Blog: Film festivals

Literally Short is an event initiated by our drive to bridge all cultures onto one collaborative stage that stimulates international artistic expression. Our mission is to promote innovative approaches to social change through the arts and cultural influences. Our passion for film lies in its exquisite capacity to merge a multitude of arts into one vision; thus, Literally Short Film Festival seeks to dissolve all geographical boundaries into one platform that equally voices all cultures.

CATEGORIES

Voices
National & International Short Films

All genres accepted for this category (see Rules & Terms).

Local & Fresh
Texas Short Films

Films eligible for this category must be written or directed by a Texas resident; or produced in the state of Texas. All genres accepted (see Rules & Terms).

México Lindo y Querido
Mexico Short Films

Films eligible for this category must be written or directed by a Mexicna resident; or produced in the country of Mexico. All genres accepted (see Rules & Terms).

In March 2004 the 1st international short film festival for films by artists was held in Gstaad, Switzerland, with the ultimate prize being 'The Golden Cow of Gstaad'. For the organisers of Gstaad Film, the event was a great success: Many artists made use of the possibility to present their works at the festival & the quality of the program was high, attracting many films from Switzerland and entries from as far away as Argentina. The three days of the festival gave many possibilities for interesting contacts, not only for we the organisers, but also for a numerous and interested audience who were left excited, enthralled and enriched by the experience.

The positive reaction generated over the three-day period encouraged us to start organising a second festival. To improve the organisation and to give the participants/entrants more time, we decided to organise the festival in a two-year cycle, as a biennale.

THE LONG ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL IS THE LONGEST RUNNING FILM FESTIVAL ON LONG ISLAND!

Our MISSION is to discover, promote and give venue to independent filmmakers, not just from the greater New York area, but from other regions of America and abroad. For 34 years, the Long Island Film Festival has presented high quality film programs and has made a major contribution to the Long Island community by promoting films that are entertaining, educational and enhance the general public's understanding of cinema culture and the humanities.

During those 35 years, we have witnessed filmmaking transform itself from a strictly film medium to a highly technological global digital art form with sophisticated software operating on specially configured computers. As a result, there are more filmmakers attempting to break into the film industry. It is those new filmmakers that the Long Island Film Festival seeks to discover.

As an international film festival, World Lens focuses on foreign Indie filmmakers that are producing films that are pieces of their culture and set in economic, social, environmental, and political spheres. It is the commitment of the Long Island Film Festival to bring these films to America and present these perspectives to Long Islanders to enlighten and enhance their understanding of the world around us.

Our online festival is second to none. With thousands of views worldwide including industry personnel and distributors that have access to the site we have he edge over other festivals. The films selected for the online festival will be viewed on www.longislandfilmfestivalonline.org from August 1 - 31 2017. In addition the films will be screened at several venues throughout the year.

The Massachusetts Independent Film Festival (MassIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization run by filmmakers, film writers, and film lovers. Our goal is to showcase films from around the world made by truly independent filmmakers. We want to show the best of contemporary independent filmmaking in all genres(drama, experimental, comedy, horror, slow cinema, sci fi, fantasy, animation, documentary, and more). We dedicate Q&A time and conduct video interviews for visiting filmmakers. We also help promote the selected films to find a new audience. We love the art of cinema and we welcome all to join us! Please visit our website www.massiff.org for a glimpse into previous festivals.

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is a unique event that brings Brooklyn’s celebrated film and media makers together with their peers across the country and around the world. The award-winning AoBFF is a filmmaker-focused event, platform and showcase for exciting emerging creators and established voices. We partner with film distributors and media organizations, host world-class talkbacks, create innovative programming for networking and skill building, and screen in state-of-the-art theaters for enthusiastic audiences across Brooklyn.

Founded by working artists in 2011, ten festival premieres have gotten theatrical distribution to date — and one became an HBO series. We have held events in nineteen different venues in nine neighborhoods across Brooklyn (so far,) often partnering with local businesses and organizations to reach the widest possible audience.

Our innovative approach to ensure that no single POV dominates the curation process includes working with a different Guest Festival Director every season. And our ethical and transparent submission policy is a model for the industry.

We believe that film festivals exist for filmmakers, not the other way around.

In 2014 we became the only indie film festival to build and program our own video-on-demand streaming platform: Brooklyn On Demand, where we broadcast festival favorites, original series and more, online and on a Roku channel with over 16,000 subscribers, alongside Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. brooklynondemand.com

L.A. NEO NOIR NEWS ALERT: NEW TOP FIVE IMPORTANT REASONS TO ENTER THIS FESTIVAL:

1. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE FOR YOUR SCRIPT: Carey Westbrook himself will be a part of this year's script consultation team. Carey Westbrook has served as a script consultant for Derek Cianfrance, TWO TIME 2021 Academy Award winner, and George Tillman Jr., an Academy Award nominee. His radio show is also featured in FOUR other film festivals THIS YEAR. Enter your script in The V.I.P. Neo-Noir Writing category and Carey Westbrook will personally consult with YOU!

2. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE FOR YOUR FILM: THREE prominent film distribution companies will be partnering with our festival this year to offer distribution contracts to our film winners and runner-ups. We have secured distribution deals for dozens of filmmakers through the years and we expect to secure the most we've ever secured THIS YEAR!

3. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE FOR YOU: Our 2019 audience was over 200 people in a sold-out crowd at L.A.'s Downtown Independent Theater. This year's online festival has OVER ONE THOUSAND artists, producers, and distribution entities who have expressed interest in this year's online festival: that's FIVE TIMES more eyes on your work than two years ago.

4. WE MAKE YOUR VISION GO VIRAL: Carey Westbrook and his top notch L.A. Neo Noir associates have co-produced numerous webisode series, including the highly successful RATE MY WEEKNIGHT and two radio shows that are appearing in FOUR film festivals this year. Enter the V.I.P. Neo-Noir Writing category this year and we may fully produce your writing into a webisode series too!

5. EVERY screenplay submission that is a screenplay will receive a trailer. Visit lanneff.com/entertainment to see the trailers we have produced. If your work is a screenplay, short story, or novel we can make it a trailer / comic book / or webisode series in the V.I.P. Neo Noir Writing category. No other festival IN THE ENTIRE WORLD offers these options. WE DO!!

Due to ongoing safety issues and crowd restraints, LANNEFF has decided to hold this year's festival online. We have secured the premiere technological apparatus and we're more ready than ever to produce the best film festival online. That being said...

CONGRATULATIONS TO US FOR BEING A TOP 100 BEST REVIEWED FESTIVAL OUT OF OVER 10,000 FESTIVALS! WE ARE NOT GREAT BECAUSE WE SAY WE ARE. WE ARE GREAT BECAUSE YOU, NEO NOIR CREATORS AND FANS, SAY WE ARE, AND YOU'RE QUITE WELCOME! QUITE WELCOME INDEED!

"DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS A MAN MUST GO...WHO IS NEITHER TARNISHED NOR AFRAID." - RAYMOND CHANDLER

It has been hailed by L.A. Weekly as the festival with "THE WORLD'S SEXIEST DARKEST CRIME SHORT FILMS." Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, November 26th to Sunday, November 28th, lanneff.com will be screening THE 2021 L.A. NEO NOIR, NOVEL, FILM, AND SCRIPT FESTIVAL 9 (LANNEFF)!

This festival is brought to you by Carey Westbrook and Associates, whose students include TWO TIME Academy Award winner, Derek Cianfrance, and Academy Award nominee George Tillman Jr. Westbrook has also worked with numerous Academy Award-nominated actors, including Ryan Gosling, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michelle Williams.

This year's festival once again features our favorite sponsor: SMG Films, the premiere online / airline distributor of neo-noir full-length and short films, as well as a launching pad for the world's best neo noir actors, actresses, and screenwriters. SMG is once again interested in our select group of winners from this year's festival and, based on our recommendations, they will be approaching that select few with online distribution opportunities!

We have also added TWO more distribution companies to our roster of interested purchasers. When you win a LANNEFF award, we will be sure to introduce them to you!

This year, we will also premiere TWO exciting webisode series produced by lanneff.com, and many other social media sites. These webisodes will star recent Best Femme Fatale winners, Miss Russian L.A. Katherine Pegova and Tracy Ann Chapel.

These two amazing starlets were discovered in our past festivals, and with many PAID leading roles still available in our series, it is our hope that we will bring to the neo-noir world even more great femme fatales and handsome P.I.'s, that is, actors and actresses like YOU!!

See one of many short webisode series co-produced by Westbrook on Facebook right now, like the hit webisode game show RATE MY WEEKNIGHT at lanneff.com:

L.A. Neo Noir also boasts the same old people coming back for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th time! How is that a good thing? L.A. Neo Noir has the highest number of return screenwriters, more than any other festival, because most of our festival screenwriters come back the very next year with fully produced films based on their previously recognized screenplays. Amazing screenwriters, like Diana Lee Woody and David J. Schroeder, have returned with their neo-noir masterpiece fully produced films featuring well-known stars. See Woody's "A Menacing Proposal" and Schroeder's "This Modern Man is Beat." Look at the exhaustively long list of previous winners on lanneff.com to see the point being made here: L.A. Neo Noir Festival is so good you have to do it again and again and again...and again!!

We fully produce animated trailers on all screenplay, novel, short story submissions, and present the best five as film festival selections. We also give you a copy of your trailer to use in any way you see fit. Whether you win or lose, whether you are selected or not, you get a produced trailer for your writing within three months after the festival and we promote your trailer on our website. No other film festival or screenplay/writing festival IN THE ENTIRE WORLD does that. V.I.P. Neo Noir Writing category participants receive their trailers within 30 days after. Best Screenplay category screenplay writers receive their trailers within 90 days after festival's end.

We have exciting neo-noir networking events in place that have reaped benefits for ALL of our past participants. We did the Downtown L.A. Neo Noir premiere of Robin Wright's directorial debut, THE DARK OF NIGHT at L.A.'s very own Downtown Independent Theater. We have many guests you'll recognize from film and TV this year, but the most important celebrity of this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend will be YOU.

Our objective: celebrate, showcase, AND sell the work of the greatest independent unknown neo-noir filmmakers and writers from L.A. and around the world. We have done this successfully EIGHT times. This ninth time plus YOU equals neo-noir magic!

Join us online in the comfort and safety of your own home. Selected winners enjoy a $100 cash prize, a distribution deal, a webisode series deal, and many other prizes. So get that amazing neo-noir work-ready. Get your entry fee, get your best neo-noir screenplay, film, novel, short story, monologue, and get ready to make 2021 the best year of neo-noir ever. If you love L.A. neo-noir, your work MUST be represented here, and you MUST be ready for your close-up with the Mr. DeMille of L.A. neo-noir greatness, L.A. NEO NOIR NOVEL, FILM, & SCRIPT FESTIVAL EIGHT!

Note: There are absolutely no fee waivers of any kind for any reason available for this festival. If your entire film production team cannot raise $25 to enter this festival, we recommend you participate in the plethora of free festivals already. You should enter them in addition to this festival. Why not? They're free! We're not free, nor do we have any waivers...of any kind...for any reason. Best Wishes!

SMR13 INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

The SMR13 International Independent Film Festival is an annual, IMDb-certified, four (4)-day event held in the second half of November, in Saint-Mitre-Les-Remparts, in the south of France, near Marseille.

First and foremost, it's a physical festival, taking place in "La Manare", a dedicated performance hall with a total surface area of 1000m² and a capacity of 250 spectators.

The 9th edition of the SMR13 international independent film festival will take place from November XX to XX, 2024.

The festival stands out for its highly developed network, passionate members and trusted partnerships. It is a unique showcase for independent cinema, attracting professionals from all over the world.

Since its inception, the festival has been supported by a patron, an emblematic figure in independent cinema. John Carpenter (2018), director, screenwriter and composer (Halloween, The Thing, New York 1997...). Andréa Ferréol (2019), actress (La Grande Bouffe, Le Dernier Métro, La Scoumoune...). Francis Ford Coppola (2019), director and screenwriter (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Dracula...). Virginie Lemoine (2020), actress (Famille d'Accueil, Nos années parallèles, Oscar...). Sean S. Cunningham (2021), director and producer (Friday The 13th, Spring Break, DeepStar Six...). Patrice Leconte (2022 and 2023), director and producer (Les Bronzés, Les Spécialistes, Maigret...).

Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival is the North America's premier cultural event series dedicated to the beautiful game.

Founded and organized by passionate soccer fans, we can't get enough of the game, its stories, and its storytellers. We live and breathe the soccer lifestyle, and we are dedicated to sharing it with others. That's why K+S is not only a festival, but also a gathering for the entire soccer culture community of North America -- and beyond.

The flagship festival in New York City is held every summer. It is our centerpiece and is a vital, circle-the-date part of the NYC soccer scene. More than just a showcase of soccer films, each K+S festival is a full cultural event, including film screenings, featured speakers, panel discussions, photography/art exhibitions, literary readings, and more.

Our History
K+S was founded in 2009, when a blind date between two fervent soccer and film fans, Greg Lalas and Rachel Markus, quickly evolved into something else: a small festival in New York celebrating soccer culture. That inaugural event sold out, and since then, K+S has gone on to organize festivals in Washington (D.C.), Portland (Ore.), Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen, Prague, Kerala (India), among others.

El Festival Internacional de Cine y Derechos Humanos de Uruguay organizado por Tenemos Que Ver y Cotidiano Mujer, abre su convocatoria a películas nacionales e internacionales para la Muestra “Cine y Derechos Humanos para Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes” que estén dirigidas al público infantil y adolescente en dos franjas etarias: niños y niñas entre 6 y 11 años y adolescente entre 12 y 17 años.

Filmmakers, have you already shoot a short film? #48FILM, welcome you to the 48ISFF (48 Independent Short Film Festival)that give equal opportunities to every filmmaker from all over the world. Filmmakers, who have already made any kind of short films will be selected to screen their movies at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood. Submit your short movie now:
https://www.48filmproject.com/48isff

Open call to submit short movies, from 3 and up to 30 minutes in length, of any genre.Submissions may be from any country.

We want to promote talented filmmakers, and we made the process easy, without formal restrictions on submissions. Will consider all genres and types of short films. Find more here: https://www.48filmproject.com/48isff

Organizer of 20min|max is the public charity Von der Rolle e.V. – Film Culture Association, and Stadttheater Ingolstadt in cooperation with Audi Repertory Cinema and the Museum of Concrete Art Ingolstadt. 20minmax is considered as venue for filmmakers and those interested in short film and visual art. The Festival provides time and place to engage in short films, meet film producers and discuss their ideas. For the eleventh time we announce this international competition for cinematic expressivity, autonomous formal style, impressive stories – ergo: artistic synthesis of direction, montage, sound and light will be presented and awarded. 20minmax film competition is open to all genres of shortfilm: animation, fictional film, documentary, experimental film and video art, music clips etc.

As regards content, the festival programme is carried out by the organisers of 20minmax, supported by a jury. The festival screenings will take place at Audi Repertory Cinema, Museum of Concrete Art and Stadttheater Ingolstadt.

Festival Terres Catalunya. International Eco & Tourism Film Festival.

Its second edition will be held from 25th to 28th of April in 2018 in Tortosa, Spain (Tortosa is a town located 2 hours from Barcelona).

terres Catalunya has three competitions with their own subsections:

- Tourism Communication: 
1. advertisements (up to 1' long) 
2. Promotional Films (up to 10' long).

Categories: 
. Tourism Destinations 
. Cultural Landscapes 
. Routes and expeditions 
. Hotels, resorts and spas. 
. Events 
. Healthy and welfare tourism 
. Rural Tourism 
. Nature tourism 
. Gastronomic, wine tourism and oleo tourism experiences 
. Location promotions 
. Animation 
. Product and Landscape 
. Audiovisual Experiencies 
. Tourist Companies 

- Documentaries: 
1. Short Films (up to 30') 
2. Medium-length films (up to 45') 
3. Feature films (up to 120') 
4. Webdocs

Categories: 
. Adventures, expeditions and routes 
. Biographies 
. History and Heritage 
. Sustainable tourism and Ecology 
. Ethnography and Society

- Corporative Communication 
1. Up to 10' long

Categories: 
. Sustainable and responsible Tourism 
. Preservation of the planet 
. Maintenance Biodiversity 
. Sustainable Mobility


Awards & Prizes
Awards 
Jury - Commercial 
Jury - Promotional film 
Jury - Short documentary film (up to30’ length) 
Jury - Documentary film (up to 90’ length). 
Jury - WebDoc 
Jury - Corporative Communication audiovisual production
Technical Awards: 
- Cinematography 
- Film Editing 
- Soundtrack
Special Awards: 
- Best Catalonia's advertisement 
- Best Catalonia's tourism film 
- Best Spain's touristic film 
- Terres de l'Ebre Award. The Film which shows better the concept of sostenibility 
- Best World Heritage UNESCO film 
- Best Tourist competition film

At the moment, there is not expected any metallic prize.

The International Human Rights Film Festival of Uruguay organized by Tenemos Que
Ver and Cotidiano Mujer opens its call for national and international films, to select
its 7th edition.

In this edition the central theme is Institutional Violence. Other human rights topics are NOT excluded.

Only for Peruvians filmmakers.

Submit your entry now!

The 12th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra & Awards, offers you the opportunity to submit your documentaries now, in order to compete in the monthly awards of the Festival for February. Winners will automatically qualify to compete for the annual Festival awards, taking place from August 2nd to 24th, 2025.

This year the IDFI, is dedicated to Climate Change. It is worth noting that films from all thematic sections will be eligible at the end of each month to compete for the annual awards in August. The rich thematic sections of the Festival include: human rights, recordings of memory, docudrama, young directors, true stories, climate change, environment, the role of women, Greek Panorama, views of the world, human portrait, violence, war threat, diversity, socio-political discrimination, religious conflicts, racism, migration, as well as themes related to all forms of art and culture, such as folklore, customs, mythology, history, biographies, ethnographies, journeys, and travel-tourist documentaries.

The 12th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra & Awards, promotes the best documentaries from Greece and around the world for screening in its’ competitive section. Ierapetra, the southernmost city in Europe, a crossroads of cultures and continents, will once again host a plethora of films and artists from the ends of the earth. The judging panels consist of international recognition personalities.

The film files must be in mp4 format and must have embedded English and Greek subtitles (in case of foreign dialogue).

Our 5-star and Gold-rated festival holds the EFFE quality seal.

Trailer of the 11th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra & Awards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZAQStCWPFA&t=27s

The International Film and Sexual Diversity Festival CINHOMO accepts LGBTIQ-themed films of all nationalities, which will be eligible in the various sections of the festival: Fiction Feature Films, Fiction Short Films, Documentary Feature Films and Documentary Short Films.

The works must not have been exhibited in commercial theaters, broadcast on TV or be available to the public on the Internet or any other platform in Spanish territory prior to the celebration of the festival and must be copyrighted after 01/01/2023. Feature films must be unpublished in the Community of Castilla y León; in the case of short films it will not be exclusive but it will be positively valued. The organization reserves the right to include in the out-of-competition program films that do not meet these conditions.

Medina del Campo Film Week (SECIME) is one of the most consolidated events on the national film scene, standing out as a benchmark in the promotion and dissemination of short films, and being a key exhibitor festival for the Academy of Arts Awards. and the Cinematographic Sciences of Spain. Its main objectives are to support both new talents and established filmmakers, promote the creation and production of short films and contribute to the growth of the audiovisual industry.

New York Shorts International Film Festival features over 340 short films, special events, talks, retrospectives films, and tributes with honored guests, establishing New York Shorts as one of the finest exhibitions of short films in North America.

Now in our 13th year, New York Shorts International Film Festival is the largest short film festival on the East Coast. A non-profit organization that provides a showcase for emerging filmmakers from around the world.

New York Shorts is a qualifying film festival for the Canadian Screen Awards, presented by The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. We are the only short film festival in New York on the Canadian Screen Awards eligible festival list.

The festival has become a career stepping stone, establishing a tradition of discovering and promoting filmmakers who have gone on to become Academy Award® Nominees.

Previous film selections include:

2023 Student Academy Award® Duet by Lyuwei Chen - Winner New York Shorts Best Documentary

2023 OSCAR® NOMINEE Live-Action Short Film, The Red Suitcase by Cyrus Neshvad winner New York Shorts 'Best International Film'

2022 OSCAR® WINNER Documentary, Short The Queen of Basketball by Ben Proudfoot

2020 OSCAR® WINNER Live-Action Short Film, "The Neighbors" Window" by Marshall Curry winner New York Shorts 'Best of Fest'

2020 OSCAR® NOMINEE Documentary Short Subject The New York Times Op-Docs "Walk Run Cha-Cha" by Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt

2019 OSCAR® NOMINEE Animated Short "Animal Behaviour" by Alison Snowden and David Fine

2015 OSCAR® NOMINEE "The Dam Keeper" by Robert Kondo, Daisuke Tsutsumi

2013 Student Academy Award® "A World for Raúl" by Mauro Mueller wins New York Shorts Best Drama

2012 OSCAR® NOMINEE & BAFTA Best Short Animation "A Morning Stroll" by Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

2012 World premiere "Derek" by Ricky Gervais wins New York Shorts Best Comedy and became a popular British television show picked up by Netflix.

New York Shorts International Film Festival is one of the largest showcases of short films in North America and an ideal platform for filmmakers to screen their films and gain recognition in New York City.

New York Shorts events include receptions, as well as workshops with industry experts and top filmmaking professionals sharing their practical advice to attending filmmakers.

2023 Industry Events
Industry Master Spotlight w/ BAFTA Nominated Director Jon Amiel
Industry Master Spotlight w/ Academy Award® Winning Producer Andrew Carlberg
Industry Short Film Spotlight w/ Academy Award® Winning Director Chris Overton

2022 Industry Events
Tribute to legendary film director Bob Giraldi
Spotlight Screening from George R.R. Martin's (Game of Thrones creator)
Beyond The Screen with Ben Proudfoot (Oscar® winning documentary director)
Film Retrospective Kim Magnusson (producer/director of seven Academy Awards® nominations and two Oscar wins)
Film Tribute to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

New York Shorts believes short-form cinema and its filmmakers should have their own premier film festival in New York deserving similar recognition given to feature films.

The heart of the festival is the quality and scope of extraordinary film programming to enthusiastic audiences in the vibrant filmmaking enclave of New York City.

Student Short Films in Fiction, Animation, Documentary & Screenplay.

Only for Latinamerican filmmakers.