Blog: Film festivals

The 11th Chinese Documentary Festival organised by Visible Record will be held in October 2018. The Festival comprises two Sections: Competition and Special Selection. The Competition Section is now open for submission. Documentary filmmakers from all over the world are invited to join.

Since its inception in 2008, the Festival has drawn the attention of filmmakers from around the world, especially those of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Thanks to their support, the Festival is attracting bigger audiences each year and has become a major event for Chinese documentaries.

Founded in 2004, Visible Record is a non-profit arts organization, which has dedicated itself to promoting Chinese documentaries.

Our festival happens in London, UK, one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, and screens short comedy films from around the globe. Our festival is held at the prestigious and lovely Hackney Picturehouse, home to many film premieres. We are proud to showcase, connect and promote talented comedy filmmakers from all over the world.

It is curated by WWCSFF Film Festivals which also produces the London-X4 Seasonal Short Film Festival and the Asia South East-Short Film Festival.

A US$100 Audience Favourite prize will go to the most popular film of the festival. Awards & Laurels will be available for the following categories:

– UK Comedy Short
– American Comedy Short
– European Comedy Short (including Ireland)
– Canadian Comedy Short
– Australasian Comedy Short
– African Comedy Short
– Asian Comedy Short
– Latin American Comedy Short
&
– Student Comedy Short
– Experimental Comedy Short
– Animated Comedy Short
– Music Video Comedy Short
– Shorter Comedy Short (under 2 minutes)
– Longer Comedy Short/ Web Series/Pilot (between 15 and 30 minutes)

Awards are judged by people involved in the comedy and film industry. In previous editions we were lucky to have on our panel:

-MATT TILLER (head of development for Comedy Central UK)
-MONA YOUSEFI (star of her own BBC show and comedy actor)
-TIM RENKOW (star of his own BBC show and stand up comedian)
-ALEXIS DUBUS (well known UK comedian)
-JOANNE LAU (part of the BBC Writersroom Comedy Room)

The Festival Directors have been involved in live and filmed comedy promotion, performance and production for over fifteen years.

Exciting, creative content is more important to us than slick production values. With comedy, if you make them laugh, audiences won't care if you filmed your masterpiece on your uncle the swinger's 1980s video camera.

London and the UK has a long, illustrious history of comedy from The Canterbury Tales to Monty Python. It is also a global centre for production companies and talent agencies that are looking for new talent to provide comedy content for the ever expanding market of online entertainment, digital content marketing and advertising. We have a database of these companies and agencies and update them about the talented filmmakers participating in our festival.

Most importantly though, the films we screen aim to entertain our festival audiences so we have some important criteria for the films we show:

GET TO THE FUNNY BITS QUICKLY.
BE ORIGINAL AND AVOID CLICHES.

"Brevity is the soul of wit" William Shakespeare
(and he knows better than us because he wore tights)

Being able to share great, undiscovered comedy films is a real buzz and delight for us and our festival is an essential calendar feature both for audiences wishing to have some great nights of laughter and for the discovery of new comedy creators.

All participants in our festival (if they wish) will have their contact details along with their film details made available to our industry database.

La Truca 7th Animated Short Film Competition
Call for Entries: Now Open
February 27 through April 20, 2017


RULES AND REGULATIONS


1. Schedule

Opens: February 28th
Deadline: April 15th
Results: April 30th
Exhibition: May 2th to 5th


2. La Truca International Animation Festival invites university, professional and independent filmmakers, Colombian or foreign, to participate in the 7th Animated Short Film Competition, which will be exhibited and awarded under the sixth version of La Truca, from the 2nd to the 5th of May in the city of Cali, Colombia.

The shnit worldwide shortsfestival is a premier platform for the exhibition and promotion of short films. This festival is a unique transnational event held simultaneously in ten cities across five continents. The festival consists of three main segments:

▪ shnit PLAYGROUNDS* | Running until August 31st, 2025
▪ shnit EXPANDED | Running until September 30th, 2025
▪ shnit FINALE | Amsterdam – September 30th, 2025

The winner of the WORLDWIDE COMPETITION, as well as the shnit audience-nominated films of the WORLDWIDE & INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION, will become eligible to enter the 2026 Oscars® in accordance with the rules of the 98th Academy Awards® [Cinematic release].

Over the past twenty-three years, shnit has evolved into a major international short film festival, continuously reinventing itself. Originally a local initiative, it is now a global event connecting and inspiring filmmakers and audiences from different cultural backgrounds. The festival promotes diversity, originality, and artistic exchange. With its high-quality cinematic selections, shnit attracts over 30,000 visitors, making it one of the leading short film festivals worldwide.

shnit is a non-profit organization, coordinated in collaboration with festival executives. The festival operates on principles of excellence and professionalism, fostering its international expansion.

* Planned PLAYGROUNDS for 2025
shnit worldwide shortsfestival takes place simultaneously in the several cities, the shnit PLAYGROUNDS, on five continents. The planned PLAYGROUNDS 2025 are:

▪ Buenos Aires [Argentina]
▪ Cairo [Egypt]
▪ Cape Town [South Africa]
​​▪ Goa [India]
▪ Hong Kong [China]
▪ Moscow [Russia]
▪ Sydney [Australia]
▪ San José [Costa Rica]
▪ Toronto [Canada]
▪ Bern [Switzerland] – shnit OPENING
▪ Amsterdam [The Netherlands] – shnit FINALE

La Truca 7th Animated Short Film Competition
Call for Entries: Now Open
February 27 through April 20, 2017


RULES AND REGULATIONS


1. Schedule

Opens: February 28th
Deadline: April 15th
Results: April 30th
Exhibition: May 2th to 5th


2. La Truca International Animation Festival invites university, professional and independent filmmakers, Colombian or foreign, to participate in the 7th Animated Short Film Competition, which will be exhibited and awarded under the sixth version of La Truca, from the 2nd to the 5th of May in the city of Cali, Colombia.

Only for Argentinian Filmmakers and resident foreigners.

17th SiciliAmbiente Film Festival - July 14-19, 2025
The aim of SiciliAmbiente Film Festival is to promote independent and documentary cinema, encouraging creative exchange and networking among filmmakers.
The Festival is organized and sponsored by Demetra Produzioni SAS and the CANTIERE 7 Cultural Association, made possible by public and private partners and sponsors who share the ethical principles of the Festival.
ELIGIBLE THEMES
Films addressing the following themes may participate in the Festival:
Environment / Anthropology / Human Rights / Biodiversity / War / Integration / Civil Rights / Sustainable Development / The Relationship between Humans and the Environment
FESTIVAL SECTIONS
The Festival is divided into the following sections:
• Documentary Film Contest (minimum runtime: 31 minutes)
• Fiction Feature Film Contest (minimum runtime: 70 minutes)
• Short Film Contest for Fiction and Documentary Shorts (maximum runtime: 31 minutes)
• Animated Short Film Contest (maximum runtime: 31 minutes)
• Overview of documentaries, fiction films, short films, tributes, retrospectives, seminars, and panel discussions
The Selection Committee will evaluate films based on the quality of writing, imagery, and the use of a creative language that characterizes artistic documentary cinema.

FesticineKids 26 is an international children's and youth film festival in Cartagena de Indias, it is a film competition that orients its efforts towards strengthening the production and distribution of Colombian, Latin American and world cinema for children and young people.

In 2024, FesticineKids reaches its 26th, edition with the same spirit of highlighting and celebrating cinema for girls, boys and young people. The phrase has been chosen as the slogan: A LOOK TO THE COLOMBIAN WEST. From this concept it is intended to invite children and young people to be aware of the responsibility they have to be agents of change in their environments. Children and young people are the future that should encourage the care of our planet earth, the human beings that surround them, animals and plants, as well as the places they visit. The tendency to Afro movies and ones oriented to indigenous people.

In the construction of the profile of the FesticineKids 26, the screen is problematized as a point of confluence of girls, boys and adolescents. By postulating cinema as that scenario in which feelings, emotions and beliefs are expressed, it is intended that girls, boys and adolescents, understanding what the cinema evokes them, what they extract from it and its meanings, wonder about the place that cinema has in their lives, in their environment, in parallel to the place they want and dream of.

It is also an opportunity for adults, parents, teachers, cultural and cinematographic authorities, to think about the need to strengthen their capacities to be trainers in tension and interaction with the audiovisual media, especially the cinema.

The first and the most important Freak Festival in Spain. We also accept horror and fantastic film. With an audience of 1.800 people every day from monday to friday and we would love to screen your shortfilms.

"The best small film festival in the world"
Gareth Ellis-Unwin (Academy Award winner and producer of The King's Speech)

*27th - 30th Sept 2017*

Now in its seventh year, Chagford Film Festival is going from strength to strength. A unique and vibrant film festival attracting award-winning industry talent from all over the country to its beautiful Dartmoor setting.

*The Festival*

Previous guest speakers have included Jennifer Saunders, David Sproxton (Oscar-winning co-founder of Aardman Animations), Alan Lee (Oscar-winning art director for Lord of the Rings, also a festival patron) and Kevin MacDonald (BAFTA and Oscar-winning director).

The festival has become a destination for film buffs and enthusiasts wanting to watch films, expand their knowledge with Q&As and panel discussions, meet special guests and participate in workshops and talks. At least one Oscar winner is in attendance every year!

Boasting several exclusives and premieres, including ‘Land of Songs’ in 2016 and ‘A Dartmoor Killing’ in 2015. The workshops and talks coverer a broad range of filmmaking topics and practical workshops.

As well as being a traditional film festival focused on screening films of all shapes and sizes, Chagford Film Festival also has more than a sniff of Secret Cinema about it. It is famous for its quirky pop-up events and a notoriously anarchic closing day street spectacular that takes over the town centre.

*Supporting local filmmakers*

Chagford Film Festival is proud to support local talent as well as international film makers. This year we will award a 'Home Grown' prize for the best film submitted from a Devon-based film maker. This will be selected from all the entries in all categories.

*Judges*

We have lined up a selection of high calibre judges for this year’s competition, including award-winning directors, producers, cinematographers, documentary-makers and animators. Each category winner will receive a 'Chagford Globe’ and a laurel.

*Festival patrons*

Julie Baines - Producer - 'Triangle', 'Creep' and 'Butterfly Kiss'.
Gareth Ellis-Unwin - Producer - 'The King's Speech.'
Ryan Gage - Actor - RSC 'Hamlet', 'The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug'
Tony Hawks - Writer, comedian and filmmaker - 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' and 'Playing the Moldovans at Tennis'
Paul Inglis - Production Designer, Art Director - 'Skyfall', supervising art director 'Game of Thrones', senior art director 'Prometheus'
Alan Lee - Academy Award winner, Art Director - Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Johannes Roberts - Film director and writer of The Other Side of the Door, Storage 24, F and Hellbreeder.
Ron Saunders - Writer and film researcher and formerly responsible for British Pathe’s film holdings at Pinewood Studios
Stephen Saunders - Independent film and video producer - ASA Productions (UK) Ltd
William Todd-Jones - A master puppeteer, director and movement consultant - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Jim Henson's Labyrinth, the Muppet movies and many many more.
Norman Wanstall - Academy Award winner and dubbing editor on 'Dr No' & 'Goldfinger'

La 3° edizione del “Migranti Film Festival - il primo festival di Cibo, incontri e migrazioni” si svolgerà presso la sede dell’Università di Scienze Gastronomiche a Pollenzo (Bra) e Torino dal 28 al 29 giugno 2019. Il Festival è un festival cinematografico internazionale per esplorare i movimenti di persone, idee e cose.

Copenhagen Film Days International Film Festival is an annual two-day event in the heart of the Danish capital. Over the course of a weekend we will be screening a large variety of films ranging from fictional drama to documentaries. Anything with a heartfelt message. Films from all over the world for an international audience.

Our mission is to offer a great opportunity to have your short films screened for a Scandinavian audience that might not have other ways to experience your work. The screenings will have a lot of guests from outside Denmark aswell, so it must be either English language or have English subtitles provided.

Copenhagen Film Days is to be held at Husets Biograf, Rådhusstræde 13, 1466 Copenhagen in Denmark on October 21 and 22, 2017.

FAST ANCHOR FILM FESTIVAL (FAFF)

"We aim to showcase the best in up-and-coming filmmaking talent"

Fast Anchor Film Festival (FAFF) was set up in early 2016 with the simple aim of bringing together talented filmmakers and fierce film-lovers to celebrate some of the best independent short films from across the world.

ANIMA – Córdoba International Animation Festival is both an academic and cultural event, devoted specifically to animation in its artistic and technological dimensions. Held every odd year since 2001, ANIMA is the main animation event in Argentina and a very influential player in its field in Latin America.

Every edition, ANIMA gathers a wonderful community of animators and live action filmmakers, designers, producers, visual and audiovisual artists, who get together the three days of the festival through panels, seminars, exhibitions, screenings and social networking opportunities.

The St Cloud Film Fest promotes film and filmmakers by creating opportunities for education, production, and appreciation during an annual festival and through year-long outreach.

2020 marks the 10th year of the St Cloud Film Fest!

The St Cloud Film Fest takes place over eight days in a historic theatre on the banks of the Mississippi River. The downtown art scene is a hub for the surrounding artistic community. Many local visual artists have exhibitions on display along St. Germain Street and 5th Avenue.

We are a non-profit organization devoted to promoting forward-thinking independent film and committed to giving students an opportunity to create their own projects. We hold stop-motion workshops for elementary students and give high-school and college students a chance to make a film as part of a weekend contest.

The crowds are passionate and intelligent about cinema. We'd love the chance to show your film to a new audience. From live action to animation, documentary to experimental all film makers have a place and a voice at this film festival.

InShadow is a reference in the field of contemporary artistic creation and curatorship, placing an emphasis on the convergence of body and image.

Our yearly program includes international competitions of screendance, dance-related documentary films and animations, in addition to performances, workshops, masterclasses, exhibitions and installations.

Molins Film Festival was established in 1973 in Molins de Rei (Barcelona). In November 2025 we will hold the 44rd edition.

Known as TerrorMolins, the Festival consists of a competitive Feature Films Official Sections, Short Films Official Section, Retrospectives, Documentaries, Live shows, Workshops, Networking/Pitching, projections for high-schools, projections for children... and one of the oldest horror movies marathon in the world, our 12 Hours Horror Movies Marathon (1973) ...

MHFF - Molins Horror Film Festival is one of the oldest festivals dedicated solely to horror in Spain and in Europe. The Festival is a member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF).

Since 2003 the international Festival SIGNES DE NUIT is active in Paris, Berlin, Saarbrücken and with special screenings world wide. The festival in Paris actually presents around 300 films coming from around 50 countries at different places in Paris. In Berlin the festival will be performed in the legendary cinema Babylon.

The International Festival SIGNES DE NUIT based in Paris is made up of films, which reflects new views, original imagery and critical approach to the crucial points of the modern human existence. It is a place for cinema that expands its own boundaries, that is astonishing, different, potentially free from the pressure of tradition, ready to give itself to the unpredictable experimentation.

The minor costs of digital production makes an independant- from comercial influences and any kind of censorship- production possible. These independant productions create an alternative, an artistic space very subtle and accessible to all, in contrast to what mass media offer.

This opposition and the preservation of the free cultural space is the goal of the International Festival Signes de Nuit, which has realized screenings and interventions in 29 different countries including Algeria, Australia, Chile, Cuba, Lebanon, Lithuania, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Peru, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States beside the screenings in main festival in Paris.

GOSH! A DAMN GOOD FILM FESTIVAL

Independent & International Film Festival in Paris, GOSH! is dedicated to international short films screenings. The festival aims to bring to Paris films loved all around the world or brand new talents!

GOSH! loves all genres of independent cinema: short films, documentaries, animations, any language and any genre accepted. All equal for good cinema.

IMDB certified and screening to our usual audience, each edition GOSH! tries to provide a unique experience to the audience.

- IMDB certified awards
- Media partner "Cinéma des Potes" reporting the event
- International jury, lead by wellknown artists such as Pierre-Emmanuel Barré, Vikash Dhorasoo or Laura Satana
- Text interview for winners, on our website
- original certificate for award winners
- Individual feedback for all the movies in competition
- French subtitles by GOSH! (if English SRT file available)
- A damn cool festival!

PROCESS
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Each film is seen and rated by a committee of three persons, including Gosh Film Festival organizers: Magali Souart and Fabio Soares.

All the movies are seen by the committee, there is no “pass by” accepted.

Members of the committee can’t be involved in any way, in movies taking part of the official selection.

JURY
The jury is composed by professionals from TV & Cinema, the list and CV of GOSH! Jury are available on our website.

The jury takes in Paris and decide about the awards, except the audience award, given by the audience.

GOSH! Film Festival organizers do not take part to the jury and respect their final decisions.

MEDIA
GOSH! Film Festival screening is covered by our media partner "Cinéma des Potes", and several media with special accreditations.

LUSCA Film Fest (former Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) is the Caribbean's Premier Fantastic Film Festival. LUSCA is open to the public. Accredited national and international press, as well as TV and film buyers and distributors also participate.

In addition to showcasing the best genre films that indie movie making has to offer, this exotic fest also features a number of special events.