Blog: Film festivals

Our Shorts Their Shorts Screening Session is a mini short film festival operating as a pop-up, in collaboration with screening partners around the world. Every year Our Shorts Their Shorts programs 12 screening session of short films that are screened in venues from varsity auditorium to cinema halls.

Our Shorts Their Shorts is the largest emerging short film network in South Asia. Working across exhibition, distribution and experiential events, Our Shorts Their Shorts is directly involved in the engaging audience for development, experimentation and of reacting to the demand for another way of experiencing the film.

8° NATIONAL RURAL FILM FESTIVAL OF AYACUCHO

The Rural Film Festival was created in 2016 as an initiative presented by Lic. Emilio Quiroga to the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Ayacucho, with the goal of promoting audiovisual production in our city.

Every year, we launch an open call at the national and international level for short films of fiction and non-fiction that address the concept of "RURAL" through their form and/or content. Our intention is to explore the perspective of this concept and enrich ourselves with productions from other places in our country and the world.

The Festival offers training programs and support with theoretical and practical audiovisual production tools to those who join this initiative locally. This includes teachers and students from schools and educational institutions, community centers, organizations, or simply groups wishing to participate and residing in the city of Ayacucho.

These are some of the central concepts we have implemented over the years and will continue to develop in this space:

Short film production as a powerful educational tool that strengthens cognitive skills, creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, while motivating students in an innovative way.

Basic audiovisual production training, workshops for teachers on how to guide students in creating short films. This includes teaching them the basics of planning, shooting, and editing videos. Many teachers have no previous experience in these areas, so the training helps them lead these projects.

Integrated evaluation of student-made short films across different subjects, so that teachers recognize the relevance of these projects beyond their specific area of expertise.

Collaborative projects where teachers from different disciplines (such as arts, history, literature, science, and technology) work together to create an interdisciplinary short film. This could include combining thematic areas to address a common issue from different perspectives.

Online educational resources or YouTube tutorials for teachers on how to apply film to various subjects. This may include how to shoot a scene, how to light it correctly, or how to work with sound, all at a level accessible to educators with no cinematic experience.

Access to simple editing software or online platforms (such as InShot or CapCut) that students can use at home or in the classroom to edit their projects. They can also use sound recording tools or simple effects to help with content creation.

Scriptwriting talks and courses or storyboard models that teachers can adapt to their subjects. This helps students follow a proper structure when writing their scripts, ensuring that their stories are more consistent, regardless of the area in which they are working.

We promote and encourage the cinema room in our city and other alternative screening spaces.

We foster cooperation between rural and urban schools.

We generate socio-educational projects in schools, institutes, and training centers.

We offer talks, courses, and training open to the community.

We produce audiovisual content and resources for the departments of the Municipality of Ayacucho.

We produce local short films that address fiction stories and rural documentaries, as well as other themes of interest to filmmakers.

This experience has become a phenomenon that grows each year, surpassing its initial expectations. We are motivated to make our identity known, promoting the value of Ayacuchense culture and that of our country. We emphasize human relationships and the bonds that arise from this encounter for mutual benefit.

We strengthen alliances between our community and people and groups who come to the city of Ayacucho from nearby towns, other provinces, and cities across our country, drawn by the social event and the values that the Rural Film Festival represents.

It is necessary, through our intervention, to guarantee access to a symbolic language, which is essential to navigate the world around us and construct the images and sounds of our time. This is a fundamental task for the development of society, the strengthening of democracy, equity, and access to work. We approach audiovisual media as an object to be thought about and constantly transformed.

Short Film Week held in Sonseca with parallel activities alongside the screenings.

Official Website:
https://www.gzdoc.cn/en/index.aspx

Official Email Address:
film@gzdoc.cn / screen@gzdoc.cn / project@gzdoc.cn / docshop@gzdoc.cn

[Important]
1.All emails should be regarded as official only when they are sent from the official email addresses listed above. Please do not make a promotion of selection if you only get an email from Festhome without any confirmation from our official email address.
2.We will only notify selected films by film@gzdoc.cn. If you haven't been notified by email by the end of November, it means your film has not been selected.

Introduction of GZDOC Four Main Sessions:
GZDOC is the only state-level professional platform with documentary financing and trading functions and has become the pioneer in China's documentary industry, showcasing national industrial policies and international development trends. Dedicated to the documentary festival for two decades, GZDOC has turned into a comprehensive cultural event integrating competition, screening, pitching, training, forums, and market.

①Golden Kapok Award Competition
The Competition section is dedicated to honor outstanding documentaries that can promote the exchange of various cultures, communicate universal emotions and values through excellent filmmaking techniques and high-level production. This section does not contain any public screenings. If the production team has the intent to do so, please also register for the screening section.

②Golden Kapok Screening
This is the non-competitive screening section that aims at presenting a variety of documentary films to the public, showing the audience the latest films with brilliant story-telling skills, authentic expressions, or experimental narratives.

③GZDOC PITCHING SECTION
GZDOC recruits work-in-progress projects for and from global market.
The 21st edition will invite Chinese and international buyers, broadcasters and key players from the industry as the decision makers, in the aims of developing the pre-sale, co-production and commission of documentary projects.

④GZDOC DOCSHOP
The DOCSHOP is a year-round marketplace for filmmakers, distributors, buyers and commissioners, etc. It contains three kinds of copyright cooperation modes:

1) On-demand Screening System
The DOCSHOP will set aside a screening area at the GZDOC venue. Participants will watch the films submitted to DOCSHOP through the on-demand screening system. Screening reports will then be generated, recording the viewers' purchasing interests. GZDOC staff will process these requests after the festival.
If necessary, the DOCSHOP will also set up an online on-demand screening system on official website(www.gzdoc.cn). The online on-demand system will be only available for registered guest, and only release film trailers.

2) Daily Operation
The GZDOC DOCSHOP will keep recommending films to various platforms in a bid to facilitate trades throughout the year.

3) Industry Screenings
Industry Screenings are film screenings at the GZDOC venue for registered delegates and industry professionals. On the spot publicity could be arranged, in a bid to promote the films.

Founded in 1973, Curtas Festival do Imaxinario is the oldest festival and the largest event dedicated to fantasy, science fiction and horror cinema in Galicia. Located in Vilagarcía de Arousa, the festival is a must-see for enjoying the premieres of the best genre feature and short films, as well as a wide range of parallel activities that include exhibitions, meetings, presentations, workshops, concerts, international guests, and much more. All artistic expressions of the fantasy genre converge in the International Fantastic Film Festival of Galicia. Recognized as one of the best genre festivals on Earth by Dread Central, the world’s leading horror media outlet with millions of monthly readers. And proud member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) presents the Melies d'Argent award for best European Fantastic short film.

ONLY FOR SPANISH AND LATINMAERICAN FILMMAKERS // SOLO PARA CINEASTAS ESPAÑOLES Y LATINOAMERICANOS

International Film Festival "Prvi kadar"/First Frame is an important film event in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose mission is to promote film art of authors from all over the world. The Festival is of competitive character neither. Films compete in two categories: documentary and short films.

Fifteen editions of the festival, a large number of authors interested in the festival, proving that the festival recognized among artists all over the world, as an important and prestigious film event.

Festival selections confirm continuity, primarily artistic approach, on which is built the whole idea of the first frame. In considering the relationship between themes and ideas, stress is given to the author's attitude or an artistic idea.

Rich noncompetitive and competitive program of high artistic quality, educational programs, lectures DokMasterClass, Film Campus of art documentaries, exhibitions, promotion of book of film art, numerous guests from the world of film, proof that the festival from year to year expanding, enriching the content of the program. This years Festival will takes place from 20th to 24th November 2023 in East Sarajevo and Zvornik, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SANFIC, Santiago International Film Festival, represents a film platform with educational, cultural, artistic and industrial purposes, as well as a prime symbol of the Chilean capital city and the whole country.

The Cultural Association Officina delle Idee intends to realize with the Patronage of the Municipality of Cittadella (PD), the Veneto Region and the Province of Padua the fifth edition of GEOFILMFESTIVAL - The Cinema of the Elements, "The Golden Earth" International Film Award, availing itself of the artistic direction of the director and actor Rocco Cosentino.

GEOFILMFESTIVAL wants to offer itself to all operators, filmmakers and the general public as competition and innovation for its theme: The Environment. Earth, Water, Fire, Air as objectives in the creation and production of medium-short films. So the Cinema of the Elements for which each of us is called to participate and make it a professional, social and moral goal.

The Cinema, once again, disseminator of news and civilization. Together with the cultural dissemination with the cinematographic projection, GEOFILMFESTIVAL - The Cinema of the Elements links its attention to the Environmental Problems of the World.

Description

Noir is elusive in nature, a label savoured by the most curious lovers of mystery.

Thriller, comedy, science fiction, horror…with a taste of Noir, Read rules.

Aim

“Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.”

A.Hitchcock

The Ocejón Travel Film Festival was born in 2009 in two small villages in the Sierra Norte region of Guadalajara (Spain), promoted by a small group of neighbours concerned about attracting cinema to the rural environment, particularly the uncommercial and committed cinema that tends to have little distribution in normal theaters, but almost nothing in the villages or small towns. But also the organizers wanted the active participation of the neighbourhood, in addition to attracting the attention of people from other towns, regions and cities to know the place where we lived and share experiences.

For that reason from the beginning we tried to make it with the lowest possible budget to compensate the short economic resources with the courage and will of us and our neighbors, the human capital.

Nine years later, in 2018, the festival moved to another small town, Jesús Pobre, in the Marina Alta region (Alicante), however it retains the same spirit and original interests: we want to bring travel movies (any type) to the village.

Currently the organizers are integrated into the non profit association "La Jalea Cultural del Montgó". In 2018, coinciding with its tenth edition, it was celebrated for the first time in the skirt of the Montgó mountain.

The “Corto Helvetico al Femminile” cultural association are planning the 7th edition of “Corto Helvetico al Femminile - Women’s International Short Film Festival in Tessin (Switzerland) from September 27th to 29th. The awards ceremony will be held on September 29th 2019.
The International “Corto Helvetico al Femminile” Short Film Festival offers an invitation for female directors around the world. The male attendance is not excluded if the Short Film shows the female world and a woman as a main character.

IACI, Ibicine Asociación Cinematográfica de Ibiza, and Dicho y hecho Producciones S.L. are organisations dedicated, amongst other things, to organising cultural events, notably IBICINE, the Ibiza Film Festival and its Astarté Awards, an international film festival that runs throughout the year, with its main programme taking place between January and April.

IBICINE was founded with the aim of promoting emerging national, international and Balearic film talent, fostering encounters between new creators and established professionals from the audiovisual industry on the island of Ibiza. The festival places particular emphasis on the short film as a creative format with its own distinct identity, recognising the artistic and technical excellence of these works through the Astarté Awards – a statuette designed and crafted in Ibiza in homage to the Phoenician goddess Astarté, a symbol of the island’s historical and cultural legacy; as well as featuring an Official Feature Film Section and an industry programme that includes the Ibiza Film Campus and the Ibicine ScriptLAB, amongst other activities.
In addition to the International Official Short Film Section (SOC), the festival features the International Official Feature Film Section (SOL), various parallel sections and industry activities, including the Ibiza Film Market, the ScriptLab and professional meetings aimed at fostering project development, specialised training and the creation of new opportunities for collaboration within the audiovisual sector.

IBICINE sees Ibiza as a meeting point for filmmakers, producers, distributors, streaming platforms, institutions, students and the general public, fostering the exchange of knowledge, the creation of professional networks and the international promotion of audiovisual talent.

Over the course of its ten editions, the festival has established a programme characterised by artistic quality, a diversity of perspectives, equal opportunities and a commitment to cinema as a cultural and social tool.

IBICINE has been selected by UNESCO as Spain’s representative festival within the international film tourism routes ‘Movie Travel’; it has received recognition from the Consell d’Eivissa; it was honoured with the Business Excellence Award for Best Film Festival in the Balearic Islands by Acquisition International in 2023 and 2026, and with the Hospitality Award for Festival of the Year by LUXlife magazine in 2024, amongst other national and international accolades.

Since 2022, IBICINE has been included on the official list of partner festivals of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a qualifying festival for the Goya Awards in the categories of Best Fiction Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

Short films awarded the Astarté Prize for Best Fiction Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Animated Short Film may qualify for the Goya Awards, provided they meet the requirements set by the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the current rules for the relevant edition. Furthermore, the winners of these prizes will receive a cash prize from the festival.

Furthermore, from 2023, IBICINE is a qualifying festival for the Forqué Awards in the categories of Best Fiction Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Animated Short Film, and for the Fugaz Awards in the category of Best Fiction Short Film.
The selection committee is made up of professionals from various specialisms within the audiovisual sector, who assess the submitted works according to criteria of cinematic quality, originality, thematic diversity and technical excellence, as well as the stories’ ability to engage with the audience.

The official jury is made up of Academicians and professionals of recognised standing from various sectors of the national and international film industry, appointed by the festival’s management. Its composition will be announced in the Nominees Announcement for this edition, in February 2027. The jury chair will have the casting vote in the event of a tie.

Since its first edition, IBICINE has enjoyed the support of leading figures from Spanish cinema such as Jon Plazaola, Nadia de Santiago, Kira Miró, Inma Cuevas, Paz Vega, Michelle Calvó, Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo and María Adánez, who have served as festival patrons, as well as Belinda Washington, Eva Soriano and other industry professionals who have supported the festival.
The Astarté Awards of Honour are presented annually to professionals and institutions whose careers have made a significant contribution to the development and promotion of cinema. The decision to award these honours rests solely with the festival’s management. Over the course of this first decade, the award has been presented to: the actress Terele Pávez (posthumously), the director Isabel Coixet, the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA), the actor and director Paco León, the actress Yolanda Ramos, the comedian Eva Soriano, the journalist and film critic Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo, international producer and screenwriter Axel Kuschevatzky, FILMIN co-founder Jaume Ripoll, international actor Leonardo Sbaraglia, actor Javier Gutiérrez, actress Cecilia Suárez, director Carmen Vidal, director Toni Bestard, actress Antonia San Juan, Hollywood journalist Bárbara Gasser, and journalist and presenter Elena Sánchez.

IBICINE is made possible thanks to the support of public institutions, private organisations, sponsoring companies, partners, the media and a large team of professionals who ensure that Ibiza continues to establish itself as a leading centre for cinema and the audiovisual industry both nationally and internationally.

The organisers reserve the right to make any necessary changes to the programme, venues, schedule or activities for organisational, technical or force majeure reasons, whilst always endeavouring to ensure the smooth running of the festival and the fulfilment of its objectives.

***To view the entry guidelines for the 41st edition of the Goya Awards click on the following link (short films on page 41):
https://www.premiosgoya.com/pdfs/bases-de-los-41-premios-goya/
***To view the list of festivals collaborating with the Goya Awards:
https://www.premiosgoya.com/pdfs/bases-de-los-41-premios-goya/ Annex V

The K-lidoscopi Cultural Association in Cullera is holding its 15th Short Film Festival. The Short Film Festival features three categories (Fiction, Animation and Documentary) and serves as a selection event for the GOYA Awards.

International film festival of entertaining, fantastic and arthouse free genre films.

The Obscura Filmfest was founded by David Ghane in 2016 and has been run by him alone ever since. He is a passionate genre film fan since 1996, attends several film festivals per year since 2004, sometimes helps out there, acts as an extra in horror films and is an extreme film collector.

The Obscura Film Festival specializes in entertaining and fantastic films, big and small, films that almost never get a regular screening. The films shown there are mostly mainstream blockbusters or arthouse films that can be found at most other regular film festivals. Even comparable festivals are expanding their programmes to include more and more arthouse. Those who instead like entertaining, smaller and special independent films, but can also imagine bigger productions from far away countries, will find what they are looking for at the Obscura Filmfest: Films that are fun with rough edges, raw and uncompromising; from nasty little horror films to Asian battle epics, there is something for every fan, just no boredom.

It started with small, offbeat, trashy and depraved underground grindhouse films, meanwhile the Obscura also screens commercial, mid-sized films that are traded on the big film markets.

Highlights of the previous festival editions included the German premieres of the Argentinian fantasy sci fi cyberpunk action film "Daemonium", the Ukrainian thriller "Egregor", the Filipino zombie shocker "Day Zero", the Danish horror film "Finale", the ghost comedy "Deadtectives" and the two Backwoods films "What the Waters Left Behind" and its sequel "Scars" 5 years later.
The European premieres of the Indonesian comic superhero film "Valentine" and the Backwoods film "Drifter" were also screened.
Another highlight was the crazy Japanese splatterfest "Kodoku - Meatball Machine" which can look back on a long festival history including the biggest festivals of its kind, as well as the Universal/Blumhouse production "The Hunt".
With "Redbad" and "The Great Battle", two big battle epics were also screened at the Obscura.
The German premiere of the hard-hitting exploitation film "Trauma" in Hanover was even attended by visitors from the Ruhr area.
After its international premiere at the Obscura, the cowboy backwoods film "Lasso" was shown a few months later at the famous british Frightfest.
In 2022, the Obscura had its first two feature-length film world premieres with "All through the Hall" and "Hidden in the Woods II".

At every Obscura filmfest there were film guests who introduced their film in person and were available for a Q&A. They came from Ireland, UK, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, USA, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and of course Germany.

In 2024, there was a record number of guests from 7 different countries, as well as "The Witch. Revenge," a Ukrainian war horror film that was shot during and about the current war.

CINEMA CLUB CONTEST
"An event created by filmmakers for filmmakers”

The Collective and In The Mirror Films are working together to create a short film contest where every month different directors will compete to win the session.

The winner of each session will be elected by the audience !
For every session, you receive feedback from an industry professional to help develop your art.

The wining shorts will go directly to the grand final that will happen the first week of June and the BIG PRIZE is the production of your next Short Film.!
A jury composed by teachers from The Collective school and a special guest from the movie industry will elect the winner of the big prize on the day of the Final.

Movies and Party!

After the presentation of the short films, the analysis if our specialised guests and the election of the wining short, each event will be followed by DJ set to make us feel like sharing more around a beer offered by our sponsor La Cervesera Artesana and get the opportunity to network ! Don't forget your business cards !

FanCineQueer, the International LGBTI Film Festival of Extremadura, celebrates this year its 29th edition between the 6th and the 15th of November launching its traditional Short Films Call with the purpose of recognising, visibilising and fostering the production and dissemination of recent or unreleased LGBTI works.

>>ALL THE COUNTRIES:
AND THIS YEAR WE HAVE LATIN AMERICA FOR THE FEATURE FILMS SECTION AND WITH ANY PART OF THE WORLD FOR THE AWARD OF "3 MINUTES OR LESS ON TECHNOLOGIES"
>>ONLY SPAIN:
COSTAFRITO IS A SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL: SHORT FILMS, DOCUMENTARIES AND PILOT SERIES / WEBSERIES,

Within the framework of the multiple activities presented and organized by Andares: Cinematographic Actions, we are pleased to present the fourth edition of our Contemporary Film Festival. Another short, careful and compact edition to celebrate cinephilia in the peruvian fall.

Do you have an audiovisual piece, short fiction, animation or documentary for kids? We are looking for your movies! During the Tral·larí: Family's Music Festival, we will have the opportunity to promote the audiovisual arts for children through a kid's cinema sessions. It will take place in Mataró (Barcelona) on September 14 and 15, 2019.
The projection room will be available at different times for the possibility of projecting a large number of pieces and guaranteeing their visibility. Do you want to sign up?
You have until June 1st, 2019 to send us your movies.
If your film gets selected we will contact you to get the projection copies and promotional material.