Blog: Film festivals

Cinema is probably one of the simplest and most comprehensive forms of communication in existence. After several film-related initiatives, Sciaena, an ocean conservation NGO, has decided to develop its own festival format to make it more dynamic, better adapted to Portuguese realitiy and one of the association's many regular initiatives.

Thus came the Scianema, whose main event is a festival where it’s screened a selection of documentaries dedicated to the oceans and their conservation, held every year between February and March in Faro.

But Scianema aims to be much more than that. Based on past experience, we want to show across the country and to a diverse audience, ocean-based documentaries to encourage, inspire, raise awareness and promote their open access not only to specialists but above all to the general public.
Scianema aims to facilitate scientific communication about the marine world by promoting open discussion, creating an opportunity for researchers, students, filmmakers and others interested in film and media to jointly enjoy and discuss issues about the sea, to let their imagination run wild. The oceans have a voice and it's of all of us!

This year, at the 5th edition of the Scianema Film Festival, we decided for the first time that in addition to presenting the films chosen by the organization, it will also open the opportunity for everyone to submit short films dedicated to the oceans – their fascinations, the threats they face and as we all can and must protect.

All productions must be in Portuguese or subtitled in Portuguese or English and have a maximum of 15 minutes. All national and foreign citizens may participate.

Kosice International Monthly Film Festival (www.imdb.com/event/ev0013367/2019/1/) is a festival with live screenings once a month.

Our mission and goal is to discover and promote talented filmmakers from all over the world and present them to the public and therefore is our festival is a brilliant opportunity to participate in international competition.

We are a film festival that can compete with many other prestigious film festivals. The proof of this is the winning films from last year (Skin - Academy Awards Oscar, Anna – Premiere: Festival de Cannes, Stricker – Premiere: Sundance Film Festival). Last year we awarded more than 200 films.

The festival organizes private screenings for festival jurors every month. Filmmakers can submit their film during 10 month. Within 10 months we will declare 400 winners who will be nominated for the annual prize and can attend the annual ceremony.

The final event of second year of the film festival will be held on 26th – 28th May 2021. We project the best super short film, short film and feature film and you can visit the city Kosice and get to know our culture. It is no coincidence that Kosice won the title European City of Culture 2013.

We are building a community of filmmakers who through the festival, can meet filmmakers from all over the world and establish future cooperation for their films.

Our film festival works constantly. We will publish the results EVERY MONTH!

The festival has the following structure:
1. The selection of films: we see all submitted films
2. Selected films will reveive the status “Official Selection“ of the month edition.
3. We will announce the finalists who are nominated for a month prize.
4. The jury selects winners of the two month edition. In the main categories the jury awards: Best Film, Second Place, Third Place and special prices. In the special and individual categories the jury awards: The Best Prize and special prices.

Every winning film in categories: Feature Film, Feature Documentary, Short Film, Short Documentary, Super Short Film, Student Film, Short Script, Feature Script and Slovak Short Film will be nominated for the annual prize and can attend the annual ceremony!

We will promote the winning films on our instagram, facebook and YouTube!

We bring your movies to people! Your movies won't stay online, but your film go to the cinema screen that will hit our hearts.

São Paulo Film Festival (SPFF) is an independent film festival that takes place in the most frenetic and populous city in Brazil.

SPFF seeks to support and inspire independent short film from all over the world, by a genuine expression that can stimulate new thoughts to the art of cinema. The Festival SPFF is an organization dedicated to the discovery and development of new artists, with visions beyond the border of the imagination that can thrill audiences from all countries.

Different from most festivals. We watch all the films. Our jury is composed mostly by filmmakers.

Shorts, Animations and Documentaries. Any genre.

Dec 15 - 17, 2024
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São Paulo Film Festival (SPFF) é um festival de cinema independente que ocorre na cidade mais frenética e populosa do Brasil.

SPFF procura apoiar e inspirar curtas independentes de todo o mundo, por uma expressão genuína que pode estimular novos pensamentos para a arte do cinema. O festival SPFF é uma organização dedicada à descoberta e ao desenvolvimento de novos artistas, com visões além da fronteira da imaginação que podem atrair audiências de todos os países.

Diferente da maioria dos festivais. Nós assistimos todos os filmes. Nosso júri é composto principalmente por cineastas.

Curtas, Animação e Documentários. Todos os gêneros.

Online + Presencial. O Festival ocorrerá no dia 15 de Dezembro de 2024 no Cine Belas Artes apenas dos filmes finalistas. Os filmes semifinalistas serão exibidos online até o dia 17 de Dezembro de 2024.

We are a thematic film festival.

The 10th edition is dedicated to the theme of Travelling towards the Other

CONCURSO SUEÑOS EN CORTO

NIFF is a space for criticism, denunciation, impact and social growth through the dissemination and promotion of cinema.

NIFF aims to be a statement against non-involvement, disregard and lack of commitment, which is the real disease of this century, where we produce more than we can consume, and happiness is subject to the law of supply and demand.

NIFF was born with the intention of triggering, debating the issues that are hidden under appearances and confronting the public with the social realities that show each individual as a part of those that make us complex, unique and human.

«The Oscars of the university cinema»

Villanueva Showing Festival is an International Short Film Festival for young people between 15 and 25 years old, organized by Universidad Villanueva. This initiative aims to encourage young people to reflect on universal human values ​​through audiovisual language. For this reason, each edition challenges the young cinematographic promises to create their own piece on a specific theme based on a universal value.

This festival, in which more than $ 22,000 in prizes are awarded every year, offers great visibility to young cinematographic talents before an international jury of experts, producers, directors, scriptwriters, actors and other professionals from the sector who attend the ceremony annually of awards ceremony, held in an iconic place of the capital of Spain, presented by a recognizable figure from the film world.

IMPORTANT / MANDATORY

In this edition Villanueva Showing Film invites us to reflect about the following topic: TO BE DETERMINED (we'll announce the new topic soon!). All short films presented must be related to this topic.

Launched in 1980, our festival, the first of its category in South Korea, has grown and evolved from the Korean Short Film Festival, to become the Busan Asian Short Film Festival in 2000 and eventually the Busan International Short Film Festival in 2010 (www.bisff.org).

Taking place late April at the Busan Cinema Center, BISFF delivers a dozen awards in three competitive sections (International Competition, Korean Competition and Operation Kino) while also presenting several curated, non-competitive sections including: Guest Country, Korean Shorts, Asian Shorts, Prism, 3D Cinema, etc.

BISFF is a member of the Short Film Conference (http://shortfilmconference.com/) and of the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema https://netpacasia.org). In 2018, it became South Korea’s first Oscar®-qualifying festival.

THE CATALONIA INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL FILM FESTIVAL has as his basic aims the dissemination and promotion of films that contribute to the knowledge of world cinema Social Film, on Human Rights and Civil Rights

You know it better than anyone: making a film of less than 4 minutes requires a lot of talent and creativity. That's why the Très Court has been honoring them for more than twenty years with its International Festival, which takes place simultaneously in June in about fifty places on the five continents. The screenings take place exclusively on the big screen, in theatres or outdoors, for an audience as faithful as it is fervent.

The Très Courts are divided into six selections, two of which are in Competition: International Competition, Women's Words Competition, French Selection, Family Selection, Documentary Selection, and the Laugh(before the end of the world) Selection.

Whether you are a novice or a professional, classic or avant-garde, as long as your film does not exceed 4 minutes, do not hesitate to try your luck, especially since the registration of your film(s) is free. All genres are accepted: fiction, documentary, animation, CGI, drama, comedy, documentary and even gore or horror films.

The Courage Film Festival is aimed at all the filmmakers and scriptwriters who use their work to make a stand and to fight for what they believe is right!

All themes are welcome, covering topics such as women, immigration, the environment, family, equality, mental health, disability etc.

We are looking for films that spark discussions and debates and are the protagonists for positive change and development in the world. We want to hear your stories by giving you a platform to share them and to also discuss the issues portrayed in your film with other like-minded filmmakers.

The Courage Film Festival will feature films and scripts that fight for good causes and portray the struggles and adversity that people and groups face when trying to bring about positive change and influence in a world where you sometimes have to shout in order to make yourself heard.

People face challenges every day. Will your story ignite Courage in another human?

Let the Courage Film Festival be your platform to grab the world’s attention, to champion your cause and raise awareness.

There will be screenings and discussion with social organizations that support the event. There will also be organized workshops and discussions about the main themes of the festival.

Bucharest Short Film Festival [BSFF]

Independent is the key word for Bucharest Short Film Festival [BSFF], as it is founded by independent film professionals and focuses on independent artists in cinema, from all over the world. Bucharest Short Film Festival aims at recognizing, showcasing and spreading-out the most professional, most innovative, and most interesting fresh short international films, while always prioritizing independent short films.

Bucharest Short Film Festival will showcase some of the finest short international film in Narrative, Animation, Student, Experimental, Documentary, Music Video and Human Rights. We take to heart the amount of work put into each film. Therefore, the festival rules ensure that each movie is reviewed at least two times and well-debated by our team. Some of the awarded films will also be screened at other international film festivals.

Independent artists and their short films will meet an effervescent, and a quite experienced with cinema and film festivals audience, ensuring quality networking, and engaging opportunities, while the selected films will be determined by a panel of industry experts.

Bucharest Short Film Festival is building a strong community of interest around international independent film professionals and film lovers, in the heart of one of the most interesting emergent capitals of arts and culture, a city that never sleeps – Bucharest.

The festival will run film screenings, preceded or followed by artists Q&A, or networking side events, and, surely, parties, that all take place in various conventional and unconventional stages around Bucharest, as in cinemas, open spaces, and even summer theatres. Bucharest, you’ve heard about it, eventually – a city for young people. Well known for different things – like “Old Paris” nickname, in its bourgeois times, before the communism decades, or the world’s biggest parliamentary building [and one of the largest buildings of any kind], from its communism times, new architecture, or the explosive contemporary art scene, and the also quite impressive underground arts and music and nightlife communities, in its current times.

KINOSKOP 2019 – 1st International Festival of analog experimental cinema and audio-visual performance / 29-30.11. 2019. /

Audio-visual initiative and film lab Kino pleme is proud to announce the birth of a new niche festival dedicated to the spirit of preserving the exploratory tendencies and experimental ways of working with celluloid in a digital era. Analog experimental film festival “Kinoskop”, the first of its kind in the region, will, in its first year, take place in Belgrade, for a two-day run (29th and 30th November) of screenings, expanded film performances, live soundtracks and gallery exhibitions. Previously existing as a selection program at The Unforeseen fest, in its first year is broadening its horizons to encompass a wider variety of works and feature-lenghts, while also integrating live performances which are straddling the line between formal experimentation, poetic freedoms and new takes on historically challenging avant-garde narratives.

Festival is welcoming imaginative works of cinema which trigger strong audio-visual stimuli and puzzling afterthoughts. Several of our open call programs will be curated by veteran experimental film aficionados Nikola Gocić (film writer and critic and visual artist) and Marko Milićević (film author and founder of the audiovisual initiative Kino Pleme)

This year’s program is enriched with programs centered around film music performances and use of analog synthethizers. Fifth anniversary program of Live Soundtrack, longest running audio-visual event in Belgrade is having a guest appearance from Marcelo Armani (Elefante Branco), a musician from Brazil and supported by a plethora of local talents. First edition will also shed light on exciting practices of film performance and expanded cinema, with “Elementary particles” - a post-apocalyptic multi-channel performance merging the worlds of mockumentary, found footage, cinema and animation, as well as projections involving analog and digital projectors. Finally, “Kinoskop” will open its doors to alchemical ways of dealing with photochemical practices involving analog photography by presenting a themed group exhibition which will open its first edition.

“Amor es Amor” invites filmmakers to participate with their short films in its 3° edition (online).

The festival will accept fiction, documentary and animation LGBTIQA+ short films and that have been produced after January 2018.

The festival will take place in Córdoba, Argentina, from 14 February to 19 February, 2022.

FeCHA is Festival de Cine Hispanófono de Atenas and was first organized in 2016 with great success.

The festival focuses on screening current Spanish- speaking films from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Colombia, etc. showcasing the rich cinematic wealth of these countries.

The festival, since June 2016, has attracted more than 20.000 audience members. Multi-awarded films from Spain and Latin America premiere at the festival. With its sold- out screenings and a diverse programme Athens has shown its love for Spanish speaking culture and cinema.

The festival also features:

-cortoFeCHA, a screening of a collection of Spanish speaking short films from Spain and Latin America, which are screened with free entry to the public.

-docuFeCHA, screening of spanish speaking documentaries from Spain and Latin America, which are screened with free entry to the public.

-Diversidad, screening of LGBTQ+ spanish speaking films from Spain and Latin America, which are screened with free entry to the public.

-FeCHAniños, screening of spanish speaking children's films from Spain and Latin America, which are screened with free entry to the public.

The main FeCHA festival takes place in early summer between May-June and FeCHA's satellite event, Días de Cine Hispanófono, takes place every October 12-14, and films that weren't screened during the festival are screened there.

Backed by the prestigious University of Zulia, we are the longest-running short film festival in Venezuela, organised by the Cine Club Universitario de Maracaibo since 1981, in turn the first to be established in the country, in 1962, prior to the creation of the National Film Archive of Venezuela (1966).

The name of the festival was chosen because of the historical importance of the pioneer Manuel Trujillo Durán for the development of the production and diffusion of cinema in Venezuela, who only 13 months after the projections made by the Lumière brothers in Paris in December 1895, made possible the exhibition on 28 January 1897 at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo, of two of his films, an event recognised as the first cinematographic projections in the country.

HISTORY:
The origins of the FMTFD date back to the project drawn up by the professors of the University of Zulia: Gabriel Arriechi, Fernando Perdomo and Ricardo Ball, who with the unconditional support of Sergio Antillano, Rosa María Salom and Rafael Araujo organised the first edition, which took place from 28 to 31 January 1981 in various cultural spaces in Maracaibo.

TODAY:
Since its 15th edition in 2020, the festival has opened its doors to works and filmmakers from all over the world.

The NexGn International Short Film Festival of India aims to bring Independent Short Film makers from around the globe to an eclectic & international audience and provide them the value and position they deserve. Our program has been set to expand to include film screenings and free open-air events around NISFF as well as educational programs and cinematic workshops.

This passion project by NexGn is about to include over 500 Short Films from around the globe & draw nearly 150 for screenings. NexGn has also arranged for Number of Awards to be given to the certain categories.

Cachaça Filmes has held the festival since 2009. It always brings in nationally renowned filmmakers and artists from the area, aiming to offer culture and leisure options, and to favor the region's economy. In the short term we intend to bring an “elite” audience to Vila de Paranapiacaba, and in the medium and long term to bring cinematographic productions to the region.

We also have the Short and Feature Films Contest.

Regulation:
https://www.cachacafilmes.com/regulamento-concurso-de-roteiros

GENERAL INFORMATION

TIRANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is the first international film festival created in 2003 as one of the most important cinematic events in Europe.

We are thrilled and honored to be approved as an official Academy Awards® and European Film Awards qualifying festival, it’s truly a tremendous opportunity for our filmmakers and future Best Short Film Award winners also for Student Academy Awards (SAA).

TIFF aims to create in Albania, as well as in the region, a cultural center of worldwide alternative and independent cinema. Albania is a solar, enthusiastic and friendly country and besides the “strong competition” TIFF aims at the same time to be a meeting point of cultures, where people of Tirana, the guests and all those who love films will have a cinema-language-communication week.

TIFF aims to create a friendly space for film artists and cinema enthusiasts from Albania, Europe and the entire world to come together and share their linked passion and knowledge of the motion picture art form. The intention of TIFF is to bring filmmakers, producers and distributors from all around the world to Tirana, in hopes of fostering future co-operation in this interesting scenic area. By bringing together these distinct voices and their work, TIFF commits itself to introducing audiences to alternative visions of extraordinary diversity. "Think Different, Watch Alike" is the slogan and motto of TIFF.

TIFF aims to demonstrate strong efficiency in audience development (especially toward young audience) by implementing activities before, during and after the event, including year-long activities and traveling to other cities with various smaller partner and smaller festivals in the country. Partnering with small organizations and youth centers around the country in order to use the existing facilities in each city will not only give to TIFF a large national impact, but will enhance on the other side the increase of values of small events in each respective city in which TIFF will be present.

The festival gets thousands of submissions a year from over 120 countries around the world that of submitted online through online platforms, which are then considered for selection. TIFF is an international cinema event whose main objective is to enlarge the number of venues and time of screening of European and non-European films of all genres and durations in Albania as well as it is considered to be an event to develop new audiences around the country, combining film screenings with public debates and thematic debates approaching new and an increased Film Audience and focusing also on Film Literacy.

The daily program of TIFF combines more than 200 premieres of feature and short films in competition in all formats and genres: fiction, documentary, animation, experimental and video art. Open to any filmmaker from around the world, TIFF showcases new cinematic work by established directors with international reputations as well as movies by talented students and young artists.


A. COMPETITION PROGRAM
1. FULL LENGTH FILMS
• Feature films
• PerspecTIFF (debut feature films)
• Documentary
• Made In ALBANIAn

2. SHORT FILMS
• Fiction/Live Action (Oscar® & European Film Awards qualifying)
• Animation (Oscar® & European Film Awards qualifying)
• Documentary (European Film Awards qualifying)
• Video Art & Experimental (European Film Awards qualifying)
• Student films (all genres) (Academy Awards® qualifying)
• Balkan Films (all genres)
• In Albanian (all genres)

3. PANORAMA has some thematic sections dedicated to the most sensitive social topics and problematic social groups as for children, women, immigration, integration of persons with disabilities, LGBT, etc. with those sections:

• KIDs
• GENERATIONs
• NEW WORLD
• DIVERGENT MINDS
• PARADE

4. SCREENPLAY ContesTIFF
Consists in the application of original live-action and animated short film scripts and other short form scripts of all genres (max. 20 pages).
The said competition did not aim to evaluate only the best script, but to evaluate from our partners, producers and distributors, the best and most possible script to be produced by them and with the greatest chances to be successfully distributed in the most popular international festivals for short films.


B. SPECIAL PROGRAM & SCREENINGS

Besides the competition program TIFF reserves a large space to the special programs and screenings.

1. FOCUS is a special program, which is based on tribute or homage to the cinema author and/or the filmography of a given country.

2. RetrospecTIFF and TIFF Classics brings to the new audience the most prominent national or international authors of the film history.

3. PICTURE YOUR LIFE, CREATE THE FUTURE
TIFF will continue to have a large space to the special program KIDs, an exclusive program for children from 5-15 age average. This initiative comes as a long-term investment to raise and educate future cinematic audiences with artistic films through acquired projects in Creative Europe for the distribution and promotion of European films.

4. REFLECTING ALBANIA is the oldest program of the festival, dedicated to the foreign filmmakers who have produced their films in Albania or in Albanian speaking territory.

5. Oscar® Nominated Short Films & European Film Awards Shorts Tour

6. FesTIFFal is a special program with selected films by festival partners.


C. NEW FEATURES – PARALLEL SCREENINGS
TIRANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL has the pleasure to announce four major services available for the applicants. Since its inception in 2003, TIFF received over 50,000 short and feature films from over 120 countries around the world. Out of all these applications more than 200 films can be chosen each year for the competition program. With these four new services, TIFF offers the opportunity to many films to be shown in alternative ways (TV, online, market, special programs) in a wider audience and experts.
The applicants must optionally apply clearly for each one of these new services.

• TIFF.TV Competition
With our media TV partners we offer the possibility to directors screening their films (selected for the official competitive program or not) to the Albanian audience and win the TV juries and audience awards.

• TIFF on Tour
TIFF will act as ambassador for the submitted films and will travel with a selection to other Albanian cities during the year. TIFF will also propose special screenings to other regional festivals in accordance to a specific subject or theme of each collaborative festival.

• TIFF Online Library
TIFF offer the online presentation of each film, in a dedicated page, as a part of a film library, with all related information and with the possibility to receive comments from the international internet audience and industry. The screening of films is open to anyone without charges. The films will be available for viewing in the film library as long as director/producer wishes.

• TIFF Market Corner
TIFF will create a market corner, where potential buyers can watch all films and make their selection. TIFF will also act as a festival promoter and distributor. In case of financial contract with a distributor, TIFF will receive a fee of 5%.


Find us:

info@tiranafilmfest.org | www.tiranafilmfest.org | facebook.com/TiranaFilmFest |
instagram.com/tiranafilmfest | twitter@TiranaFilmFest | youtube.com/user/TiranaFilmFestival1 | vimeo.com/ tiranafilmfest | linkedin.com/ company/1796049/admin/

Kwanzaa film festival Anti-Vaping Short Film Competition is an exciting opportunity for youth groups to spread the word about the impact of Vaping by creating a youth-led short-film.

We will promote this competition to high school students targeting students from 14 to 21. We would create an email to engage the youth to participate in future rallies and other future opportunities. The projected finalist will be shown at our Kwanzaa film festival youth interactive initiative the day before our main-stage festival. We would also have a day of workshops and films that engage young audiences. We will also include the workshop from Tobacco Free Kids. We will announce the top three winners but all the films submitted will be shown on a social media platform for instance you-tube which would allow us to chose one of the winners based on viewership. The anticipated date would be on December 28, 2019 at Barnes and Nobles. The event would be from 1 pm to 5pm.