Blog: Film festivals

AI Film Festival Japan (AIFJ) started as Japan’s first international film festival dedicated to the creative collaboration between human storytellers and artificial intelligence.

Taking place on November 22, 2026, in the heart of Tokyo at Tokyo Innovation Base, AIFJ2026 brings together pioneering filmmakers, technologists, researchers, and audiences from around the world to explore the evolving possibilities of AI-driven cinema.

The festival features a curated selection of long and short films, animations, documentaries, experimental works, and student films that leverage artificial intelligence in their creative process—whether through writing, visual generation, sound design, or thematic exploration.

With screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, accessibility programs, and an awards ceremony, AIFJ2026 is more than a showcase—it’s a global platform where the future of storytelling begins.

We champion diversity, equity, and inclusion, and actively encourage submissions from underrepresented creators, women, and emerging artists from around the world.

SANFICI is a space to generate meetings at different levels, with an overcoming and innovative will. First of all, it is a space for the relationship between spectators, filmmakers and theorists around cinema and all border and heterodox manifestations. Secondly, it is a special and temporary meeting point.

SANFICI wants to become, year after year, the place of convergence for world independent cinema. But it also wants to be the space where the past and the future dialogue. The place where the most diverse film traditions are embraced with their riskiest proposals.

Animacción is an international festival of animated short films, which showcases the artistic potential of a whole new generation of animators. Organised by the cultural association dedicated to animation ‘Ánimas Anónimas’, the festival returns this year for its 10th edition.


I would put this whole paragraph like this: The selected short films will be screened from 27/10 to 31/10 in different venues in the metropolitan area of A Coruña, and the winning films from both the general section and the children's and Galician sections will be chosen by voting by the audience attending the screenings.

The days of the screenings will be an opportunity to create a bridge between professionals from the world of animation and the public, as we will be programming talks and activities for all audiences related to this discipline.

In addition, the programme will include a series of talks and activities which, together with the screenings of the short films, will serve to create a bridge between professionals from the world of animation and the public.

For this 36th edition, we are holding the third edition of the “MicroSaberes” competition, a contest sponsored by the Castilla y León Social Work Foundation (FUNDOS), which invites filmmakers to shoot documentary short films, with a maximum runtime of 5 minutes, about the Community of Castilla y León.

As part of the 36th edition of the Palencia International Film Festival, which will take place from February 26 to March 6, 2027, and promoted and sponsored by FUNDOS, this competition aims to promote filmmaking, serve as a platform for creators to showcase their work, and foster new perspectives on the Autonomous Community.

PRAGUE FILM FESTIVAL 2027 (April 28 – May 2, 2027 )

The Prague Film Festival is an international film festival designed for film professionals, critics, distributors, enthusiasts, and film school students. The festival has already been attended by:

• Gunnur Schlüter: Special Mention at Festival de Cannes 2023
• Elzbieta Benkowska: Special Mention at Krakow Film Festival 2024
• Izabela Plucinska: Silver Bear at Berlinale 2005
• Réka Bucsi: Golden Bear at Berlinale 2018, EFA Nominee 2017
• Alexandra Hroncová: Founder of famufilms.cz
• Maximilian Breckwoldt: Director of Berlin Animation Hub
• Dániel Erdélyi: Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival 2008
• Lukáš Vacula: Finalist at the Student Academy Awards 2025
• Tereza Halamová: Winner of the Czech Lion Award for Best Short Film 2026

During its first year, the festival also hosted Masterclasses under the banner of the SHORTS WRAP. Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter led a session focused on micro short live-action films under 5 minutes, based on her Cannes-awarded work. The second masterclass featured Elzbieta Benkowska, also a lecturer at the Gdańsk Film School, who discussed dramaturgy and structure in short narrative films featuring two main characters. The festival plans to continue offering similar masterclasses in future editions.

During our second year, we organized several engaging industry events: a masterclass on in-depth analysis of the film The Godfather, a masterclass focused on filming in war zones, and the Anirama Pitching Forum, which brought together all film schools in the Czech Republic, including FAMU, UMPRUM, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, and the University of Creative Communication.

Notable partners of the festival include: Kino Pilotu Prague, Le Palais Art Hotel Prague, Green Garden, Go Out, Bad Flash Bar, Radio 1, Festival of Animation Berlin, Navarra International Film Festival (GOYA qualifying), dog 95 film factory, ALTUM FRAMES, Shorts Wrap, International Film Festival ZOOM ZBLIZENIA and Art2Friends.

The festival is committed to inclusion, focusing on social issues, minority stories, LGBTQ+ topics, and showcasing top-tier international films. It was founded by two young filmmakers, director Erik Jasaň and producer Hynek Spurný, with the vision to bring artistically acclaimed short and feature-length foreign films.

Several celebrated filmmakers personally presented their films at the festival, including:

• Marian Crisan (Palme d’Or winner), who premiered his new Romanian film Warboy
• Nghiem Quynh Trang (Vietnamese producer), with Cu Li Never Cries, which had its world premiere at Berlinale Panorama,
• Aurielle Jioya (Benin), who screened NOCES D’EAU, previously awarded at Clermont-Ferrand

Each filmmaker also participated in Q\&A sessions with the audience. The festival officially welcomed 1000 attendees, which is a great success for its debut edition. Attendees enjoyed fine Czech beer and wine, and many informal connections were made—connections we believe will lead to future collaborations.

The festival closely collaborates with the SHORTS WRAP, which includes over 12 film directors whose works have premiered at Cannes, such as Raymund Ribay Gutierrez (Philippines), Helena Brooks (Australia), Javier Palleiro (Uruguay), Erenik Beqiri (Albania), Daria Kashcheeva (Czech Republic), and many more.

See you in Prague at Kino Pilotu, April 28 – May 2, 2027.

The purpose of the festival refers to awareness of both the external filters on the screen, including censorship (commercial, ideological, aesthetic), and the internal filters of screen perception and projection, including self-censorship. NEFILTRAVANAE KINO is an exploration of aestheticization and commodification in art. The next aim of the festival is to expose the complexity, manysidedness, and variety of filmmaking.

NEFILTRAVANAE KINO (NoFilter Kino) is a film festival that is held by the Short Movie Club, the platform for cinematic projects. NEFILTRAVANAE KINO is ADAMI Media Prize qualified festival. The International Film Studies Conference is held at the same time as the film festival. In this way, film theory and practice are integrated together at the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO.

Originally the festival was held in Belarus, but because of political repression and publicly stated anti-war stance, screenings and events can be held in different countries. First of all in Poland (Warsaw), Germany (Berlin, Hamburg), Lithuania (Vilnius). For example, the 11th and 10th Nefiltravanae Kino took place in Warsaw, Berlin, Hamburg, Vilnius and Helsinki. The content of past years' film programs can be found on the website https://shortmovie.club/programmes/

The festival will be held in a hybrid format. We will have a part of live screenings and online screenings on a video platform https://film.nofilterkino.org/ . The video is cryptographically secured. In addition, we pay attention and promote films from our previous years that are released to the public on the Internet after their festival curcuit.

Nefiltravanae Kino involves theater, artists to interpret symbols and history. We work with the audience's reaction and participants' as well.

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The concept of the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO (NoFilter Kino):

ALIENATION PROBLEM

We live in a world of malls and cinema multiplexes. We see that indie cinema and non-commodity art go to the periphery of public attention. Primitive attractions replace the cinematography. The escape audience is alienated behind the big screen. So modern mainstream cinema is part of a manipulating tool that leads to the society of alienation. Thus the tendency is that indie cinema becomes more unreadable for the wide audience. We should understand the context of the filmmaker to understand the independent cinema. That is why the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO concept implies the physical presence of filmmakers.

FILM SELECTION PROBLEM

Filmmakers shoot millions of movies. And thousands of short film festivals organize screenings all over the world every year. On average, several thousand films are submitted to a film festival. So various good films can be neglected for whatever reason. Often selecting probability is like winning a lottery. As a result, filmmakers are left with no feedback. It is a paradox that no one can hear you in the age of the Internet! The mainstream culture prefers attractions and casual viewing.

Also, this idea is based on the film selection problem. Perhaps it’s no surprise one person, i.e. programme director at best, or even students of film schools make a preliminary decision to select a movie. Сoncordance of judges or previewers is more seldom thing than the difference of background, tastes. So selection or judging can be one-sided or perfunctory. It is not bad as the programme director has a good taste and aesthetic sensitivity, of course. But we’ve discovered another conception of “unfiltered cinema”. We matched it against “the best of the best” way. This way aids to perceive cinematic idiom without the dictate of art-curators.

CELEBRATION OF INDIE CINEMA

So the NoFilter Kino tries to avoid “the best of the best” way but it does not ignore it completely, sure. The festival selects fiction, animation, documentary, experimental and virtual reality sections. A jury awards the best film in every section. The festival holds the screenings at cinema theatres, the National Centre for Contemporary Arts, and art-spaces.

Our aim is to gather people in art, to have a dialogue to be happy with smart communication.

Cinema is art but not sport. The key point of our project is to establish communication between the filmmaker and the audience.

Please, read about the festival history through the link to the festival's website. http://shortmovie.club/history/

Muestra Intergaláctica International Film Festival is a space where people can present their film projects of all kinds of genre.

It started as a small local show. Due to the response of the people and thanks to the support of sponsors, it has become an event with local, national and international projects.

The attendance to festival has increased edition after edition, initially with a unique function, however, since the edition of the year 2017, additional dates have been added, having a week long festival with local, national and international short and feature films.

We hope in this edition to receive more productions from around the world, and of course a greater response from the public and satisfaction, as well as sharing the work of the filmmakers.

For more updates please follow us at
https://www.instagram.com/muestra_intergalactica/
https://www.facebook.com/Muestra.Intergalactica/

Doc Coimbra is an international film festival that showcases the best in documentary films from political and social perspectives. Our festival is based in the historical city of Coimbra, Portugal, and showcase films from Portuguese speaking countries and international films.

We have a wide variety of films, from those that focus on immigration, political, environment, to those that highlight the stories of those who have been forgotten by history. We are committed to providing a space for meaningful conversations, and our films reflect our commitment to creating a safe and inclusive space for all.

We are dedicated to creating an inclusive and inspiring environment for filmmakers to share stories and perspectives from around the world. We invite you to join us at our next festival and be part of a movement to share stories that matter.

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 10th edition of the SMR13 international independent film festival will take place from November 21 to 23, 2025.

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, Olivier Marchal (2024), actor, screenwriter and director ( 36 quai des Orfèvres, Flics, Braquo and Pax Massillia.

FICGO is an annual cultural event in the Gulf of Morrosquillo, Colombia, that promotes free, outdoor cinema. It offers a diverse program of films, workshops, and environmental activities for various audiences in San Onofre, Tolú, Coveñas, and surrounding towns such as Berrugas and Rincón del Mar.

This year, we will celebrate the sixth edition in November 2026 with spaces that allow us to come together, showcasing emerging local talent and the global audiovisual sector, while highlighting the unique narratives of the Caribbean.

The 10th Kunta Kinte Afro Community International Film Festival will take place from September 2 to 6, 2026, in the city of Medellín, Colombia. This year, the central theme of the festival is: "Resistance and creativity of Afro-descendant peoples".

We invite filmmakers to submit their films, documentaries, and short films addressing aspects of the African diaspora, such as the history of slavery, global Afro-descendant culture, the struggle for civil rights, migration experiences, and the influence of African heritage in various cultural expressions. Through cinema, we seek to rescue and value the stories of resistance, resilience, and creativity that have defined the Afro-descendant experience.

Every submission received will be thoroughly reviewed by our curatorial team.

The festival that didn’t exist... now it does!

This is the slogan that accompanied the first two editions of the Tropea Film Festival.

The guests who have already attended the TFF include:

Pupi Avati, Matteo Garrone, Matt Dillon, Madalina Ghenea, Marcello Fonte, Anselma Dell’Olio, Ascanio Celestini, Totò Cascio, Luca Lucini, Greta Ferro, Denise Tantucci, Ron Moss, and many others...

TFF is a unique international film competition featuring public screening events in the beautiful village of Tropea, located on the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coast.

It is one of the few festivals to present short films in a cinema setting!

TFF is an awards program for both short and feature films, dedicated to supporting filmmakers from around the world by recognizing excellence in cinema.

We believe that film festivals remain the perfect environment for the cultural and communal celebration of cinema, which is why our mission is to support the film industry by showcasing the best films from around the world and creating opportunities for networking between filmmakers and producers/distributors.

Galichnik Film Festival is small festival looking to leave big footprint in the sky full of festivals by providing platform for new filmmakers from the region and beyond. Galichnik is a village known for its well-preserved traditional architecture, including an amphitheater in the village square, where the festival audience will have the chance to see number of films in three competition programs: short fiction, short documentary and short animation.

The festival aspires to become a meeting point for film professionals from around the world to develop new ideas, collaborations and friendships. We are excited for the audience to be part of a unique cinema experience in an open air cinema at an altitude of 1500m.

15th Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival-26 is an amalgamation of unleash cinematic creativity & madness of cine-goers of beautiful city of Kolkata.

The Kolkata city is the hub of Bengali Cinema, a culturally rich & destination of many budding filmmakers since past century. The festival objective is to give momentum to the short cinema & to foster the growth of new breed of filmmakers.


The festival is dedicated to serve the short filmmakers specifically from west Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Orissa along with short film makers from India & world.


The humble journey of KSIFF has began in year 2012 to mark the 100 years celebration of Indian cinema & to salute the contribution of the Bengali film industry towards the development of cinema in India. The 2012 to 2025 editions of festival were huge success with participation from all over India & foreign nations and are the trendsetter festival in India & now in huge demand among young filmmakers.


The festival provide platform to aspiring and professional filmmakers for showcasing their talent with networking & marketing opportunities in film industry. The festival also hosts master classes & short film market. The festival objective is to create short films culture, promotion of upcoming filmmakers, developing sources of revenue generation for short films and to make short film making a commercial enterprise.

MTPIFF – Montpellier Independent Film Festival proudly launches its very first edition!

MTPIFF is an international hybrid film festival based in Montpellier, France.

Each month, we celebrate independent fiction cinema (short and feature films) by selecting winners in regional, national, and international categories.

Monthly winners receive official laurels, certificates digital .

Winning films each month will be announced and published on the festival’s official social media channels (Facebook & Instagram) as well as on the MTPIFF website.

At the end of the season (June 2026), all films selected each month will compete to be included in the final selection. The finalist films will be screened at an in-person event in Montpellier, featuring a special screening at Cinéma in July 2026, followed by an awards ceremony.

Film industry professionals will attend the event, which will include film screenings, meet-and-greets, networking opportunities, masterclasses, and Q&A sessions with the selected filmmakers.

MTPIFF’s goal is to give year-round visibility to independent, bold, and creative voices in cinema, culminating in a physical event to honor the best films of the season.

To be eligible for the cinema screening in Montpellier (annual competition for Best Short and Feature Film), films not originally in French must be subtitled in French.

For monthly selections, films must be either in English or have at least English subtitles.

The submission date determines eligibility. For example, a film submitted on September 15, 2025, will be considered for the October 2025 selection.

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.

FECIR - Rengo International Film Festival has twenty two years of history, offering filmmakers from Chile, Latin America, and around the world a space for the dissemination, exhibition, and exchange of experiences and ideas. It promotes the creation of high artistic quality in cinema and audiovisual arts in all its forms, providing the commune of Rengo, the Sixth Region, and the country with a space for the appreciation, reflection, creation, training, and enjoyment of the art of cinema.

Where the Himalayas meet the horizon, stories find their wings.
Humro Cinema Film Fest, born in the picturesque city of Pokhara, Nepal, is a celebration of cinema that transcends boundaries — a gathering where dreamers, creators, and visionaries unite under one screen of imagination.

In just a few years, the festival has blossomed into a creative sanctuary, recognizing over 300 films, screenplays, and visual works from across the world and honoring more than 150 exceptional talents. Every laurel we grant isn’t just an award — it’s a salute to courage, storytelling, and the relentless pursuit of artistic truth.

From film screenings under the open sky to digital showcases that reach across continents, Humro Cinema embraces every storyteller — filmmakers, photographers, screenwriters, and performers — giving their craft a platform to shine. Each official selection becomes part of our growing cinematic tapestry, woven with passion, diversity, and emotion.

Set against the serene beauty of Nepal, this festival isn’t merely an event — it’s an experience.
It’s where stories breathe, cultures converse, and cinema becomes the universal language of connection.

Humro Cinema Film Fest — because every frame has a soul, and every storyteller deserves a stage.

The UBA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (FIC.UBA), organized by the University of Buenos Aires and the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (FADU), through the Secretariat of Design and Technological Innovation Policies, the Secretariat of Institutional Affairs, Culture and Communication and the Audiovisual Design Degree, will be held from September 30th to October 7th, based primarily in the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism -FADU- (Pabellón 3 of Ciudad Universitaria).

Submissions are open and free of charge from 28 May to 30 June 2026, for Argentine and international feature-length films completed after July 2025. Additionally, Ibero-American and UBA short films are accepted.

The program includes five competitions:

- International Feature Film Competition
- Ibero-American Short Film Competition
- UBA Short Film Competition
- DIS Graduates feature film competition
- DIS Graduates short film competition

All screenings will be free of charge.

Contact us at infofic@uba.ar

OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES / CONVOCATORIA CORTOMETRAJES _ MOSMOS 2026
 
MosMos (Mostra de Stop Motion de Sagunt) presenta su convocatoria Internacional 2026 para cortometrajes de animación con la técnica de Stop Motion organizadas por la Asociación Cultural Pausa Zulú con la colaboración de la Concejalía de Juventud de Ayuntamiento de Sagunto.

OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES / SHORT FILM COMPETITION - MOSMOS 2026

MosMos (Sagunto Stop Motion Film Festival) presents its 2026 International Call for Short Films using the Stop Motion technique, organized by the Pausa Zulú Cultural Association in collaboration with the Sagunto City Council's Youth Department.