Blog: Film festivals

The "Festival Cortos para Tiempos largos" is a proposal for the training, creation and circulation of audiovisual content carried out by young Colombians since 2020 with a clear purpose, to connect people and stories. The festival is not looking for winners, it is conceived as a space for the dissemination and visibility of audiovisual products, carried out for academic and non-profit purposes, where all those who wish to be part of a great story can participate.

Ashok Khullar and Kumaar Aadarsh, founder and President, welcome you to the UVT Standalone Film Festival & Awards (UVTsffa). This is a unique kind of film festival for independent filmmakers/content creators where there are no barriers to borders, languages, genres, etc. Based in California, USA, this festival is having an online Award Nomination Festival, live screenings, and Standalone Award Show in Los Angeles.

SFFA is consolidating filmmakers around the world for a wonderful presentation of cinematography and the unveiling of new talents. A committee comprising members from the film industry preview submitted films and select good works of motion pictures for the Award Nomination Festival.

The selected films participate in The Awards nomination Festival which is held for 4 months between Dec-March.

Films screen through this secure server screener where visitors and guests from around the world can witness and vote for the film. On the basis of viewers' choice and votes, films nominated for 42 categories of Awards which screen live in Hollywood and to honor filmmakers, actors, technicians at The UVT Standalone Awards Show in Los Angeles on the Last day of live screenings.

Theatre venue is in the heart of Hollywood. We will screen all nominated films here as well as look forward to create year-round screening, filmmaking, and writing opportunities and to that end we are launching new festivals as part of the UVT Standalone Film Festival & Awards.

UVT SFFA Submissions are for feature narratives, Short films, Shows, Series, documentaries, and animation as even experimental films and music videos.

Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals in Portugal, reaching its 33rd edition in 2025.

Assuming as the main objective the promotion and diffusion of cinematographic and audiovisual works, selected according to quality criteria, Curtas Vila do Conde focuses on the discovery of new films and filmmakers and also on the recognised legacy of Cinema.

Short film competitions with animations, documentaries, fiction films, experimental films, and music videos, produced in 2024 or 2025, no longer than 60 minutes (exception made, under 30 minutes of duration, for Curtinhas – youth and children; My Generation – competitive section aimed for teenagers; Take One! – student films; and Music Videos), preferably with subtitles in Portuguese or English, are admitted to the various competitions.

Side programs, to be progressively announced, will highlight not only a selection of worldwide contemporary short films but also the relations between shorts and features, music and film, or art and cinema.

Only for Latinoamerican Filmmakers.

International horror film festival based in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. All festival activities are nonprofit.

FESOHCURT is, in its 7th edition, a reference within the short movie festivals, as it contributes to fostering the use of Valencian through cinema. Thus, at least 50% of the short movies selected for this edition will be in Valencian language (or any of its dialectal varieties).

7TH JUREE AWARDS NOW OPEN TO ALL STORYTELLERS IN ASIA

Storytellers, filmmakers, creatives and producers may submit short films concluded from 1 January 2020 onwards. This year's Juree consist of two main categories: open category and vertical storytelling category.

Its main prize, the Grand Prize Award, consists of a cash grant and Intellectual Property (IP) development opportunity with Viddsee Labs. Viewers may also participate by casting votes for their favourite shortlisted films for the Audience Choice Awards.

Finalists of Juree Asia will be offered to join the Scene City Accelerator Asia 2023 to develop a new short film under Scene City Asia. The best concepts will be selected and provided with mentoring and funding support for filmmakers.

The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival (PJIFF) has been entertaining audiences in the greater San Francisco Bay Area for more than 15 years. We promote inclusion, diversity, and women empowerment; educate people of all ages about filmmaking; and encourage everyone to “find their voice through film.”

In 2021, like many other festivals, Poppy Jasper’s annual festival turned all-virtual. For the first time, our wide variety of films, panel discussions, and filmmaker conversations was available worldwide. We have as a result forged a stronger bond with the international filmmakers whose films made up 2/3 of the festival’s 2021 offerings. Circumstances permitting, we anticipate a hybrid festival in April of 2022.

PJIFF is based just south of Silicon Valley in the towns of Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista. The festival’s name is drawn from a semiprecious mineral found only in this region. We look forward to once again welcoming visitors to the historic downtowns of our host communities, where local restaurants, breweries, and wineries join in making festival visitors feel right at home.

PJIFF was honored to receive “Best of the Fest” honors at the 2019 Fest Forum in Santa Barbara, and we are thrilled to be one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee for 2021.

Before You Submit

Please submit your film to the category in which you would want your film to be considered for selection and “Best Of” honors.

If submitting in a Student or Local category, your film will be considered for selection for Student or Local day. Remember to include proof of student status or contact address with California zip code. If as a student or local filmmaker you prefer to be considered for selection and honors in the main festival, please submit in a genre / type specific category instead.

We are committed to inclusion and diversity, and strive to select films that honor that ethic. Half of our selected films will be from women directors. We typically have a program of shorts and a few feature-length films. English closed captioning and audio description are encouraged but not required. Foreign-language films must have English subtitles.

Learn more about our communities by visiting their websites: https://visitgilroy.com/ , https://www.visitmorganhill.org/ and http://www.discoversanbenitocounty.com/

Indy Film Fest was founded in 2004 to celebrate the art of cinema and to create a shared experience around film in Indianapolis. We are a non-profit, international, independent film festival programming both features and shorts. Our all-volunteer staff strives to bring the best films the industry has to offer to our community from home and abroad. Our programmers aim to foster new talent and help filmmakers connect with the global industry. We are also dedicated to educating and developing audiences for international and independent cinema in Indy, screening the kind of innovative, visionary work that may not normally achieve distribution in this area.

Indy Film Fest is looking for the best independent features and shorts no matter the category or genre including: live action, animated, drama, comedy, narrative, documentary, horror, sci-fi, and experimental. Our annual festival spanning over 10+ days typically programs around 25 features and 100 short films, with over 90% from submissions.

Always growing and adapting, the Indy Film Fest began as the three-day Indianapolis International Film Festival in 2004. We quickly expanded to our current 10-day format in 2006, moved our festivities to the summer in 2009, changed our name to the Indy Film Fest in 2014, and since 2018 have been back home in our original spring timeframe. Due to COVID-19 our 2020 and 2021 festivals were primarily virtual and our 2022 - 2024 festivals were hybrid 5-day in-person festivals followed by virtual availability and concluding with award-winner in-person screenings on the final weekend. That format is our goal for the 2025 festival and before selection decisions are made filmmakers will be informed of any changes to dates or format and given the opportunity to request their submission fee be applied to a future festival if those changes are not acceptable.

Alumni of the Indy Film Fest (and Indianapolis International Film Festival) are eligible for a reasonable number of free submissions. Films with significant ties to Indiana are eligible for drastically reduced submission fees. Examples of eligibility include the director or writer being a current Indiana resident or native, or the film being primarily shot within Indiana. Please contact submissions@indyfilmfest.org to see if you are eligible for either of these opportunities.

Galería Nahualli en su segunda edición del Festival de Cine y Video, convoca a cineastas, artistas visuales, antropólogos y/o aficionados de la imagen en movimiento radicados en la península de Yucatán.

The European Fantastic Film Festival of Murcia SOMBRA is a project that aims to spread and serve as a reference to fantasy films produced in Europe, as well as support European, national and regional production of gender.

International short film festival - MX 15 min.

The BLOWS UP Int. Film Festival showcases films about eroticism and sexualities. We search from multiple perspectives and offers a selection of culturally relevant, transcending the established, commonplace and stigmatized approaches we are all familiar with. We select works that show a specific angle on the vast and diverse states of love, eroticism, and queerness.

FEATURES
BEST FILM
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST SCREENPLAY

SHORTS
BEST SHORT
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST SCRENPLAY

MiTS (Movement & Social Transformation) is a Social Video-dance Festival which explores the interrelation between video and dance as a tool to bring about powerful discussions and visibility to all kinds of diversity: diverse identities, diverse bodies and territories to discover.

Only for Latin American filmmakers.

PURPOSE
The Festival aims at promoting expressive and artistic short film’s form giving visibility to new authors, enhancing and promoting the products of the film industry and foster the exchange and comparison of experience among filmmakers.

PLACE & DATE
The festival will take place on November 11, 2023 at Calcinaia (Pisa – Italy).

SECTIONS

Smallmovie Festival is an International short film competition that provides 3 sections:

A) Short: Section open to short films of any kind and subject,
with a maximum duration of 20 minutes, opening credits and closing credits included.

B) Under 35: Section open to short films of any kind and subject, with a maximum duration of 20 minutes, opening credits and closing credits included, made by directors who, at the time of the expiry of this announcement, have not yet turned 35

C) Tuscany: Section reserved for short films directed by Tuscan directors with a maximum duration of 20 minutes, opening credits and closing credits included.

Murud janjira beach festival (Murud janjira paryatan mahotsav) is held every year in murud janjira.

This festival is celebrated with enthusiasm for last 20 years. this year we are including a film festival for the first time.

This is our effort to take the film festival to the same level as the Murud beach festival, And we aim to take the tourism of Murud Janjira to international level.

Janjira International Film Festival will be conducted in the 4rth week of December every year at the picturesque and adorable city of Murud - Janjira in Maharashtra.being one of the most beautiful tourist destinations, Murud-janjira sets the right arena for JIFF. JIFF welcomes film makers, artists and technical crew, journalists and all those are associated with film industry and film making to come and participate in this festival.

AVANCA Film Festival was awarded first place in 2011 contest of the support film festivals sponsored by ICA / Ministry of Culture.

An additional thematic programming has happened over all these years, giving space to screening of significant works of contemporary cinema appropriately framed in concerns and / or well-defined objectives.

The AVANCA is known as a space for workshops led by personalities of world cinema, and being more than a "master class", has allowed a unique cinema practice. Every year we have workshops, bringing together participants from all over Europe. The media have written that this is the largest European area of professional workshops in the field of cinema.

AVANCA is the only festival that congregates a Cinema International Competition, works from the television area, video and new supports of multimedia, with a special concern of exhibit the best world productions done in each category.

Since the first edition, the festival only accepts unprecedented films in Portugal.

The World Premiere competition is unique in our country and was only possible because Avanca became a passage point of unpublished authors and movies with great quality. Films that have their world premiere in the festival, independently of the submitted category, are also participating in the World Premiere Competition.

AVANCA is the Portuguese festival with the highest percentage of worldwide unpublished movies that find here their first showing.

Since 2010, we have organized the international film conference AVANCA | CINEMA, becoming the most important conference in the field of cinema in the Iberian Peninsula. This conference brings together speakers and participants from around the world.
Thematic exhibitions, editions of books, bibliographic presentations and various projects have marked these last 10 years of AVANCA with the quality that compels the festival and the participants obviously require.

FEST - NDNFF #21
21st of June - 29th of 2025 | Espinho, Portugal

FEST – New Directors | New Films Festival is an all-encompassing celebration of the new tendencies of world cinema. The event focuses on a competitive and non-competitive showcase of the most promising new figures and works from around the globe.

The 21st edition of the festival will take place between the 21st of June and the 29 June 2025, in the seaside town of Espinho (Portugal).

The selection is divided into several categories which include Feature Film and Short Film competitions in the Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Experimental Non-Narrative formats, as well as content adequate for children and teenagers. The event also includes non-competitive sections that range from retrospectives to showcases that can be Shorts, Features or Series.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
We are accepting films under the following formats:
A) Fiction and Non-Fiction feature films (minimum length is 55 minutes) from directors who are on their first or second feature-length project, regardless of age.
B) Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental Short films (up to 54 minutes of duration) from directors who have completed no more than two feature films, regardless of age.
C) Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental Series (up to 55 minutes of duration) from directors who have completed no more than two feature films, regardless of age.

Candidates must choose one of the available submission categories. Do not worry if your film fits different categories (Ie: Hybrid productions), as all submissions will be considered for the different competitions. If your film is also eligible for the NEXXT competition (focused on academic productions) but you wish the film to be considered for all other competitions please mention in the comment section of the submission the academic institution where the film was produced. If you have any doubts at all please do not hesitate to contact us at films@fest.pt.

Throughout the years' FEST has selected for its feature film competitions films such as Celine Song’s “Past lives”; Ainhoa Rodríguez´s "Mighty Flash"; Teodora Mihai´s “The Civilian”; Anders Ølholm and Frederik Louis Hviid with "Enforcement"; Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre´s “Zero Fucks Given”; P.S. Vinothraj “Pebbles”; Eugen Jebeleanu´s “Poppy field”; and Valdimar Jóhannsson´s “Lamb”, all of this on the fiction side, then in the Documentary side, Karima Saidi´s "A way Home", Michał Edelman´s "Last Knights Of The Right Side", Franz Böhm´s "Dear Future Children" among many others.

FEST’s Short Film sections are known for its wide variety of styles and filmic visions, having been throughout the years a platform for the launch of new artists such as Govinda Van Maele (Luxembourg), Christos Massalas (Greece), Mati Diop (France), Adriano Valerio (Italy), Patrick Vollrath (Germany), Ninja Thyberg (Sweden), Manuel Abramovich (Argentina), Daria Belova (Russia), Simon Mésa Soto (Colombia), Aga Woszczynska (Poland), Jela Hasler (Switzerland), as well as hundreds of other up-and-coming filmmakers.

FEST also includes a series of other activities that run parallel to the festival, in particular, FEST – Training Ground (one of Europe’s largest film forums) and FEST – Pitching Forum (film project competition), and others. For more information please visit our website at www.fest.pt