Blog: Film festivals

About:

Vivienne Westwood, King Crimson, Tendechi Trucks, Penelope Spheeris, Jason Mamoa, Rosario Dawson, Mel Brooks, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Guillermo Del Toro, Paton Oswalt, Nichola Meyer, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Banksy, Octavia Spencer, Liza Minelli, Marlee Matlin and that's just the 7th edition. Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is an indie festival providing support and encouragement and helping propel filmmakers onto Netflix, SBS, ABC through their own talents, hard work and determination!

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is a popular and beloved institution. We have grown over the last 7 years to become an important and essential Australian film festival, showcasing the world's best and most innovative cutting-edge documentaries. If accepted, you are guaranteed to be part of an incredible, world class line up. The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is a forerunner event in July before Melbourne's premier event Melbourne International Film Festival which starts in August. Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is Australia's biggest indie doco fest - 150 + documentaries over 31 days. We are currently recruiting for local Melbourne, Australian, and International Feature Documentary, Short Documentary, Documentary Web Series, Video Essays, Documentary Photography, VR and Interactive Documentaries to compete in our Australian Documentary Awards held during our July 2022 festival.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is a festival where you and your documentary are the star of our festival! Thousands of people attend each year online, in-cinema and outdoors.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival has a community feeling about it and genuinely cares about the filmmakers and their documentaries with alumni helping out with judging and masterclasses.

We Support:
Australian, BLM, Indigenous, Women in Film, LGBTIQ, Diversity, Disabled Filmmakers, Equality, Refugees, Environmental Issues and Freedom of Speech.

We are against:
Asian Hate, Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Ageism, Sexism, Bullying, Fascism, xenophobia, Inequality and Discrimination.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Has:

- Premiered over 700 + documentaries in Australia
- 4 x Best in the World Documentary Film Festival - Film Daily
- 1 x Best in the Southern Hemisphere Documentary Film Festival - GuideDoc
- In 2020 we created the Southern Hemisphere's biggest online documentary film festival with over 150 documentaries showcased
- Australia's first competitive documentary film festival to go online

In short, over the course of the past 7 years, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival has become established as a rare treasure in the crowded and increasingly homogenous festival scene, without remaining in the slipstream.

What We Are Looking For:
Ideally, we want to see your locally and internationally produced Feature, Short, VR documentaries, Video Essays and Documentary Web Series to showcase in our competition in Melbourne, Australia in 2022. All countries, all ages, all abilities, all genres of documentary are encouraged to apply and can be considered.

The Hottest Postcode:
Melbourne, Australia has consistently been voted one of the worlds happiest and most liveable cities. Our competition represents a great opportunity and reason to visit Australia. In 2019 we had 41 guests to our festival from overseas and across Australia. This was made possible through a combination of the festival paying for the filmmakers to attend, filmmakers paying for themselves to attend, consulates, embassies and film commissions paying for filmmakers to attend and people crowd funding to attend. The festival is a great networking opportunity.

The Toughest Competition:
Go head-to-head in Melbourne, Australia and test your mettle with the world’s best, and most prestigious documentary film schools and film festivals such as Tribecca, Sundance, Sydney Film Festival, TIFF, Venice Film Festival, American Documentary Film Festival, Raindance, Slamdance, Sheffield Doc Fest, Hot Docs, New Zealand International Film Festival, Traverse City Film Festival Doc NYC, SXSW, CPH:Dox, IDFA, and many more. You're in it to win it.

Make it Australian: The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is an encouraging and supportive platform for local filmmakers. We commit to playing at least 45% Australian content in our 2021 fest to support the local industry. Screen Australia, Film Victoria, Create NSW, Screen West, Screen QLD, Screen NT, Screen Tasmania, Documentary Australia Foundation, AIDC, and Goodpitch Australia productions are encouraged to apply. MDFF wants to have the very best Australian competition drawing from local industry and indie talent. SBS, NITV and ABC productions are also eligible to apply to compete, provided that the production submitted contains new material and is effectively a director’s cut.

The Coolest Cinemas:
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is currently part of the Cinema Nova family of festivals including Transitions Film Festival, Melbourne Queer Festival, Monster Fest. Cinema Nova is one of Australia's best cinemas and is the southern hemispheres largest independent cinema with 16 screens in inner city Melbourne and one of the coolest cocktail bars around. Cinema Nova is the go-to-venue to premiere documentaries down under including exclusive Australian premieres like the Sparks Brothers, Billie Holiday VS USA. All feature, shorts, video essays and documentary web series in competition will be played in DCP on a 4k projector at 24 FPS in Dolby surround sound. The cinema's we will be utilizing for the competition will be 147 to 240 seat capacity. All Q&A's will be conducted by a Film Critics Circle of Australia or Australian Film Critics Association member. We even have curated cocktails at the cinema bar and unmissable parties and networking events.

The Best Festival:
MDFF premieres, screens and showcases more quality local Australian and International documentaries each year than any other documentary only film festival in Australia and gives more talented Indie Filmmakers a chance to compete and screen to a big, receptive audience in Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is consistently featured on SBS, ABC, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, Time Out, Concrete Playground, and Weekend Notes and had additional short documentaries featured in Federation Square.
The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival presents a unique opportunity and supportive platform to showcase YOUR documentary Down Under in one of the coolest and most liveable cities in the world - Melbourne, Australia. We are looking for exclusive World, Australian or Melbourne premieres. for feature documentaries to showcase in our competition. Let our 45 media partners, and publicist get behind and help promote YOU and YOUR project Down Under and get just the right momentum and exposure behind your project launch in Australia.

In Short:
The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival aims to feature the freshest and most innovative documentaries from around the world, from short docs right through to feature length, award winning films. The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival looks to promote the best quality independent and industry documentaries cinema has to offer.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Showcases The Best Entries From the Best Festivals Going Head-To-Head in Melbourne Australia Like:
American Documentary Film Festival, Big Sky Film Festival, Cannes, CPH:DOX, Doxa, Full Frame, Hot Docs, IDA, IDFA, Slamdance, Sundance, SXSW, Sydney Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, RIDM, Harlem International Film Festival, DocAviv, ImagineNative, Shanghai International Film Festival, The Muslim Film Festival, TIFF, Tribecca, Venice, Hot Springs Doc Fest, Telluride Film Festival, Tokyo Docs, AFI Docs, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Doc N Roll, and Cork International Film Festival.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Showcases Top Submissions from Top Organisations:
ESPN, Time Magazine, HBO, The Atlantic, Story Hive, Loading Docs, Australian Cultural Fund, Environmental Victoria, Creative Victoria, Regional Arts Victoria, Australia Rise Fund, BFI, Kartequinn, National Geographic, Screen Australia, Film Victoria, Screen West, Screen Tasmania, Screen Ireland, Doc Society, CBC, BBC, NL Film Fonds, NFB, IDA, Documentary Australia Foundation, Wild Angle Tasmania, AIDC and NITV.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Has Seen Massive Ongoing Success and Distribution For Filmmakers:
Netflix, Apple +, Amazon, Stan, SBS, ABC, NITV, Waterbear, The New York Times, The New Yorker, MTV Films, Foxtel, Redbull TV, National Geographic, iWonder, Docplay, The Guardian Documentary Channel, Films for Change, Rialto Channel.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Has Been Featured In:
Channel 9, Channel 10, The Project, ABC, SBS, NITV, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Triple RRR, PBS, Time Out, Broadsheet, Concrete Playground, 3CR, Kiss FM, 60 Minutes, Film Daily, Weekend Notes, IF Magazine, Vimooz, The Australian, Movie Metropolis, Screen Hub, Arts Hub, The Daily Telegraph, Radio National, 3WBC, Plenty Valley FM, 2SER, Filmink, Flicks, and The Conversation.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Has Showcased Project From Top Australian Talent:
Warwick Thornton, Jack Thompson, Bruce Beresford, Rachel Griffiths, Olivia Newton-John, Cate Blanchett, Tommy Emmanuel, Jack Charles, Kutcha Edwards, Tom Zubrycki & Pat Fiske.

Previous Masterclass Topics Include:
History of New Zealand documentary a personal journey with Costa Botes, Asian documentary with Nick Torrens, VOD and distributions with Beama Films, crowdfunding for documentary with Pozible, Self-Distribution with Fanforce, Making the Great Australian Music Documentary, Making a Personal Documentary, Making LGBTIQ and Aboriginal Documentaries, Experimental Documentary, Documentary Filmmakers and Mental Health, Mobile Phone Filmmaking for Documentary Filmmaking.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Has Had Submissions Involving Some of the World's Top Directors & Big Stars Like:
Peter Medak, Werner Herzog, Oliver Stone, Leonardo Di Caprio, Bruce Beresford, Richard Linklater, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Lawrence Kasdan, James Cameron, Errol Morris, Barbara Kopple, Anjelica Huston, Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon and Joan Baez.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Showcases The Best Music Docos from Men at Work, Tommy Emmanuel, Placebo, Grace Jones, The Sonics, Agnostic Front, George Michael, Van Duran, Terry Pendergrass, Ronnie Wood, the Velvet Underground, Strange Tenants, Head Like a Hole, The Swans, The Beatles, Jonny Greenwood and Beverley Glenn-Copeland.

Melbourne, Australia Most Anticipated Festival
https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/film/upcoming-film-festivals-in-melbourne

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival team looks forward to bringing you a diverse, challenging slate of documentaries that will entertain, educate and inform you. So let’s make some Melbourne film history together!

SANTIAGO HORROR - International Fantastic Film Festival, is a film meeting that is held annually in the first week of October in Santiago, Chile. This is a platform that seeks to promote the cinematographic, cultural, artistic, musical that was born in 2018. The function of the Festival also includes bringing the national public under the umbrella of the seventh art to the most varied lineup of premieres, avant premieres, feature films, short films, animation and music videos

Highly Respected BAFTA CYMRU QUALIFYING Film Festival Judged by Industry Professionals. UK & International Submissions.

Please note that we are also an IMDB Qualifying festival which means that, if your film is selected and screened you can add it to IMDB.
IMDB Events/Film Festival
https://www.imdb.com/event/all/

PLEASE READ RULES BEFORE CONSIDERING SUBMITTING YOUR FILM


Carmarthen Bay Film Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years. From our first festival in 2012, we have gone from 35 submissions to well over 750 from 60 different countries for our 2019 festival. Not only have the submissions increased over the years but the number of filmmakers and festival patrons attending has as well.

We have had filmmakers flying in from the US, Australia, Holland, Italy, France and many parts of the UK. The number of festival partners has also grown with Stradey Park Hotel, BAFTA Cymru, RTS Wales, University of Wales Trinity St. David, Felin Foel Brewery, Carmarthen Cameras and many more. The festival is now a BAFTA Cymru/Wales qualifying which means that any film screened during the festival and made here in Wales is eligible to apply to be considered for a BAFTA Cymru award.

Our 8th festival has seen some significant changes, for the last seven years, the festival has been held at the Stradey Park Hotel here in Llanelli. The hotel has been very supportive, and without their help, the festival would have been unable to get off the ground. So with the full backing of the Stradey Park, we felt it was time to move on and try something new. So for 2019 CBFF was held at one of Wales’ premier theatres in the centre of Llanelli, which brought a new and exciting dynamic and feel to the festival.

It's all about fairness, our motto.
‘This festival is honest’ and will always be, a champion of independent film.

Films Judge by Industry Jury,
Widely promoted Festival,
Committed to Transparency,
BAFTA Cymru Qualifying Festival

We are also very proud to have the name of John Hefin associated with the festival.
With the John Hefin Award for lifetime achievement in film, television or theatre. And we are delighted that John Morgan of JM Creative accepted this award during our 2019 awards gala.

Please read the brief bio about John below.

John Hefin first became involved in television work in 1960, when he responded to a newspaper advertisement for apprentice production assistants. During the 1960s, he worked as a producer and director for BBC Wales. In 1974, he helped create the Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm, the longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC. He also co-wrote and directed the 1978 TV rugby comedy film Grand Slam, and directed the 1981 drama series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. This nine-part series, a biopic based on the Welsh PM, drew on conversations with Lady Olwen, his eldest daughter, and AJ Sylvester, his secretary. In 1984, John was the director for the narration for an animated version of Prince Charles's children's story The Old Man of Lochnagar.

Following his post as Head of Drama with BBC Wales, he worked in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University. In 1988, he became the artistic director of Film Cymru (which was later renamed the Wales Film Council), entrusted with the responsibility of commissioning films from independent Welsh producers using S4C funds. He was also Chairman of the Film Commission Wales, and Chair of Cyfrwng, a Welsh media journal, and network. He retired from the BBC in 1993. In 2004, he directed and filmed part of a documentary featuring the artist Sir Kyffin Williams, Reflections in a Gondola
John was awarded the MBE in 2009, for "services to Welsh film and drama". In 2012, he was awarded the BAFTA Cymru Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television Drama.

“Quotes from the Earth” has been the first of its kind in the Indian capital since 2004. The environmental film festival aims at providing a discursive platform to highlight environmental challenges faced by people at the national and international level through films, which happens to be one of the most powerful medium of communication and discussion.

Format:
The festival is proposed as an event, which goes beyond viewing films. Besides showcasing around 20-25 films in a span of 2 days, there is also a Q&A session with the directors that happens after the completion of each of the films where they put light on the struggles/ challenges faced by them. The films screened are a mix of documentaries, animation films, and feature films made by renowned and the upcoming filmmakers around the world.

In the festival, there are films which are not screened to all like a commercial film so it provides a platform for the filmmakers to showcase and talk about the environmental issues prevailing at the ground level. A panel discussion with eminent journalists, environmentalists, academicians, film makers, policy makers, and personalities from civil society organizations, is also conducted on relevant topics during the film festival.

Competition notice
The Association Rive Gauche – Festival, Florence, Italy, is pleased to announce the entries have been opened for the session of 8th Firenze FilmCorti Festival. Festival will held from May 04th to May 08th, 2021, for the following sections:
1 Short film in competition
2 Documentary
3 Cartoons and film for young audience
4 Innovative & experimental film.
Venue: Murate Art District
Piazza Le Murate
Florence, Tuscany 50122
Italy
Last and definitive deadline will be on August 20.

Start Festival: 23 November 2024 End Festival: 30 November 2024

‘Mal del Cap, Naratives Mal Dites" is the name of the International Festival of Short Films and New Narratives that Mal del Cap, Cultura Mal Dita of Eivissa has been running since 2014.

This festival aims to be a meeting place and a place to generate ties between the participants and the citizens of Eivissa with the aim of consolidating itself as a space with the potential to forge encounters for audiovisual exhibition and creation.

‘Mal del Cap’ is an independent festival based on experimentation and the search to find new ways of narrating or expressing through the image, and to this end we are organising a short film competition to encourage the participation of citizens, especially the youngest members of the population.

The I International Catholic Film Festival of Cali (FICCCA) TALITA KUM aims to promote a culture of life and hope based on human and Christian values and our Catholic Faith, with films that address the theme of human improvement through love, solidarity, mutual aid, prayer, reconciliation and forgiveness.

Likewise, it will be a space that encourages knowledge, respect and deep love for our Catholic Faith through films that deal with the Eucharist, the Sacraments, the Priesthood, the presence of the Virgin Mary, devotions and the history of the Catholic Church.

It will also screen feature and short films on human rights, peace, humanitarian crises and intercultural dialogue.

It is Trichy’s One and only film festival which is Running Successfully. This is 3rd Consecutive Year. A Competition for the Short films, Album songs, Documentaries and Dub smashes from worldwide. This award is with cash prize around 1Lakh* for the best Projects to be shared between the competitions.

Initiative:
In a Pioneering Initiative, 720 Degree Entertainment started this Trichy Film Festival on 15th August 2016 at Ravi Mini Hall with a decent crowd with 47 Entries. In Second year, Dot 3 Joined the Game and made a Massive year for Trichy Film Festival on 15th Aug 2017 at Star Theater with a huge crowd with 126 Entries. A highlight of the 2nd Trichy Film Festival is “Tamilnadu’s First Film Festival @ Theater” and now this Journey continuous.

Core Objective:
The Core Objective of Trichy Film Festival is to include a link between the Film Creators and the Film Industry. The Conducting of Film Festival all over the world, the Preservation and Propagation of Tamil Cinema to document the History of Tamil Cinema, the honoring of persons and films that contribute to the aesthetic of Tamil Cinema.

Athens Marathon International Film Festival (A.M.I.F.F.) is an annual international event dedicated for independent filmmakers. Established this year by “THE BASEMENT” a nonprofit and non-governmental Cultural and Education Organization (B.C.E.O.).

Located in the city of Athens, we look forward to be hosting an amazing event with you and your friends. The A.M.I.F.F. is a multi-day event that takes place in the Beggining of Summer at venues throughout Athens-Greece.

Our wish is for the venues to be open air cinemas in the authentic ancient classical Marathon route from Marathon to Athens. Viewers will enjoy free movies on the white screen, under the full of stars sky of Attika and next to the deep blue of the Aegean sea.

The A.M.I.F.F. want to be a world recognized event, with industry, filmmakers, and press attention from around the globe. The festival is competitive, screening approximately 40-60 films each year.

The film industry today is largely monopoly-based and dependent on large scale budgets for productions to succeed. However, this festival aims at providing a voice for those who don't have a massive budget at their hands but nevertheless, an important story to tell.

According to one of the objectives of our non-profit organization to providing a platform for indie filmmakers, we are able to provide an affordable solution catered to advance the cause of independent film-making. Therefore the submissions starts priced from 10 euro.

ATTENTION:
EVEN ENGLISH FILM WITHOUT SAME-LANGUAGE SUBTITLES OR HARD SUBTITLES BE DISQUALIFIED. ALL FILMS MUST HAVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES IN OPEN FORMAT WITH EXTENSION .SRT OR .TXT

The International Short Film Festival “Tandil Cortos” is organized by The Tandil Cinema Association, a non-profit organization. The 15th edition will be held in “Teatro del Fuerte” (Tandil, Argentina) from 30th - 31th August and 1th - 2th september 2018.

ONLY FOR GERMAN FILMMAKERS // SOLO PARA CINEASTAS ALEMANES

The excitement is on the rise - filmmakers and film lovers will come together in Espelkamp from 5 to 6 October 2018 to pursue their shared passion for the medium of film on two days of the event. Talented junior directors from all over Germany present their works to the audience, hoping to take home one of the three coveted "SPITZ" film awards.

KYIV INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (KISFF) is largest short film festival in Ukraine.

Our festival features a diverse range of short films created by emerging and accomplished filmmakers, including film school students and independent creators from all corners of the world. Our goal is to showcase the most stirring, inventive and distinctive films while promoting Ukrainian cinema, encouraging communication and exchange of experiences between Ukrainian and international filmmakers and artists, and providing a safe and welcoming space for our audience.

Purpose- 1936, Memorias del Silencio is created with the aim of promoting through the cinema and colloquies,the peace cultur and another view around the world, regarding the Spanish civil war.

This program responds the intention of dealing with the role of the Spanish civil war from its cultural environment, anthropological and social, with special attention to the role of woman through its evolution.

Lectures and speakers will participate in workshops, discussions, and debates in order to make aware and provoke reflection on some events that a whole sector refuses to talk about. For this reason, we will give priority to the accesible suggestions to people with audible or visual disabilities.

It will be integrated by a retrospective, competition, and colloquies or conferences with specialists.

We encourage the participation of spanish producers and we stimulate the producer’s look from countries with low production or with difficulty to reach our film theaters and specially encouraging the presence of works made by young artists.

The Native Peoples International Film Festival is devoted to short and feature films, fiction, documentaries and animated films made ​​by or about the native peoples around the world in order to promote knowledge, respect and acceptance diversity in raising awareness of the various facets of reality, trying not to fall into clichés. Thus, gradually the festival is intended as a field for meetings and discussions of projects of mutual interest.

The International Festival of painted birds is devoted to short films and feature films, fiction, documentary and animation MOVIES MADE FROM JANUARY 1, 2018 NOT HAVE PRESENTED IN PREVIOUS EDITIONS , with the aim of promoting among children intercultural dialogue, social cohesion and human rights, especially those of CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS .

Will disseminate quality films that hardly reach Spain, trying not to fall into clichés. Thus gradually the festival is intended as a field for meetings and discussions of projects of mutual interest.

The International Film Festival of the Autonomous University of Baja California promotes the exchange of experiences in the field of audiovisual production, as well as knowledge building around the cinematographic phenomenon.

MSFFF was born from a mission:

We’ll take you on a journey through the genre’s cinematographic productions from all over the world.

The next March we will be able to enjoy the best and most current animated productions in Madrid.