Films sub­mit­ted for the short film com­pe­ti­ti­on must meet all the fol­lo­wing six cri­te­ria. PLEASE NOTE: All ques­ti­ons of the cus­tom form must be ans­we­red. Please refer to the regu­la­ti­on details below for fur­ther info.

1. The film is not available on German ter­ri­to­ry for free or paid public vie­w­ing on tele­vi­si­on or on the Internet, social media included.
2. Only films which have been pro­du­ced bet­ween 2023 and 2025 are eligible.
3. Only ent­ries that can pro­vi­de a DCP scree­ning copy with English sub­tit­les will be accepted.
4. The sub­mis­si­on link must also pro­vi­de English subtitles.
5. The run­ning time of the film may not exceed 30 minutes.
6. Only ent­ries with ans­wers to the cus­tom form will be taken into consideration.

The fee is 10$ for the ent­ry of a short film. Productions from count­ries lis­ted as Least Developed Countries by the United Nations Committee for Development Policy are eli­gi­ble to app­ly for an ent­ry fee wai­ver (ref. to the list here: https://unctad.org/topic/least-developed-countries/list). To app­ly for the ent­ry fee wai­ver code for pro­duc­tions from LDC, plea­se cont­act lucas-entry@dff.film and pro­vi­de pro­duc­tion details. Entry fees will not be refun­ded, neither in case of the film being ente­red on dif­fe­rent plat­forms, the film being sel­ec­ted nor not selected.

REGULATIONS DETAILS

1. LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers high­lights excep­tio­nal films both in form and con­tent. We are loo­king for out­stan­ding pro­duc­tions which appeal to young film lovers of various ages. LUCAS is orga­ni­zed by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Schaumainkai 41, 60596 Frankfurt).
2. The 48th LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers will take place in Frankfurt and the Rhein-Main regi­on, Germany, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, 2025. The fes­ti­val show­ca­ses a wide ran­ge of fic­tion, docu­men­ta­ry, ani­ma­ti­on, expe­ri­men­tal and hybrid films. The films will be shown in com­pe­ti­ti­on, out of com­pe­ti­ti­on and in spe­cial programs.
3. Films sub­mit­ted for the short film com­pe­ti­ti­on must meet the fol­lo­wing criteria:
   + The film is not available on German ter­ri­to­ry for free or paid public vie­w­ing on tele­vi­si­on or the internet.
   + Only films which have been pro­du­ced bet­ween 2023 and 2025 are eligible.
   + Only ent­ries that can pro­vi­de a DCP scree­ning copy with English sub­tit­les will be accept­ed. The sub­mis­si­on link must also pro­vi­de English subtitles.
4. A sel­ec­tion com­mit­tee choo­ses films for the com­pe­ti­ti­on. The sel­ec­tion pro­cess will not be public and the­re is no legal right to enter the competition.
5. Filmmakers will be noti­fied by e‑mail and FilmFreeway if their film is sel­ec­ted, films that are not sel­ec­ted will be noti­fied via FilmFreeway only.
6. The awards are deci­ded upon by various inter­na­tio­nal juries. The juries in the com­pe­ti­ti­ons »Kids« and »Teens« con­sist of child­ren and teens as well as film pro­fes­sio­nals. The jury in the com­pe­ti­ti­on »Youngsters« con­sists exclu­si­ve­ly of ado­le­s­cents and young adults. The jury’s decis­i­on is final, and the jury does not need to jus­ti­fy their decisions.
   Awards:
   + Awards for Best Feature Film in the com­pe­ti­ti­ons »Kids« (5.000 €) and »Teens« (5.000 €)
   + Awards for the Best Short Film in the com­pe­ti­ti­ons »Kids« (2.000 €) and »Teens« (2.000 €)
   + Award for an Outstanding Cinematic Achievement in the com­pe­ti­ti­on »Teens« (2.000 €)
   + LUCAS »Youngsters« Award in the com­pe­ti­ti­on »Youngsters«| (5.000 €)
   Moreover, LUCAS bestows an Audience Award as well as the award of the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA).
7. Awards and pri­ze money will be dona­ted to the direc­tors of the win­ning films.
8. After a film’s ent­ry into com­pe­ti­ti­on has been publicly announ­ced, a with­dra­wal of the film is no lon­ger possible.
9. Films will only be scree­ned in their ori­gi­nal lan­guage with English sub­tit­les. Selected short films in com­pe­ti­ti­on may be trans­la­ted into German for voice-over by the festival.
10. The fes­ti­val ack­now­led­ges that for each film the LUCAS regu­la­ti­ons aut­ho­ri­ze a total of no more than 600 viewers.
11. The dead­line for ente­ring short films is April 25, 2025. By then the sel­ec­tion com­mit­tee must have recei­ved the film via FilmFreeway or online link, as well as the com­ple­ted online form.
12. A DCP/print of the film is to be sent only after an offi­ci­al invi­ta­ti­on. The DCP/film print of the sel­ec­ted film must arri­ve at least 10 days befo­re the fes­ti­val starts.
13. Unless nego­tia­ted other­wi­se, licen­se pro­vi­ders of sel­ec­ted films will take care of the ship­ping cos­ts (trans­port, insu­rance and cus­toms) of the DCP and/or QT ProRes to LUCAS. LUCAS will take care of the cos­ts for the ship­ment to the next desti­na­ti­on (eit­her ano­ther fes­ti­val or return to the licen­se pro­vi­der). The fes­ti­val reta­ins a copy of the film in the fes­ti­vals archive.
14. The fes­ti­val covers the insu­rance of the DCPs/film prints while they are on loca­ti­on in Frankfurt, from their arri­val until they are given back to the shipper.
15. Only the rights hol­der or his repre­sen­ta­ti­ve can enter a film.
16. Entering a film equ­als the accep­tance of the festival’s regulations.
17. The manage­ment of the fes­ti­val is aut­ho­ri­zed to chan­ge the festival’s regu­la­ti­ons in spe­cial cases.