What are popular Chinese stories? A no brainer would be the Great Wall, Forbidden Cityand the Terra Cotta Warriors. If your audiences get to know only these ancient cultural icons, they will be missing the point about China. After over 40 years of breathtaking growth, the country has more fascinating stories to tell. It’s a golden mine for documentary producers and film makers around the world.

GZDOC is now recruiting Chinese Story for the global market. If you are an internationally working producer with high ambitions and have creative China story ideas, no matter what formats and contents, you are encouraged to pitch: Science, Wild Life and Natural History, Culture and Arts, Human Interest, History and Society. In 2019, China has a wide range of stories to tell, and we want you to engage with them.

30 projects will be selected. If you are able to outperform competitors, you will be invited to present during the festival from December 9th to 12th. You will meet with Chinese investors and decision makers from TV networks, production companies and new media platforms.

It’s an opportunity that could tap into China stories and create new cultural icons. It’s an opportunity that could turn your Chinese dream into reality.

Free passes will be offered to finalists. More award details will be announced later on.

Please register online at the official website www.gzdoc.cn to attend the China’s top documentary film festival, which is also the biggest documentary film festival in Asia!

2019 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival Regulations on “China Story” International Pitching Session

I. Introduction of "ChinaStory" International Pitching Session

“China Story” International Pitching Session recruits Chinese stories for and from global market. It hopes to cultivate the documentary projects that best reflect China and its people, with an international storytelling and of premium production standard. The pitching session also hopes to develop the pre-sale, co-production and commission of China stories.

II. Date of Event

The documentary festival is held in Guangzhou every December.

2019 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC) will be held from December 9th to December 12th, 2019.

III. Qualification Requirements

1.The pitching projects shall be at the stage of either pre-production, shooting or post-production before 2020. The completed films do not qualify for this session.

2.The pitches shall have distinctive Chinese elements (Either it is shot in China or it is about China, including culture, history, social issues, technology, nature etc.).

IV. Submission Guidance

(i) Submission Deadline

"China Story" International Pitching Session will be open for submission from March 15, 2019 (GMT+8) to September 20, 2019(GMT+8). The pitch shall be submitted online and all relevant registration materials shall be sent to the General Office of the Organizing Committee (OC) before thedeadline. The application materials received after the due day or the application with incomplete materials will not be accepted as qualified entries.

(ii) Application Process and Required Materials

1、Please log onto the official website www.gzdoc.cn, click "Participating in the Festival-"China Story" Proposal" to complete and submit the online Entry Form.

2. After submitting the online entry form, applicants need to email the following materials to project@gzdoc.cn (please indicate the pitch title and the applicant’s name, contact information in the email).

(1) Pitch trailer: no more than 3 minutes, MOV format, H264, 1080P and above. Please upload the trailer to the internet (such as Baidu Cloud Disk) and submitthe download link and password.

(2) 2 stills in JPG format, pixel no less than 300 DPI.

(3) Additional information about the pitch (if any): The applicant could also submit production proposal, shooting outline, original ideas for the pitch, the visual style, the artistic features, the detailed budget, and the link of the main production crews’ bios and their completed works to OC by mail for further reference.

[Note: All registration information and materials (except for additional information) must be bilingual.]

(iii) Registration Fee

Free Entry

(iv) The Use of Information and Application Materials

1. Please fill in entry form correctly and completely. The information in the form will be used and published in the process of pre-selection, evaluation and final announcement. If there is any information wrong or missing, the responsibility will be borne by the applicant.

2.The signup account used in the official website (www.gzdoc.cn) will be used asthe contact of applicant by default. The follow-up notification related top reselection and evaluation will be delivered to this contact first. Please keep the call and the mailbox accessible.

(v) Update/Supplement of Registration Information and Application Materials

1.If applicant wants to update information or material after submission, please send an email to project@gzdoc.cn and explain the update in detail. After reviewed and approved by the OC, the update will be completed.

2.If there are follow-up materials (such as posters, stills, promotional materials, awards, etc.), please send the materials to project@gzdoc.cn, with a detailed explanation.

3. If the preview version is the version in post production, the applicant can submit the final screening version after being selected, but applicant cannot update the version during the evaluation process.

(vi) Copyright Statement

Applicant (and applying company) shall own the copyrights or distribution rights of the film submitted by him/her; shall ensure that there is no dispute over copyright of the film; guarantee it has acquired the copyrights/authorizations from the copyright owners for the music, video, image and text contained and used in the films; ensure the original contents in the film do not violate the copyrights or legal rights of any other third parties. Any disputes, damages or compensations arising out of or in relation to the copyright infringement of the film shall be borne by its applicant (and applying company).

V. Evaluation Process

The entries will be screened for the initial evaluation, semi-final evaluation and final evaluation. They will be reviewed and selected by the Selection Committee and Decision Makers. The OC isresponsible for inviting professionals for the Selection Committee and Decision Makers.

1.   The initial Selection committee is responsible for presenting the semi-finalist from all the submissions. The applicant who is selected for semi-finalist will be notified by email in mid October, and the list will be released on the official website.

2.   The Semi-final Decision Makers are responsible for presenting the finalist from the semi-finalists. The finalist will be notified by e-mail in mid-November and released on the official website.

3.    The winners will be selected from finalists by Finalist Decision Makers and will be announced at the Golden Kapok Award Ceremony, held on December 9 - December12, 2019.

VI. Notice to Finalists

1.The applicants shall confirm their participation into the final evaluation withthe OC within five working days after receiving the notification (email) from the OC. Once the applicants confirm the participation, they cannot withdraw for any reasons.

2.The finalists shall, at the request of the OC, submit all necessary information and materials for their pitching projects before the deadline specified in the OC’s notice to finalists.

3.Once a pitch is selected, the application information and material submitted online and offline will be presented on the documentary festival brochure, official website, or for online and offline media promotion events. The OC is entitled to edit and publicly use the materials, including entry information, posters, stills, trailers and clips of no more than 3 minutes, on GZDOC’s official channels. Meanwhile, the OC has the right to provide application information and material submitted to the Selection Committee and Decision Makers for the use of evaluation.

4. Each finalist team must ensure that 1-2 creative personnel shall attend the GZDOC China Story Int’l Pitching Session forpresentation. Otherwise, it will be deemed as quitting the competition. The finalist qualification will then be given to the candidate next in line.

5.The applicants shall cooperate with the OC for the follow-up in the long runand for later publicity.

6.After the finalist is selected, the OC will provide the GZDOC logos for Finalist or Winner. The selected pitch and the program produced accordingly must include the GZDOC logos in all its subsequent promotional materials, and it’s strictly forbidden to modify the logo.

7.For the finalists, "GZDOC" or the logo of GZDOC must be included in the opening or closing credits of the completed program.

VII. Statement

1.Any changes against the regulations will be posted on the "GZDOC Regulation-Announcement" page of the official website (www.gzdoc.cn). The applicant can withdraw from the event if he/she thinks the modified clauses are unacceptable by notifying the Organizing Committee within 10 working days after the announcement is posted. Otherwise, it will be deemed that the applicant accepts all the modified clauses.

2.If there were any situations that are not specified above, the OC reserves all rights for the final explanation of the regulations.

3. The applicant signing up for the screening session of 2019 GZDOC “China Story” International Pitching Session should accept all the above terms and conditions. If there is any dispute, it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of PRC.

Manager of Copyright & ProjectDepartment

Ms. Zhu Jiayi

Email: project@gzdoc.cn

Tel: 020-38780150 call 807