Blog: Film festivals

Do you have a personal vision? Are you a true independent filmmaker? Do you hate making compromises?

The Toronto Arthouse Film Festival welcomes filmmakers who explore and develop new filmmaking conventions in their quest to realise their visions effectively on a limited budget.

The Toronto Arthouse Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing innovative and exciting work by risk-taking filmmakers from around the world. Aesthetically and thematically varied, these films mark the arrival of exciting new directing talents.

All screenings will take place at the Fox, located in Toronto on September 17 and 18, 2016. The Toronto Arthouse Film Festival screenings runs in conjunction with the Toronto Film Week.

The New York Film Week is an annual event showcasing independent films with an edge.

The NYFW focuses on the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the intuitive, the innovative, the minimalistic and the true artists of our time. Based in New York City the festival aims to screen up to 100 feature and short films.

All screenings will take place at
The Producers Club, 358 W 44th St in New York City.

The New York Film Week is a true arthouse festival in every sense. Aiming to inspire, motivate and award new talent.

Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, John Cassavetes, Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, Sofia Coppola are just a few names of established filmmakers who blew up on the indie scene. True artist who focus on the art of filmmaking rather than on the box office. The Manhattan Independent Film Festival discovers, supports and develops new talent in filmmaking, providing a platform for emerging and established filmmakers from around the world, and an unique focus on Manhattan Stories. Recognizing the important role independent films have in the history of filmmaking, storytelling, and culture, MIFF wants to help empower the next generation of artists. The Manhattan Independent Film Festival is an annual event showcasing independent films with an edge.

All screenings will take place at the Producers Club, located in Midtown Manhattan on October 8 and 9, 2016. The Manhattan Independent Film Festival screenings runs in conjunction with the New York Film Week.

Nottingham's First Film Festival Dedicated to Female Film Directors from around the World

13th of the Sant Andreu de la Barca Film Festival and framework of the Oriana Awards delivery
The gala is held at the Nuria Espert Theater, where in one night the work of a year of filmmakers of short films, documentaries, web series and feature films is brought together.

Student Short Films in Fiction, Animation, Documentary & Screenplay.

Lyon International Film Festival also known as LIFF International Film Festivals for all Short, Documentary, Feature, Music video, Web Series, Animation, Experimental. Basic object of LIFF is Provide to group of vibrant film enthusiasts who are committed in creating spaces for independent cinema and devoted to spreading of the knowledge of the modern visual art form to all interested.

Your film will be viewed by our international community and will be judged by a jury of film professionals. Judges will award the best films in each category. We, at Lyon International Film Festival, aim at bringing out the best films from around the globe. LIFF's library will has some very remarkable award winning films from across the globe.

It is our pleasure to announce that the 6th Ammar Popular Film Festival (APFF) will be held in Tehran, Iran .

In collaboration with the Office of Studies for Islamic Revolution Cultural Front, the festival will focus on screening short, feature & semi- feature films, in various categories including Documentaries, Fictions, Animations, etc. addressing cultural, socio-economical, environmental and political issues that endanger peace, freedom and justice in human society.

DATE AND LOCATION

The 28th edition of the European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux will take place from March 27th to 28th 2024. The projection nights will take place at the UGC Ciné-Cité cinema in Bordeaux.

GOALS

The European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux aims to promote the short film format to the Région Aquitaine's audience. It facilitates the access to cinema for a large public, from all ages. It also supports the discovery of talented directors coming from all over Europe.,It’s a way for the filmmakers to be appreciated by a jury, no matter if they are mere enthusiasts or professionals.

Since its foundation, with Michelangelo Antonioni as its godfather, the Capalbio Film Festival has been a showcase for the next generation of cinematic talent from around the world. During its 22nd edition, Capalbio hosted the first Sundance Institute Screenwriters Workshop as an European exclusive.

From Stoker to Rice; from Nosferatu to classic Hammer onto Twilight, The Strain and beyond - the vampire genre is the world’s most enduring and influential horror genre straddling film, television, literature, theatre, games and new media.

IVFAF brings together vampire media-makers from across the World in one cross-industry event – an intense four-day programme of film screenings, book launches, readings, theatre, seminars, workshops, networking events, a trade fair and parties.

And where else to hold this unique event but in Transylvania - within the walls of the dramatic medieval citadel that was the birthplace to the real Vlad Dracula?

Selected Feature, Short and Smartphone movies will be shown in a network of subterranean pop-up cinemas in the heart of Sighisoara’s medieval citadel. There will be an intense programme of seminars, workshops, director Q&As, a pitching competition and plenty of networking events and parties.

Delegates with an Executive Badge will also get access to the VIP Bar and a private lunch at nearby Fagaras Castle – Vlad Dracula’s base for six years.

Our vision at IVFAF is to be a unique World leading one-stop meeting of the vampire industry, networking filmmakers and performing arts professionals with funders, promoters, distributors and of course each other.

We screen the best documentaries from around the world at the Roxie Cinema, the oldest art house theater west of the Mississippi. Many of our titles end up with calendared runs at the Roxie later in the year. We get great press coverage in San Francisco, the second largest film market in the country, plus industry reviews.

San Francisco is a very receptive town for documentaries and our fest has built a passionate following over the past 24 years.

LAST YEAR'S PRESS COVERAGE: https://sfindie.com/press-coverage

SF DocFest is an annual festival devoted to documentary cinema. Since 2001, this event has brought the most weird and wonderful aspects of real life to the big screen.

"What makes the scrappy San Francisco Documentary Film Festival a treasure to SF Bay Area filmgoers is its willingness to take that extra step to show films a little more out there than bog standard documentaries." - Peter Wong, Broke Ass Stuart

“Docfest offers a zippy blend of politics, music, social issues and youth-oriented subcultures. The good news is that DocFest promotes documentaries as a vibrant, irreverent form of entertainment to a younger demographic, blasting the notion of educational films to smithereens. There’s no room for anything approximating — watch it, I’m about to blaspheme – the obsessively measured and utterly somnambulant musings of Ken Burns.” – Michael Fox, KQED

“Since its inception, DocFest (May 31-June 15 at the Roxie and the Vogue, with opening night at Alamo Drafthouse) has compiled a colorful scrapbook of genuine characters in contrast to the current events survey, educational seminar or social-issue forum that defines many documentary series… There are one or two people in Off the Charts you won’t soon forget, which could be said about nearly every film in DocFest. That’s one of the pleasures of scrapbooks.” – also Michael Fox, KQED

Michael Fox just loves DocFest, here's another:

"Welcome to SF DocFest, the beloved annual compendium of odd, unusual nonfiction films from every nook and corner of our bizarro country and beyond. Waving off the pedigreed, high-profile docs that premiere at Sundance, get theatrical releases (or these days, national virtual releases) and chart a course for the Academy Awards, SF DocFest’s programmers opt for poignant, intimate works that miss the mainstream by dint of their iconoclasm and/or lack of a marketing hook." -KQED

"This week brings the kickoff to the 20th edition of SF Docfest, the rapidly-becoming-venerable nonfiction showcase that nonetheless continues to put the fun in documentary cinema appreciation. While other such showcases tend to be soberly issue-themed, focusing on the environment, activism, or some such, Docfest pursues—though not exclusively—colorful human interest stories, musician profiles, and other subjects on which there will not be a class quiz afterward." - Dennis Harvey, 48Hills

Mario Cervantes ha organizado el XII Festival de cine social ManzanaREC que tendrá lugar en febrero de 2025 en la localidad de Manzanares (Ciudad Real). Los trabajos serán exhibidos en la Sala de la Casa de Cultura de Manzanares.

BSFF believes in short films! Recognizing the important role shorts have in cinema, storytelling, and culture, BSFF wants to help empower the next generation of artists. The Boston Short Film Festival is an annual event showcasing shorts films with an edge. The BSFF focuses on the unconventional, the unusual, the underground, the intuitive, the innovative, the minimalistic and the true artists of our time. Based in Boston/Somerville (MA, US) the festival aims to screen up to 100 short films. All screenings will take place in the MicroCinema theatre at the Somerville Theatre.

FEAST YOUR EYES
The festival discovers, supports and develops new talent in filmmaking, providing a platform for emerging and established filmmakers from around the world, and an unique focus on Boston based filmmakers. Connecting industry and audiences, the festival celebrates the creativity, diversity and impact of short film. There will be unmissable evening screenings where audiences can watch the best new short films from the hottest new talent, and opportunities to network with the industry. So whether you are a filmmaker looking to launch or develop your career, an Industry professional wanting to stay ahead of the game or a film lover wanting to soak up the festival atmosphere by watching great films, come along and feast your eyes.

A fun filled film festival over 6 nights at HighPoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne's West. Joy To The West is the theme for this festival of film celebrating the Christmas season. Projector Bike will be showing festive family favourites sure to warm the most dedicated of grinches out there! As well as films from the West of Melbourne for the people of the West.

With an international call out for film entries we look forward to bringing you truly global insights into the festive season. Our submissions call out is still open so please head here to enter. There is a cash prize for the overall winner.

Each screening will be either family friendly or suitable for adults. Please see below for more information. All of the screenings are completely free.

1. Wednesday November 25th 8 - 10 pm Family friendly

2. Saturday December 12th 6.30 - 8.30 pm Family friendly

3. Sunday December 13th 6.30 - 8.30 pm Family friendly

4. Sunday December 20th 9.00 - 11.00 pm Adults

5. Sunday December 21st 9.00 - 11.00 pm Adults

6. Sunday December 22nd 9.00 - 11.00 pm Adults

OPEN CALL AT https://docsbarcelona.com/

DocsBarcelona is an international festival specializing in the documentary genre comprised of international and national competition sections, non-competitive sections, and retrospectives. The Artistic Direction and Programming Committee select all of the documentaries that make up these sections.

DocsBarcelona will celebrate the 28th edition from May 8 to 18, 2025.

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

The festival is an event aimed at the talent of film professionals, artists and students, to emerge creativity with the noble diffusion of values and deep thought.

It is the festival with more theaters of release in Catalonia, 10 theaters.
It has an exclusive entrance to the city center, the emblematic Plaza de la Independencia.
It is the oldest festival in Catalonia after Sitges,
All the films in the world are registered.
400 films are screened between feature films, shorts, documentaries, etc.
It has more than six thousand spectators.

The European Fantastic Film Festival of Murcia SOMBRA is a project that aims to spread and serve as a reference to fantasy films produced in Europe, as well as support European, national and regional production of gender.