Blog: Film festivals

1. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of Festival de Malaga are to disseminate and promote Spanish films and their general cultural sphere. In this sense, the Festival is also a platform for Latin American film productions. Its functions include hosting an event for the different professional sectors of films in Spanish (construed as films produced in Spain and all of Latin America, including Brazil) to boost their development and promote international sales.

In compliance with these objectives, the 28th Edition of Festival de Málaga will be held from 14th to 23rd March 2025.

Edinburgh Short Film Festival Now Open! International Tours & Cash Awards

The 14th edition of the ESFF with International Film Festival showcases, more short film screenings, trophies, cash prizes and awards!

Max Length 25 minutes, international films welcomed, all genres eligible.

Open for entries online and via Festhome!

http://www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com/

Looking forward to seeing your films!

El Grito is the first and only fantasy and horror film festival in Venezuela.

We are a space that promotes reflection, meeting and training through fantasy and horror films, serving as a platform for their dissemination and promotion as genres that go beyond entertainment, highlighting its poetic value and its own tools to move from different narratives, techniques and themes. Under the initiative of the El Grito Casa Audiovisual (www.elgritoproduce.com), this meeting was born in December 2019 in the city of San Cristobal, Tachira State.

We look for works that transcend narrative, aesthetic and technical languages ​​within the genre, using history as the main element in his audiovisual proposal, demonstrating as an author, a search for new ways of showing situations, conflicts and twists of the screw hand in hand with references from different disciplines that feed its concept.

EL GRITO seeks to raise its voice until it becomes a thunderous noise that shakes our city and summons for years all kinds of nightmares and monsters that can strengthen our worn out humanity sensibility.

More information in elgritoproduce.com

Children's & Teenagers International Film Festival is an India’s independent children’s film festival promoted by Miniboxoffice India. The Children's & Teenagers International Film Festival aim is to showcase & promote professionally made entertaining, enlightening & encouraging children’s feature films, short films, animation & documentaries among target audience. The festival accept all genres of children’s films be it a fantasy, motivational, drama, disability, educational, science fiction, adventurous, parenting etc.


The Children's & Teenagers International Film Festival-24 is a boutique of children’s & teeenagers films celebrating childhood & adolescence. The festival objective is to bring the world class cinema to the door step of children’s which provide alternate source of learning & help in understanding the culture of other nations through the art of cinema. CTIFF also giving exposure of film education to the children’s through various workshops & master classes. At the same time providing platform to the filmmakers in reaching out wide audience through CTIFF.


The festival helps in raising the standards of quality content for children’s films and also helps to boost-up the children’s films market. We hope that CTIFF will prove a milestone for filmmakers in their career & a rich experience for audience as well.

The Festival is organized by the CinemArt Association of Pineda de Mar, it is an International festival with the objective of promoting a specific space for the discovery, screening and dissemination of short films.

The main thematic axis of the festival is comedy; However, the theme and genre of the productions is free. Quality and originality will be prioritized as the main objective, and that the production be unprecedented.

The 10th Pineda de Mar International Short Film Festival will be held from September 23 to September 28, 2024.

The program of the 2024 Pineda de Mar International Short Film Festival. It will integrate different activities focused on publicizing the selected short films and promoting different aspects of the world of cinema in Pineda de Mar, with the collaboration of the Pineda de Mar City Council and entities local.

The closing ceremony and awards ceremony of the Festival will take place on September 28, 2024 at the Pineda de Mar Auditorium.

The Deep Focus Film Festival aims to foster an environment in which independent filmmakers can better understand the audience’s reactions to their work. Our goal is to give each film selected a thoughtful response from a professional filmmaker and peer.

We understand that each of you have invested your time and creative efforts turning your ideas into reality, and we would like to reward that effort with the respect it deserves.

Bašta Fest is an international short fiction film festival held in Bajina Bašta, Western Serbia. It is an annual event that is taking place during the first weekend of July and it lasts for four days. Due to the profession of the founders (actors Jovan Jelisavčić and Maja Šuša), the festival's main point of interest is a collaboration between directors and actors. We believe that focusing on the quality of that joint artistic effort will have a positive impact on the positioning of Bašta Fest among short film festivals. Bašta Fest is of great importance for the decentralization of culture since it has brought diverse film, music and off program to this beautiful region. One of the priorities of the festival is to promote the incredible natural beauty to a large number of visitors. Nevertheless, our primary goal is to convert this festival into an exciting cultural oasis, which supports local and international young artists, putting emphasis on short fiction films with authenticity. The main selection is a competition short film program, while two films are screened as a part of non-competition, special program every year - one during the opening and one during the closing ceremony. The last to be screened is a Serbian debut feature film, chosen by Bašta fest team as the most successful one in the previous year. The entrance to all screenings at Bašta is free of charge, while they are always being held under the open night skies. There are currently two official festival locations: Borići park and lake Perućac.

Antakya Film Festival, is an International, competitive festival. (AFF) is a major destination on the Festival circuit and recognized by the sinema Academy as a Qualifying Festival in all film categories. Antakya Film Festival, It is the first meeting point of this region for the international film and media industries.

Mission is to provide a public forum in Antakya in order to advance public interest in films and the independent production of films. To draw worldwide attention to Antakya as a center for cinema. To encourage the rights of all Antakya residents to access and experience the power of independent filmmaking, and to promote artistic excellence and the creative freedom of artists without censure.
In 2023, the Festival presented 800 films, representing work that was shot and produced in 45 countries. The event offers well rounded, and for many, career-establishing experiences. Submit your work before the final deadline!

The festival is for and by independent filmmakers. The organizers of Antakya Film Festival bring 10 years of festival experience to this annual event. Antakya Film Festival accepts submissions in six categories: Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Experimental, Short Student, and Animation.

Submissions are open from October to September of the year, the final selection of 150 + films is announced in September, and the film festival takes place in October. Selected films in each category are eligible for several awards. In addition to our lineup of films, the festival also hosts multiple filmmaker parties and networking events at venues around Antakya and Hatay.

The FIC AUTOR (Author's International Film Festival) is interested in unique and artistic films that exceed the limits of traditional storytelling. We look for Feature and Short Films that reflect the director's personal creative vision, and a style that is distinct enough to shine through the collective process.

We don't care if your films have recognized stars or unknown names; we are against the politics and bureaucracy that floods the film industry. We want to be recognized as an objective festival. We don't want to build our reputation based on how many superstars are in attendance; what we want is the truly best world cinema in our theaters!

FIC AUTOR will strive to be one of the most important cultural events in the city. We aspire to become an international spotlight for new directors!

-The 13 winning Authors will receive the WINNER LAUREL, plus FIC AUTOR trophy or rings and sponsor's prizes.

-WINNERS will be announced one month before the award ceremony, so all the nominated filmmakers can decide beforehand whether they want to travel to the festival.

-The award ceremony will take place in the CINEFORO, one of the biggest cinema theaters in the city with 440 seats, and is the most prestigious.

We are not like other bulls**t festivals, YOU DONT have to pay for your prize. IT'S A PRIZE, NOT A DEBT! And we don't give metal or glass trophies... Our trophies are 100% made from silver and semi-precious stones! As independent filmmakers we know the things we love and hate about film festivals, so we want to avoid all the negative things we have found the in past years, such as exorbitant, unnecessary fees, teenage judges and of course.. trophies you would rather hide in the closet.

CATEGORIES:

Feature Films Categories:
-Fictional Feature Films.
-Documentary Feature Films.
-Experimental Feature Films.
-First-Time Filmmaker.
-Low Budget Feature Films Under 50K USD.
-Mexican Feature Films.

Medium Length Category:
-Medium Length Films.

Short Films Categories:
-Fictional Short Films.
-Documentary Short Films.
-Experimental Short Films.
-Animated Short Films.
-Mexican Short Films.
-Cineminuto 1 minute Short Films.

MAY 19, 2020 | COVID-19 UPDATE!
EIFF is slated for the end of September and at this point, we are proceeding with a ‘business as usual’ mindset. CALL FOR ENTRIES is now CLOSED for the 2020 fest and selection committees are adjudicating entries. Filmmakers will be NOTIFIED by AUGUST 15 through the FestHome E-MAIL portal. As this carpet ride continues, let’s try to find the ‘magic’ of it all. Be well!

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The Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) is a truly unique festival that champions the bold and challenges the status quo. It is equal parts creative, demanding, celebratory, discriminating and, in the end, just a hell of a lot of fun.

SHORT FILMMAKERS... We announce the two (2) OSCAR® qualifying short films in the LIVE ACTION and ANIMATION categories on SUNDAY, October 11. The submission deadline to AMPAS (The Academy) is 5pm PT on TUESDAY, Dec. 1.

So who are we? In 2003, our love for film and filmMAKERS -- cinematic storytellers -- led us to the curtains of Edmonton's International Film Festival (or LOCAL HEROES as it was known back then) because 'how hard can it be?' The festival was just shy of 20 years young at that time. All of us here in EIFF land had real gigs -- film production, freelancing, broadcast, journalism, raising goats. All of us still do those things, but very part-time now. This thing, this film festival, is certainly outgrowing its tiny budget. We come from production, so when you tell us your film is a rough cut, temp audio and no color correct, we understand that! And we are passionate. We love films, and the people who MAKE them. So much so, that when you have a film screen here, you become part of our family. And for the record, it's a whole lot harder than we imagined!

Our primary objective is to encourage and support the appreciation of cinema as art. Each autumn, we hoist the curtains on a 10-day cinematic feast that celebrates the power of film. The EIFF menu consists of more than 150 films from 40 countries, ranging from short to feature-length, dramatic to documentary, comedy to gut-wrenching and studio to independent. And we sprinkle it all with a generous dose of filmmaker chats, Q&A's, gala screenings, a local filmmaker spotlight, 'buzzy' films that are travelling the festival circuit, shorts with lunch, parties (of course!) and more.

This gem of a festival from the plains of Alberta gives voice, platform and opportunity to filmmakers at all stages of their creative journey and from all parts of the world. Edmonton is North America's northernmost metropolis and is a proud outlier when it comes to art and culture. 'E-Town' does its own thing. It's home to some of the best festivals anywhere and is a favourite with artists of all stripes. EIFF is one of those events that not only puts Northern Alberta on the map -- it hotly brands it!

WHO ATTENDS? Over the years, we've had the pleasure of hosting: John Waters, Norman Jewison, Cory Bowles, Academy Award© winner Brenda Fricker, Deepa Mehta, Arthur Hiller, Werner Herzog, Paul Gross, Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, Don McKellar, Albert Maysles, Jon Cryer, Bruce McDonald, Patrick Warburton, Rita Chiarelli, Shea Whigham, Jesse James Miller, Kris Holden-Ried, Zoie Palmer, Academy Award© winner, Luke Matheny... the list goes on! And countless emerging filmmakers, actors, writers and producers.

“I was honoured to be a juror at EIFF and I shared in the excitement of discovering new voices and visions. EIFF is more important than ever to the citizens and City of Edmonton. It is truly an international festival that doesn’t forget its local, indigenous and regional roots.”
- Carolyn B. (Canada)

At the end of the day, once the curtains close for the final time each year -- EIFF is about the power of film! And how it brings us all together in a way that only ART can. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Submit NOW and become part of Alberta's longest running international film festival.

Wallachia International Film Festival is a highly professional, industry connected film festival, an exclusive independent grassroots film festival taking place in an exquisite location in Downtown Bucharest, only hundreds of meters away from Dracula’s former court in the grand Old Town!

We won multiple cinema prizes including important awards at major film festivals, like Cannes, Locarno, Montreal, London, Milan, Miami and Atlanta. Also, our advertising work received accolades at Clio, Effie, In-Awe, Lion Awards, ANDY Awards and Ad’Or, while working for companies like Coca-Cola, UNICEF, McDonalds, Renault, Yahoo! and Nestlé-Purina.

But there’s nothing we love more than indulging ourselves with cinematic candies from all over the world, under the autumn night sky of Wallachia. We will be arguing for a long time about which ones we feel are the best, and about the most promising unproduced screenplays.

Welcome to Wallachia, the Legendary Land of Voivode Vlad III Dracula, universally known as Vlad the Impaler. Born in 1431, Vlad was an authoritarian Principe, he revolutionized the affairs of Wallachia and refused to pay tribute to the sultan Mehmed II, resulting in a bloody war with the Ottomans. Multiple works containing stories about Vlad's cruelty were published soon after his assassination in 1475. In 1897, Bram Stoker downgrades Prince Vlad to Count Dracula, a blood-sucking vampire inspired by Wallachian ancient folklore. Loosely based on the book, Dracula (1931) casts immortal Bela Lugosi as the doomed romantic Count.

Just think cinétopia! Feel hundreds of years of mythic Wallachian history under the night sky! It’s a 100% natural film affair!

We watch all movies, we read all screenplays and we select exclusively based on artistic merits.

Sedicicorto started in 2004 and is held every year in the month of October in Forlì. The Festival aims at offering visibility to young authors and at representing an opportunity of meeting and exchange among film industry professionals.

Known for its quality programming and the friendly welcome offered to all guests and professionals attending the event, over the years Sedicicorto has proven to be the Italian short film festival with the largest number of submissions (over 5,000 films submitted from 125 countries in 2021). Thanks to its consistent presence at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival & Market with the Italian Short Film Corner - organized in collaboration with the Italian CNC and other Italian short film festivals - and thanks to the collaboration with the network of European short film festivals of the EuroShort Project, Sedicicorto is constantly strengthening its image all over Europe.
The event aims at drawing the attention of the general audience, paying particular attention to children and the young audience with screenings and film literacy activities held during the Festival and all year round.

**Become a part of one of the most popular IMDb annual Festivals!**

Welcome to the Bristol Independent Film Festival. We are one of the UK’s fastest-growing independent film festivals!

Since we started in 2016 we have had submissions from over 120 countries. We pride ourselves on being an international film festival. We aspire to promote, recognize, and support independent filmmakers throughout the world by hosting a variety of awards to provide the best opportunities for filmmakers and help them receive their deserved recognition. We welcome submissions from a range of genres including short films, documentaries, features, animations, and screenplays.

Why BIFF?

•We aim to create a community of independent film-makers and an environment where we can celebrate independent films and our submitters’ creations.
•For each event, we provide networking booklets that include information about each winner and ways to contact them. We also provide trophies and winners packs.

•Each season we offer cash prizes to our favorite submissions to help fund their future projects.

•Finally, we aim to establish personal relationships with our submitters. We always enjoy finally meeting with our filmmakers/ scriptwriters and being able to celebrate their accomplishments in person.

Why Bristol?

Bristol was recently recognized by UNESCO as a “City of Film” alongside the likes of Sydney, Rome, and Galway. We pride ourselves on being the largest celebration of independent film in Bristol and we aim to create a hub for independent film-makers.

Judging Process?

Our submissions are judged by a jury of international industry professionals. They rate each submission on 10 different categories including cinematography, writing, pacing, and creativity. This helps them decide which submissions make it to the final stage where there will be jury group viewings to make sure we only pick the best quality submissions.

We look forward to viewing your creations and hope to meet you at our 7th annual celebration of independent film.

The Basilicata International Film Festival is a festival for short films where short films, doc-films and short food (food-based short films) are also admitted.

The FICAH MEXICO will be held annually and its main objectives are to promote and promote the production, completion and exhibition of independent cinematographic works.

In 2021, “The Biggest Little Fest In Europe” was heralded as "One of the World's Leading Indie Film Fests"- The Hollywood Reporter

Rated among the top 5 Film Festivals worldwide for Independent Films by American film critic Chris Gore in his esteemed “Ultimate Film Festival Guide”, and ranked “Top 25 Coolest Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker, Oldenburg has fostered its success with a strong commitment to innovative and Independent filmmaking.

“If there's anything that could be considered the Promised Land of Independent Cinema in Europe today, it is Oldenburg.” - Accred - L'actualité des festivals de cinéma

Labelled ‘the German Sundance’ by Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Screen International, amongst others, Oldenburg has evolved while preserving its intimate atmosphere and founding purpose: to celebrate and support the diverse voices and visions of independent filmmakers, to honor the creativity of the artists upon which the Festival depends, and to create a unique experience and inspiring meeting place for filmmakers, audiences, and media professionals.

“Oldenburg - renown for its determination, cinephilia, and openness for the extremes - impresses with its brilliant programming.” - GRIP

Additionally, in an effort to raise awareness and build bridges between worlds through the common language of film, Oldenburg is the only Film Festival in the world that annually screens part of its regular program to incarcerated individuals who share the experience with members of the general public in an actual high-security Prison environment, known as ‘The Alcatraz of the North’.

“Oldenburg thrives as a discovery channel.” - Screen International

In addition to supporting the discovery of new artists, Oldenburg has hosted the German Premieres of films by such acclaimed filmmakers as Darren Aronofsky, Brian De Palma, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Polish, Johnnie To, Chan-wook Park, Monte Hellmann, & Takeshi Kitano amongst others. Guests of honor have included Jim McBride, Larry Clark, Philippe de Broca, Andrzej Zulawski, Ken Russell, Jerry Schatzberg, James Toback, Radley Metzger, Ted Kotcheff, Phedon Papmichael, George Armitage, Christophe Honoré, Edward R. Pressman, Bruce Robinson, William Freidkin, Ovidio Assonitis, and Peter & John Hyams who have all attended the festival for Retrospectives of their work.

“Just as impressive as the films was the festival itself, which, under the inspired direction of Torsten Neumann, combined intelligent cinephilia with a laid-back atmosphere of democratic equality.” - Sight and Sound

Nicolas Cage, Seymour Cassel, Asia Argento, Keira Knightley, Deborah Kara Unger, Mira Sorvino, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael Wadleigh, Joanna Cassidy, Luke Wilson, Ben Gazzara, Stacy Keach, Amanda Plummer, Keith Carradine, Matthew Modine, Sean Baker, Andrea Rau, Mattie Do & Noémie Merlant are amongst many who have attended as honored guests or for Tributes in their honor.

“Alongside Venice and Toronto, Oldenburg is considered one of the most important Autumn Festivals for Independent Cinema” - de Telegraaf

Rated #1 in Germany on The Most Important Autumn Film Festivals List for and by the German Film Industry (Blickpunkt Film), and #3 internationally after Venice & TIFF, Oldenburg is regarded as “one of the most important European festivals for independent cinema" (Tagesschau).

“Oldenburg is a pilgrimage for cineastes.”- Die Zeit

Branching off from The Indie Gathering International Film Festival comes the United Latino Film Festival. The Indie Gathering began in 1996, and through all our years of accepting film submissions, we have recognized the outstanding quality of Spanish-language films and a greater demand for a Hispanic/Latino film festival. The United Latino Film Festival exists to showcase the Hispanic/Latino independent filmmaker. Our mission is to encourage filmmakers through a competitive showcase of independent features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos. Filmmakers participate in their screenings and after the films speak with audience members who seek a closer look into the creative process.

The Museo do Pobo Galego (Museum of Galician People) organises the Mostra Internacional de Cinema Etnográfico - Ethnographic Film Festival. 19th Mostra de Cinema Etnográfico Museo do Pobo Galego will run 20-26 March, 2024 in Santiago
de Compostela.

Call for entries from December 5,2023 to January 10,2024.

We understand ethnographic cinema in a broad sense; it refers to those productions
whose main aim is to show different aspects related to sociocultural realities as well as
a community’s way of life. It comprises films with the main focus on people, social
groups and relevant historical processes that are related to anthropology and
ethnography.

The FIRST INTERNATIONAL CINECONFIC FESTIVAL - CONSTITUCION will be held in the city of Constitución, Chile, from March 10 to 15, 2020. Short films of genre fiction or international documentary, short films made in Latin American film schools, Óperas Primas (debut feature film) of fiction or documentary genre and competition of Chilean school short films produced from January 1, 2018 may participate in competition.

"Filmaê", the first festival in latin america dedicated exclusively to films produced with mobile devices, had its first edition in 2018, when it showed 45 national films made exclusively with phones or tablets. The Festival is committed to the democratization of cinema by encouraging the use of smartphones as a means of capturing images so that a well-told story can get on the cinema screen. The festival has a Competitive Show, exclusively for national films, and a non-competitive show of international films. Furthermore, we promote, debates and workshops to capacitate and encourage mobile film production in our region.