Refund Policy

The submission fee purchases the administrative processing and curatorial evaluation of a single film entry. The fee is charged for the evaluation work itself, which the Festival performs regardless of the outcome. It does not purchase selection, screening, an award, festival attendance, accreditation, or feedback.

You may cancel your submission and receive a full refund of the submission fee if you request cancellation within 5 calendar days of the payment date. Evaluation of no submission begins until the 5-day window has closed, so this right to withdraw is unconditional during the window.

To cancel, email submissions@danafilmfestival.com from the address used at submission, with your submission reference number and film title in the subject line. Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method within 5–10 business days. Your bank may take additional time to display the credit.

Once the 5-day cooling-off period has elapsed, submission fees are non-refundable. This applies without exception to:

• Withdrawal of the film by the submitter for any reason, including selection by or commitment to another festival
• Non-selection for any section, competition, or award
• Selection for a section other than the one preferred by the submitter
• Errors by the submitter in the submitted file, metadata, category, or supporting materials
• Duplicate submissions made by the submitter across DANA's own site and third-party platforms
• Failure to supply required materials, subtitles, or a valid screener by the stated deadline
• Disqualification arising from a breach of the Submission Terms & Conditions
• Inability of the submitter to attend the Festival

This is standard practice among international film festivals. Evaluation resources are committed at the point of submission and cannot be recovered.

The Festival will issue a full refund in the following circumstances:

• Duplicate charge. You were charged more than once for the same submission through a technical or processing error.
• Cancellation of the Festival. The 2027 edition of DANA Film Festival does not take place and is not rescheduled within twelve months of the published dates.
• Cancellation of a section. A section or competition category is withdrawn entirely and your film cannot reasonably be reassigned to another section.
• Failure to evaluate. Your complete and compliant submission was not evaluated by the Festival, and the failure is attributable to the Festival.

Refunds under this clause are issued automatically to the original payment method. You do not need to request them.

If the Festival is postponed, disrupted, or cannot be held on its scheduled dates as a result of events beyond the Organiser's reasonable control — including but not limited to war, armed conflict, civil unrest, acts of terrorism, natural disaster, epidemic or pandemic, government order, travel restriction, or the withdrawal of a required licence or permit — the following applies:

• The Festival will be postponed to a later date rather than cancelled.
• Existing submissions are carried forward automatically to the rescheduled edition at no additional cost, and affected submitters are invited to that edition.
• In these circumstances submission fees are not refundable at the time of postponement, and the twelve-month limit in clause 4 does not apply, as the delay arises from events the Organiser cannot control.
• Outer limit. Carry-forward applies to one rescheduled edition. If no rescheduled edition takes place within 24 months of the originally scheduled dates, affected submitters are entitled to a full refund of their submission fee on request.
• The Organiser will keep affected submitters informed of the revised timeline as soon as it is known.

The Organiser will use reasonable efforts to hold the rescheduled edition at the earliest practicable date once conditions allow.

Submissions made through FilmFreeway, Festhome, WFCN, Shortfilmdepot, Movibeta, Click for Festivals, Reelport or any other platform are governed by that platform's payment and refund terms in addition to this policy. Platform service fees and commissions are retained by the platform and are not refundable by the Festival. Refund requests for platform submissions must be raised with the Festival, but processing is subject to the platform's own mechanism and timelines.

If you believe you are entitled to a refund, please contact us before initiating a chargeback with your bank. We aim to respond to all refund enquiries within 5 business days. Submissions that are the subject of a chargeback are withdrawn from consideration pending resolution.