Blog: Film festivals

The LA MIRADA TABÚ film festival wants to motivate artists and creators to show their view of the “taboo” concept, which is broad and diverse, encompassing from the dreams, the unconscious, the mental worlds and the ghosts that populate them , the mystery, the magic, even the untold reality, the unsaid, "the clothes hanging", in the workplace, emotional, family, vital ... from a vision as polyhedral as human thought is: casual, humorous, dramatic, dreamlike ... always from respect for all ways of thinking and from creativity.

LA MIRADA TABÚ launches an invitation to bring to light the personal and non-transferable world of each creator, which, as we have been able to verify throughout the history of art and cinema, through great names in world cinematography, connects with the deepest, unknown and elusive imaginary of the spectators

We invite you to participate in the fourth edition of ANIMAL Film Fest, which will take place on October 3, 4 and 5, 2024 with a hybrid model (online and in person) in the city of Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.

We recommend reading the entire call before registering your short films. Registration and participation in the 5th edition of this festival implies full acceptance of these regulations.

OPEN CALL
ROT Movie Makers invites general public, as well as independent and professional filmmakers, film students, communication, animation, visual arts, multimedia and careers related, to participate in the ANIMAL Film Fest 5th edition, which will take place on October 3, 4 and 5, 2024, in the city of Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico.

AFF is a ROT Movie Makers’ production.

The Rome Independent Film Festival (RIFF) is Italy 's first independent and international film festival. Its aim is to unite enthusiasm for films and filmmaking among young filmmakers with the realities of film production and distribution.Since its first edition in 2001, RIFF has become an event that is followed with more and more interest by the public in Rome and a reference for worldwide filmmakers. In these years, the Riff has received works coming from the 5 continents, ending up being an attentive witness representative of the directions and passions of the independent film industry.

Submit your production for free in any of our categories.
Open submissions from May 27 to July 31, 2024 on Festhome, Click for festivals.You can also send your application to the email: fickuntakinte@gmail.co
The Eighth Kunta Kinte International Afro Community Film Festival, which will take place from August 28 to September 1, 2024, will focus on the theme of "AFRO DIASPORA". Remember that each production will be reviewed by our curatorial team; you have until July 31, 2024 to register.
We invite filmmakers to submit their films, documentaries, and short films that address aspects of the African diaspora, such as the history of slavery, global African descendant culture, the fight for civil rights, migration experiences, and the influence of African heritage on different cultural expressions. Through cinema, we seek to rescue and value the stories of resistance, resilience, and creativity that have defined the African descendant experience.


Check the terms and conditions here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nCS10sY88uKiOkygiXRT2BJ9XwSIGrVN?usp=sharing

ANTOFACINE, the Antofagasta International Film Festival, is a gathering instance for national and international filmmakers; based on this premise we would like to contribute to:

● Promoting fiction, nonfiction and animations films as tools for cultural and social transformation and to benefit all of Antofagasta Region residents.

● Fostering the development of audiovisual projects in the region and country, supporting the creation of a professional space in order to promote local, national and international audiovisual works; contributing to audience formation and generating a gathering point in Antofagasta for the necessary interaction of all relevant agents of the audiovisual industry.

The 12 version of the Antofagasta International Film Festival, ANTOFACINE 2023 will be held from November 14 to 18, in the city of Antofagasta and other places of the region.

Only films directed by women and gender diversity , transgenders are accepted.

Sicilymovie – Agrigento Film Festival is a festival of feature films, short film, documentaries, videoclip, spot and animation shorts, created and organized by the Southmovie Association, which was created with the aim of bringing outdoor cinema for everyone to the heart of Sicily: the evocative Valley of the Temples of Agrigento, a city named Italian Capital of Culture 2025. The themes addressed in the works of directors from all over the world are multiple and educational.

The ninth edition of Sicilymovie is aimed at the best productions and distributions of short films and documentaries in the world who will compete for the Golden Demetra, the representative statuette of the Festival which recalls ancient Greece, cultural symbol of ancient Akragas, the city of Agrigento.
The project is supported and sponsored by the Valle dei Templi Archaeological and Landscape Park of Agrigento, the Municipality of Agrigento, the Sicily Film Commission and the Tourism Department of the Sicily Region. The Valle dei Templi Archaeological and Landscape Park is about 1300 hectares wide and here belong the remains of the ancient city of Akragas and the surrounding area up to the sea. The Valley of the Temples was declared a "World Heritage Site" by Unesco in 1997. Today the Valley of the Temples has more than one million visitors a year.

PLACE, DATE AND DEADLINE

Sicilymovie - Agrigento Film Festival will take place from 18 to 21 July 2024 at the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento

The deadline for the call will be 2024, May 31 at 23:59

Arizona Underground Film Festival is Arizona’s only premier underground cult film festival! Celebrating our 15th year, we make it our sole mission to showcase the work of filmmakers with defiantly independent visions. We are on a quest to represent every genre of independent film from across the world celebrating the artist, and their work. We will cover categories from Narrative, Horror, Documentaries, Experimental, Animation, and Exploitation. Join us in the underground!

Many of the films that have screened at the festival over the years have gone on to receive distribution from the festival screening, or attention from press and other festivals. We have been the World Premiere for many films over the past 10 years, and we will continue to premiere films, and showcase the best of independent cinema.

WHAT CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT AZUFF

“It’s got the vision and confidence of fests that have been around a lot longer.” - Filmmaker Magazine

“Prestigious festival” – The Huffington Post

“Unbeatable!” - Arizona Daily Star

“Truly Amazing” - Tucson Citizen

“AZUFF shed(s) light on the underground network… bringing independent films into the lime-light” - Yahoo News

“A Top-Notch Film Festival” - Trashwire

“A Real Powerhouse of a Festival” - Underground Film Journal

“A Wild Ride to the Edges of Visionary Independent Cinema” - Film Festival Examiner

The deadline to participate in the fourth edition of the Hygeia Awards, the nursing and physiotherapy short film festival, is now open. With this contest we seek to learn about and show nursing and physiotherapy from the perspective of citizens and health professionals themselves through their camera or smartphone. To do this, anyone who wishes can participate until March 15, 2024. Don't wait any longer... and take action!

History

JIFF 2025 will be a Greatest Edition in the World Cinema History

JIFF is the World's Biggest Competitive Film Festival (in fiction films).

The Jaipur International Film Festival, the world's fastest growing film festival, is held every year in January in Jaipur, India

Launched in January 2009, Jaipur International Film Festival -JIFF became expanding establishing name in organizing world film festival every year in Rajasthan.

The purpose of this film festival is to promote new movie makers, exchange of knowledge, information, ideas & culture between India & other nations in context of their social and cultural ethos. JIFF also promotes friendship and co-operation among people of the world through the medium of films & documentaries.

Though the film festivals have became a regular affair in most countries yet most of them cater only to selected audience as well as entertain the commercially successful film makers and related personalities. However, JIFF intends to organize a festival that connects the film fans & movie goers with the world, especially the serious filmmakers & their associates so as to bring about greater understanding of the art of film making.

The Sixteenth JIFF 2024 received 2971 films from 82+ countries and 329 films nominated for screening.

The Fifteenth JIFF 2023 received 2205 films from 63+ countries and 282 films nominated for screening.

The Fourteen JIFF 2022 received 2100 films from 52+ countries and 279 films nominated for screening. (COVID 19 - Hybrid Edition)The Fourteen JIFF 2022 received 2100 films from 52+ countries and 279 films nominated for screening. (COVID 19 - Hybrid Edition)

The Thirteen JIFF 2021 received 2121 films from 85+ countries and 266 films nominated for screening. (COVID 19 - Online Edition)

The Twelfth JIFF 2020 has received 2411 films from 100+ countries and 240 films nominated in competition for screening.

The Eleventh Aryan JIFF 2019 has received 2221 films from 103 countries and 232 films nominated for screening.

The Tenth JIFF 2018 has received 2019 films from 100+ countries and 136 films nominated for screening.

The Ninth JIFF 2017 has received 2004 films from 100+ countries.

The Eighth JIFF 2016 has received 2176 films from 100+ countries.

The Seventh JIFF 2015 has received 1807 films from 100+ countries.

The Sixth JIFF 2014 has received 1587 films from 90+ countries.

The Fifth JIFF 2013 has received 1397 films from 90 countries.

The Fourth JIFF 2012 has received 902 films from 70 countries.

18000 film lovers and film makers visited the festival.

The third JIFF 2011 was held with overwhelming response & it was a feather in crown.

The second JIFF 2010 was held with overwhelming response & it was a feather in crown.

The first JIFF 2009 was a first milestone towards success.

NEW CATEGORIES:
Sridevi JIFF Indian Panorama (All submitted films will be included automatically in this panorama from India only without any additional fee or you can submit directly in this panorama only, made/produced in all regional languages) new from JIFF 2019

Focus Country, Guest Country, Tribute, Retrospective and more - By Invitation Only

NEW CATEGORIES:
(You can submit according to your submission eligibility or write us for any support at myjiffindia@gmail.com)

JAIPUR CRITICS – For feature fiction films only, best film award from film critics. Total nominations: Around 5 films.

HONORARY ASIA - We welcome you in JIFF 2024 as senior and experienced film producer and director. This category is only for Asian continent for feature fiction films, who have produced/directed minimum 5 films in their respective career, we request you please submit your film/s produced/released/un released after 1st Jan. 2022 or film in post-production. It is non-competitive international nominations category, in this category will screen top two or three films out of all submissions.

WELCOME REGARD - For directors and producers 1st feature fiction film, in other words this submission should be first project/film as a director or producer. It is competitive international nominations category, in this category will screen top two or three films out of all submissions.

THESE ARE DIFFERENT SUBMISSION BETWEEN MAIN SUBMISSION IN THE FEATURE FILM (FICTION) CATEGORY.

OLD IS GOLD - screenings (by invitation only)
Classic World (Classical films from India and the world) – By Invitation Only

Films made by Crowdfunding (mention in the submission form)

Films made by/with Co-Production (mention in the submission form)

Web Series (up to 30 minute/s)

Mobile Film Making on Social Issues (film should be shoot by mobile camera, up to 30 minute/s)

Submit Song/Ad Film//Music/Album/Poster/Live performance

Top 10 Dialogue.


NEW CATEGORIES FROM JIFF 2025:

Films Nominated at Oscar 2025 (Short Fiction/Live Action) - Official entry to the Oscars
Films nominated at Oscar 2025 (Short Documentary) - Official entry to the Oscars
Films nominated at Oscar 2025 (Feature Fiction) - Official entry to the Oscars
Films nominated at Oscar 2025 (Feature Documentary) - Official entry to the Oscars

Films nominated at Oscar 2025 (Academy Awards, USA)
from different countries as official entry to the Oscars and official nominations through various ways, will be directly part of the competition in JIFF 2025. The awards will be separate for these categories and will be finalized by international jury members (World cinema leaders). Few top films will be screened in JIFF 2025 for global audience. Other rules will be the same as film submission in JIFF 2025.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH held annually with the aim of presenting an overview of the new film productions for children and adolescents, to the best and most diverse materials to the region. It also seeks to motivate local distributors to buy new films, TV shows and new formats with its extensive programming. Divercine is an open festival, he has never charged for sending works to your selection.

The Arapiraca Film Festival aims to promote Brazilian cinema, as well reflections on the democratization of access and the challenges of independent production. The Festival's program consists of three competitive shows: Mostra Brasil, Mostra Nordeste and Mostra NAVI de Cinema de Formação.

LIBERTAS ARTIS the international film festival that rewards the best and little recognized independent films. A true display of cinematographic art and technique.

www.LibertasArtis.com

Starting for its 5th edition, Curta Caicó has been contributing to the formation of audiovisual audiences, professional qualification through the realization of cinema workshops and stimulating the creative economy in the audiovisual segment.

Curta Caicó is a production of Reference Comunicação, an advertising and cultural production agency that has been operating in the market for ten years.

Aware of the importance of audiovisual media in Spanish society today and, trying to make them both a comunication and education media, to promote values of solidarity and tolerance, the International Social Film Festival of Castilla-La Mancha was born and it will be held in Toledo, It will continue in Toledo, Torrijos, Cuenca, Olías del Rey...

In this Festival are invited to take part to public and private entities that share the same concerns.

The Festival consists of several sections, including a contest of short and documentaries, social issues include: xenophobia, generational conflict, child labor, domestic violence, social roles, ecology, children's rights, coexistence, etc.

The Addis International Film Festival (AIFF) is an annual film festival created by Initiative Africa in 2007 and held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The festival is the largest independent documentary cinema festival in Africa and it was established as a unique initiative seeking to use the power of documentary films to support innovative ways of creating awareness on social issues.

The festival is a celebratory and educational event showcasing a carefully curated selection of films from both seasoned and emerging filmmakers addressing a wide range of themes such as peace building, inequality, women empowerment, children's rights, and much more.


The 18th Edition of the Addis International Film Festival (AIFF). As Ethiopia's established social activist, Initiative Africa will be hosting a five-day documentary film festival starting May 15th to May 19th, 2024, bringing more than 30 local and international movies, under the themes of Action for Peace, Security, and Reconciliation, Gender Equality and Inclusivity, Food and Environmental Security, and Health Care which will be taking place at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Hager Fikir Theater, Goethe-Institut Äthiopien and Italian Cultural institute in Addis Ababa.

The audience of the festival are mostly the youth and educated community who have the courage to change their society. We screen the films for free with no payment required for entrance.

BAKUNAWA FEST [Fantastic Film, Art + Music] - (formerly Bakunawa Young Cinema) - is the first fantastic & genre-based film, art & music festival based in The Philippines currently presented by Negros Museum and E Unlimited; and ran by volunteer filmmakers and artists. Bakunawa is a dragon-like creature in Philippine mythology that devoured moons. Because we are a genre-bending film fest, we want to flip the Bakunawa's role and we want it to instead symbolize the creative monsters inside us.

On its tenth year, Bakunawa Fest adds a new cinema to its in-person fest screenings: UPFI Film Center in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Across the islands, The Negros Museum remains our main venue in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental in Western Visayas Region. This year, Bakunawa Fest X opens on August 22, 2023 and will have a five-day physical festival run with a Bakunawa Funtastik Fair at the UPFI Film Center while we're having the Film Camp for first-time filmmakersy this July 2022 in Bacolod City. [Filipino students who want to join the FILM CAMP, pls email us at bakunawafilmfest@gmail.com]

Bakunawa Fest runs annually in one season - spread in fourth months becoming a hybrid festival resulting from the pandemic lockdowns. Bakunawa Fest starts with a film camp which includes a series of film workshops for first time young filmmakers that culminates into a competition - their final works are mostly genre films (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, folk, noir, folk, etc). From the Film Camp, Bakunawa Fest celebrates the year's crop of genre films through both an online and in-person festival screenings (with competitive and curated sections) of local and international films making their Philippine Premiere. Bakunawa Fest ends its season run with Primetime Philippine Cable TV airing and an Awards Show via SolarFlix TV where we can reach to millions of Filipino viewers.

Bakunawa was initially created with this principle: "new visions, new voices". We still stand by this principle as we continue to program young promising filmmakers, artists & musicians who either have no access to expensive workshops and may not have the name recognition to be programmed in festivals. Since our third edition, we have included a section that screens curated local and international selected films mainly for educational purposes. Most of our Bakunawa Fest's film camps are done as outreach programs/workshops and are mostly free. Here our participants are scholars paid for by the festival and its partners usually hosted by different cities/municipalities in the Philippines.

During the pandemic years and lockdowns from 2020-2022, we have temporarily migrated to mostly online screenings but this year 2023, we will conduct more live screenings following health protocols. For our tenth edition, we will do a semi-hybrid festival wherein we screen more films in live venues and do a limited program online.

[ Please note that, since we are an artist and volunteer-ran filmfest, we can't fund filmmakers to come physically and we don't pay screening fees. ]

We are a fantastic film fest. Our festival is interested in: Horror or Thriller Films / Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Adventure / Experimental Films / New Media, Expanded Cinema / Genre-Bending Films / Music Videos / Creative Documentaries / Contemporary Art / Photography.

For 2023, we have made our submissions more streamlined (This is NOT our programming approach though, just for submissions):
► Fantastic Full-legth Features
► Fantastic International Shorts
► Fantastic Indigenous Shorts
► Fantastic Filipino Shorts
► BAKUNAWA FEST Alumni Filmmakers
► Midnight Films
► Digital Art & Photography
► One-Minute Films
► Trash, B-Movie-esque, Underground Shorts
► Rewind (Past films released earlier than 2021)
► Pinoy Horror (no restrictions, no premiere status required)

OUR PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLE - A NOTE ON FILM SUBMISSIONS
Our programmers pride themselves on watching all submitted films with an annual 98-100% watching average. We don't base our decisions on which festivals your film has been accepted. We decide on the merit of your film and not on the popularity of the filmmakers and its actors. Last year (9th edition), all 100% of our competition shorts came from submissions via Festhome and Bakunawa Forms. Bakunawa has two festival advisers and curators who recommend films from around the world - especially, Asia - but these recommendations still has to pass through our chief programmer and are mostly programmed out of competition. So just submit and don't send us all your laurels. While we are happy of your achievements (because we're filmmakers too!), we still look at each film at "face value" - we watch them (usually more than twice) and decide.

THE VERTICAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL. In 2022, the first competition for vertical cinema and videos will be held in Venezuela: Short cinematographic films or social network videos, created and edited with vertical orientation (9:16) for projection on vertical screens or cell phones. Regardless of the theme or genre, with a time not exceeding 5 minutes. ELCOplay calls on filmmakers and content creators to create and submit works that explore the aesthetic potential of the vertical format, on any subject.

Works can be created on any equipment that produces HD quality or better, be it a smartphone, video camera or computer.

Night Terrors Film Festival is a genre festival for short films horror, thriller, supernatural, absurd - anything you can think of. Now open for submissions for the eight season in 2023.

We do not give out waivers and do not accept unsolicited submissions!

Films selected will be screened in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark on two seperate occasions - unless COVID-19 prohibits it in which case a later date will be found. It is a great opportunity to have your short films screened for a Scandinavian audience that might not have other ways to experience your work. We accept short films with a max of 20 minutes. The screenings will have a lot of guests from outside Denmark aswell, so it must be either English language or have English subtitles provided.

Please note that if your film is selected we cannot provide travel and expenses in case you wanna visit the festival. We are not in this to make money, the low entry fee is only there to cover expenses the arrangers will have and to ensure the seriousness behind your work.

The AX International Audiovisual Short Film Show aims to disseminate short films (documentaries, fiction, animations and experimental) for all ages, children and adolescents, young people and adults, which present as a central or relevant element such as gender relations and sexualities. Thus, short films that show intertwining between gender and sexualities with other markers such as social class, race and ethnicity, generation, disability, migration, are very welcome.
The Show also includes a multitude of themes that can cross issues such as life trajectories, violence against women, masculinities, fatherhood, motherhood, eroticism, corporeality, LGBTQIAphobias, sexual exploitation, sexual and reproductive rights and processes of resistance and struggle of women and subject LGBTQIA +, as well as a multitude of fields of sociopolitical life such as the State, capital, coloniality, politics, human rights, education, work, health, culture, public policies, among others.
In recent editions, many short films have been produced and selected that portray more general themes, of collective interest, in the field, for example, of indigenous rights, land, housing or the defense of democracy. So this year, realizing that such productions only enrich, densify and pluralize our Curta o Gênero, we formally opened for submissions of short films of this nature, which will be produced in specials.