About the festival

Regulations (rules) International Youth Film Festival “Light to the World”

“I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

1. Objective: to promote the spiritual, moral, patriotic, and artistic-aesthetic education of modern youth.

2. Tasks:
• creation of an environment of healthy creative communication of young filmmakers and adults creating films for children;
• rendering methodological and practical assistance to specialists working in the field of children’s and youth cinema, video creation, as well as education and upbringing of children and youth;
• identification and support of young filmmakers and adults making films for children, promoting traditional spiritual and moral values, patriotism and a healthy lifestyle.

3. The organizers of the competition:
The founder is the Rybinsk Diocese of the Yaroslavl Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The co-founders are LLC “Film Company “Vremya Kino”, ANO “Film Festival “Svet Miru”, the educational project “Shores” named after Daria Dugina. The festival is held with the support of the Administration of the Yaroslavl Region and its subjects, state, commercial, and public structures, as well as the media.

4. Organizational Committee of the Festival:
• Bishop of Rybinsk and Romanovo-Borisoglebsk Veniamin (Nikolay Ivanovich Likhomanov), Chairman;
• Alla Kotova, Director of the Light of the World Film Festival, Program Director of the Film Festival; Director, Teacher;
• Sergey Strusovsky, General Director of the Vremya Kino Film Company LLC, Director, Teacher, Member of the Jury of the Film Festival;
• Irina Dyadchenko, Head of Daria Dugina’s educational project “Shores”, member of the jury, teacher of religious studies, producer of documentary and feature films;
• Archpriest Evgeny Glazunov, member of the film festival jury
• Alexey Bushuev, Head of the “Cinema for Small Towns and Villages” department of the “Light of the World” film festival
• Elena Dvoretskaya, member of the jury, director;
• Anastasia Nikolaevna Belyaeva, member of the jury, teacher, curator of the film festival in Uglich

5. Contest Participants
Professionals and film enthusiasts are invited to participate in the contest in the following categories:
5.1 Category “Youth”: filmmakers, youth groups, and individual authors.
A film can be included in this category only if it meets at least one of the following conditions:
• The main director must be between 18 and 35 years old (at the time of the film’s creation);
• The main cinematographer must be between 18 and 35 years old (at the time of the film’s creation);
• Most of the actors (or hosts of TV programs and documentaries) were between the ages of 18 and 35 at the time the film was created.;
• Most of the creators of the animated film (director, animator) are between the ages of 18 and 35 (at the time the film was created).
5.2 Category “Adults”:
5.2.1. Collectives and individual authors, without age restrictions, who make films for children, with children as the main character(s).
5.2.2. Collectives and individual authors, without age restrictions, who have submitted an Orthodox film, nomination “Light to the World”
5.2.3. Collectives and individual authors, without age restrictions, who have submitted a patriotic film, nomination “Patriotic Film”

6. Dates and venue
6.1 Applications for participation are accepted from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026 in the established form on the festival website: http://kinofest-svetmiru.ru, Filmfreeway, Festagent, Festhome, Our Festivals platforms for submitting applications for film festivals.
6.2 Selection stage: from 1 May to 30 June 2026.
6.3 The list of finalists will be published no later than June 30, 2026, on the official website and in the festival’s VKontakte social media group.
6.4 The festival’s finale will take place on September 11, with competitive screenings, and from September 12 to 16, 2026. The opening ceremony, competitive screenings, and the closing ceremony will take place. Participants will visit Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, Uglich, Tutaev, and Myshkin (subject to change).
Screenings of competitive films will also take place in other cities of the Yaroslavl region.
The final program includes screenings of the finalist films, discussions, and tours. The festival also features concerts and creative meetings with renowned cultural figures.
6.5 Film screenings program “Echo of the Film Festival for Small Towns and Villages”, educational events from November 20 to 27, 2026

7. Competition conditions
7.1 Applications and films must be received by the Organizing Committee no later than March 31, 2026. Films submitted after this date will be submitted to the XVII International Youth Film Festival “Light to the World”.
7.2 Films and programs created no earlier than January 2024 are accepted for participation in the Festival’s competition program. The working language of the Festival is Russian. Programs (films) created in a foreign language must have Russian subtitles or simultaneous translation. As an exception, the organizing committee may accept a film with English subtitles for participation in the competition.
7.3 Films are accepted in file-sharing services in AVCHD, MOV or MPEG-4 formats in HD quality. The link to the films must be valid until the end of the festival finals.
7.4 Only one film from one author is accepted in each nomination. Several works can be accepted from one studio if they have different directors.
7.5 Works that advertise the activities of totalitarian, occult, satanic, and any other destructive sects, psychics, magicians, sorcerers, healers, etc. are not accepted.
7.6 The International Youth Film Festival “Light to the World” is held in two stages: the selection of the best video works (in absentia) and the final. A Selection Commission is created to select the works for the final part of the competition. The Selection Committee makes a preliminary selection, as a result of which films of a high technical and artistic level that correspond to the mission, goals and objectives of the Festival are selected for the final. The films that have passed to the final are evaluated by the Jury of the Film Festival.
7.7 The authors of the films that have passed to the final of the Festival are invited to the final events of the Festival, which will be held on September 12-16, 2026 in the Yaroslavl Region.
7.8 Films are evaluated on a 5-point scale (from 0 to 5). Films that receive the highest scores become festival winners and are awarded diplomas of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees. The remaining finalists receive поощрительные дипломы.
7.9 Special awards of the festival. Members of the jury, representatives of the regional administration, the Yaroslavl Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and public figures can award their favorite films for their acting, directing, or cinematography skills, as well as for their script and theme.
7.10 Criteria for evaluating films:
• compliance of the work with the Festival’s goals;
• originality of the script;
• relevance of the topic addressed in the work;
• originality of the idea (directorial solution);
• artistic level of the solution;
• cinematographic skills;
• acting skills;
• sound solution;
• level of technical implementation of the idea (quality of film editing).

8. Nominations of the competition and deadlines for submitting works
8.1 The nomination opens when a sufficient number of applications are received. If the film meets the festival’s mission, but the author does not fit the “youth” age category, and the film is not intended for children, the film will be shown outside the competition.
8.2 Film Competition
• “Light to the World” (films and programs about Orthodoxy);
• “Patriotic Film”;
• Feature Film (full-length);
• Feature film (short film);
• Film featuring children (scriptwriter – heads of children’s studios);
• Non-fiction film;
• Animated film;
• Social video;
• Music film (music video);
• TV program (report);
An experimental film
8.3 The duration of the competition entries is up to 30 minutes. A feature-length film should not exceed 1 hour and 30 minutes. If a film longer than 30 minutes is selected for the competition program, it may not be included in the festival’s viewing schedule unless the authors provide a shorter version.

9. Financial conditions
9.1 Participation in the festival-competition is free. The travel expenses of the finalists to and from the festival venue are paid by the participants of the festival. Accommodation, meals, cultural and excursion programs are paid by the organizers of the festival (subject to sufficient funding).
The festival organizing committee invites one participant from each studio to the final.
The invitation process starts with the participants who have the highest scores, and if they decline the invitation within five days, the place will be given to the next (according to the evaluation system) finalist.
At the discretion of the film festival organizing committee, two authors representing the same film may be invited, provided that funding is available.
9.2 If a finalist refuses to participate in the Festival in person, they will receive an electronic diploma. A souvenir with the film festival logo and the original diploma will not be sent.

10. Contacts
«Light to the World»:
Festival website: http://kinofest-svetmiru.ru/
e-mail: kinofest-svetmiru@yandex.ru
VKontakte Festival group: https://vk.com/club187644198
Postal address of the Festival Organizing Committee: 152901, Yaroslavl Region, Rybinsk, Krestovaya Street, 3/5