor is the payer of the lump-sum tax from the prize they sponsor when its value exceeds 2000 PLN. The sponsor is also responsible for fulfilling all other tax responsibilities. The Organisation informs that if the sponsor does not gross-up the prize, whose value exceeds 2000 PLN, the Participant must pay a lump-sum tax (10% of the prize value) to the sponsor.

V. COPYRIGHT

5.1. The Participant declares (and exclusively accepts any further liabilities) that he has exclusive rights (in particular copyright) to the films submitted according to §3.2. The Participant also declares that the submitted films do not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights and that he has any required licenses and agreements to distribute the film.

5.2. The Participant declares (and exclusively accepts any further liabilities) that he has acquired all of the required permissions to use images of featured persons in the films submitted according to §3.2.

5.3. The Participant declares (and exclusively accepts any further liabilities) that he had acquired any required permissions to reproduce the film’s soundtrack from the Association on collective management of copyrights and related rights in the films submitted according to §3.2.

5.4. The Participant guarantees the Festival the right to use the promo assets as well as up to 3 minutes from the film for promotional purposes.

5.5. All submitted files will be archived by the Festival. Any further public use of any kind will be only by permission of the film’s author.

VI. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

6.1. The complaints about the course of the Competition can be filed by email to przeglad@kompas.pl or by registered mail sent to the postal address from §1.1., but no later than 14 days after announcement of the results.

6.2. Only Participants are entitled to file a complaint.

6.3. Complaint should include the name and surname of the Participant, postal address for letters, contact telephone number, e-mail address and the title of the submitted film. In any case, a complaint must contain an exact description and a clear cause for filing the complaint.

6.4. The Organization will investigate complaints according to these rules and regulations.

6.5. The Organization’s decision about a complaint is definitive and binding. The Participant will be informed about the ruling by e-mail no later than 21 days after filing a complaint.

VII FINAL STATEMENTS

7.1. The exact wording of these regulations will be provided to the Participants in the Organization’s head office and on the official website.

7.2. Rules of the Competition are regulated by this document only. Any promotional materials related to the  Competition are strictly informational.

7.3. Participation is voluntary. Submission of a film and participation in the Competition imply agreement to these terms.

7.4. Collected data is administered by Stowarzyszenie TKKF KOMPAS, Pasterka 6, 57-350 Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland. The Participant’s personal data will be processed according to the privacy policy described at the privacy policy page: https://www.festiwalgorski.pl/polityka-prywatnosci/