Blog: Film festivals

The Great Lakes International Shorts Festival has officially opened its Call for Entries and is now accepting films of all short lengths and genres including Narrative, Animation, Experimental, and all forms of Horror, Suspense, Sci-Fi, and Thriller films, along with Comedies, Religious/Spiritual, Music Videos, and Documentaries, and GLBT films, for the 2019 season.

The 2019 Great Lakes International Shorts Festival shall accept Music Videos from around the world of cross-continent and cross-genre productions. We shall accept Music Videos of all genres from Pop, Punk, Rock, Alt-Country, Country-Western, Folk, Reggae, Hip-Hop and Electronica, Jazz, Blues, Zydeco, Industrial, Metal, Hardcore, Gothic, Karaoke, Avant-Garde, World Music, and Experimental.

The 2019 GLISF will accept all forms of Religious, Christian, and Spiritual films including African, African-American, GLBT, Black, Hispanic, Islamic, Latino, Native/Aboriginal, and student films from the United States and around the world.

For the past 18 years, our organization has been promoting and presenting the works of Independent Filmmakers worldwide, celebrating these incredible films as an ever-evolving art form in dynamic transition. Showcasing the best independently produced films that the world has to offer to countless audiences, our organization fulfills its mission by bringing the diverse and unique to those who love and appreciate it.

Awarding outstanding filmmakers for exceptional achievements in filmmaking, the Great Lakes International Shorts Festival always supports indie film as an art form and those who create it.

All of us at the Great Lakes International Shorts Festival are here to bring Filmmakers and audiences together, to showcase films to those who love them, and to help others achieve their goals and dreams, and to go beyond that which was thought unimaginable.

The Great Lakes International Shorts Festival is not here to profit from the accomplishments of others, instead, we are here to help filmmakers reach their goals and make a reality of their dreams.

Seeking out the best films from the most talented new and veteran Filmmakers from around the world and across the United States, the 2019 Great Lakes International Shorts Festival will take place virtually October 10th thru October 19th, 2019, with our Physical Festival opening on Friday October 11, 2019.

With State-Of-The-Art technologies that are revolutionizing independent film presentations world-wide, the Great Lakes International Shorts Festival is changing the face of film festivals across the globe…

The audience now, lands in Brooklyn and award the best of urban cinematic culture, and the best of what is currently the world and New York culture.

With the main prize, the choice of the audience.

Still have special awards, chosen by a jury formed by Audience Now, for outstanding films in various categories.

#TheAudienceNow Team.

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.

The Torrelavega International Short Film Festival , organized by the Department of Culture of the City Council, was born in the spring of 2000 with the entry of the new century.

Torrelavega is likely to be one of the few Spanish cities that can boast of being a pioneer in this world as they speak of cinema, international festivals, filmmakers encounter and exchange of knowledge is not new in this city. Before the proliferation of competitions and short film festivals in Spain, Torrelavega lived more than twenty editions Film Festival Sniace precursor in Spain of independent cinema and similar initiatives. This led to the birth of filmmakers who reported the name of Torrelavega in different national and international festivals, obtaining numerous awards. Interestingly, the growth of the city, the cultural dynamism and new habits left her without cinemas and film such cultural needs, values ​​of a new generation and vocation film ever made this festival was born.

Cellar Door Film Festival (CDFF) is Ottawa’s first showcase of speculative cinema, which celebrates the creativity of the Ottawa film scene and spotlights the city as a setting for the sinister and supernatural. CDFF encourages film culture, education, and production in Ottawa by promoting the creation, screening, and distribution of local, national and international films in the Nation’s capital.

Tiburon International Film Festival is an annual event showcasing independent feature and short films from around the world.

"Sundance South of The Border!"
-Spotlight Magazine

"One of the Top 25 Festivals in the world "
-MovieMaker Magazine

"A new star is born in the Film Festival Universe"
-IndieRocks!

Festival founded by Kharkiv Regional Council in 2009.

The Festival mission is to find and support children’s/youth studios and clubs, which are engaged in cinema and television creativity, talented children; development of the children’s/youth cinema and television in Ukraine.

The Festival objectives are:

– the establishment and development of contacts between children’s/youth studios, experience exchange and further professional development of the participants;

– communication to the general public of interesting, outstanding works and projects from different countries, presentation of the best global practices in the development of children’s/youth cinema and television industry;

– the setup of creative and communication platforms to exchange experience and present new projects during the Festival and between the Festival times;

– creative personal development, education of moral values and social activism;

– drawing attention of governmental, non-governmental organizations and commercial entities to the issues of the development of screen children’s/youth creativity, to the processes of personality forming via receiving information broadcast by electronic mass media, to the needs of children’s/youth creative clubs, the development of talented children and their future.

The Festival is held among children’s/youth television, animation, cinema- and radio studios, clubs, groups and individual authors, television and radio broadcasters and creative production entities, directors and producers’ centres, which produce programmes and films for children and youth.

Daazo - the European Shortfilm Centre proudly presents the 4th edition of the Friss Hús International Shortfilm Festival, which will take place at the end of March 2016 in Budapest, Hungary. The success of the last three years made it possible for Friss Hús to become one of the most important shortfilm events in Hungary.
The long term plan of the organisers of Friss Hús is to make sure that the event becomes an internationally acclaimed festival where the audience can watch entertaining and colourful short film selections and where the filmmakers can meet important professionals from the film industry as well as attend special workshops.

We hope to see you in Budapest at the Friss Hús screenings, for an all night long party or at one of the festival’s professional events!

In 2025 the festival will take place in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói, and submissions are open for short and feature films on environmental issues, Human Rights and sustainability.

The festival shows annually the best recent films and videos on environmental issues, to create awareness, provoke debate and to widen knowledge and conscience on the need of urgent changes in the behavior of people, governments and companies, in order to preserve the planet.

All screenings are free of charge and some films might be screened online, with all security granted and geo-blocked to Brazil, if necessary.

Children's International Film Festival, CIFF is one of the biggest children's film fest in middle east. Children are arguably the world's toughest audience to please. And the challenge gets bigger when 600,000+ school-going teens and pre-teens from almost 200 nationalities want to watch your film. It doesn't get bigger than this!
Our aim is to encourage meaningful thought provoking films for children and showcase amazing works of Filmmakers from around the world. The short listed films compete for most coveted Audience choice Award.

The Aguilar de Campoo Short Film Festival is consolidated as one of the most veteran and relevant film citations in our country in its genre. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts of Spain, includes it as one of the key festivals for the selection of short films that will compete in the Goya Awards. Throughout the last editions the festival has been making important decisions that commit it to the cinema of our country. In his thirteenth edition he published his manifesto where he exhibited his philosophy and commitment to film. He made the decision to pay for selection to the selected short films thus eliminating economic competition in order to encourage artistic creation and production. Its screening rooms are open to international cinema including all genres, fiction, documentary animation and experimental cinema. In 2016 the festival received recognition from the AIC (Short Film Industry Association). This certificate is an annual distinction to differentiate and reward festivals that perform an exemplary role in the dissemination, protection and professionalization of cinema and its industry, and especially of the short film. This is the first time this certification has been granted and is the result of more than a year of work tables and conversations with festivals, filmmakers and other professionals from across the country in order to develop a guide to good behaviors towards the short film and its creators. The basic objectives of this distinction are to educate new generations of filmmakers and protect model festivals, recognizing their dedication and rigor. We seek the encounter and exchange between professionals and the public as a form of cultural enrichment.

Batumi International Art-House Film Festival (BIAFF) was established in 2006. The founder and organizer is “Batumi Art-house ARGANI". BIAFF is an annual event held in second half of September in Batumi (Georgia).

Festival is focusing on art-house cinema. BIAFF festival’s major sections include - International Competition (Feature, Doc and Short sections), Retrospectives, Meet the Jury, Master Collection etc. Beside film screenings, festival program includes various workshops, master classes and industry events.

Governmental Organisations, and the world’s first festival of films on international development by young directors.

Festival Aims
Encourage filmmakers/creatives to work together to raise awareness of the Three Pillars of Freedom through screening of films created around these themes.

Three Pillars of Freedom and the Environment
* Freedom from want: Through the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
* Freedom from fear: Through efforts to bring about collective security and peace.
* Freedom to live in dignity: Through the application of justice for all, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Development: poverty, shelter, healthcare, education, gender, governance, finance

Human Security: conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping, shelter, migration

Human Rights: gender, education, dignity, participation

Environment: ecological issues, preparation for and consequences of natural disaster, sustainability, new technologies

Short films: any of the above

Young Film Makers: under 25 years

1. Brain Film Fest

The Brain Film Fest (BFF) is an international film festival dedicated to highlighting and promoting the creation and dissemination of feature films and short films about any aspect of the brain, from its amazing abilities and conditions to its pathologies. The BFF is jointly organized by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and Minimal Films. In addition to being a film competition, the BFF will also organize throughout the festival other in-person and online social, cultural and/or scientific events that focus on the brain.

The 9th edition of the Brain Film Fest will be held from March 11 to 15, 2026.

Prishtina International Film Festival (PriFest) happens in the capital of newest country in Europe, Kosovo, in Balkans every year in July.

Before you read more see for yourself video of highlights of last year's edition by copying the YouTube link below in your browser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb9bbxOfqOA

PriFest is the biggest and most important film industry event in Kosovo. It emerged as a need to bring back and build the cinema culture which was lost during many years of repression and war. PriFest is an opportunity to young filmmakers from Kosovo, who because of the visa regime have big limitation to travel freely in Europe and elsewhere, to meet filmmakers and experts from the region and Europe that visit the festival and increase their chances to network and coproduce their films.

PriFest film program offer the audience every year newest films from Europe, Balkan and the world, with addition special programs that promote human rights, tolerance and acceptance for marginalized groups of society. It is the only festival in the Balkan that has a special program of films with the LGBTQ theme which is done in partnership with Outfest in Los Angeles and Queer and Migration Film Festival in Amsterdam. Besides films, the festival has a very good regional film industry development platform (PriFORUM) that offers training, lectures, inspirational masterclasses from distinguished guests and other opportunities for filmmakers from Kosovo and the neighbouring countries to benefit from. It is a great networking event for filmmakers from Kosovo, the region and Europe.

Prishtina Rendezvous brings distributors and sales companies that meet and explore film projects from the Balkan region, while Prishtina Kino Kabaret is dedicated to filmmakers from all over the world to come and spontaneously make short films in Prishtina during the festival.

Producers, directors, film industry experts, casting directors and agents, filmmakers and actors have an opportunity to meet in a totally unconventional, friendly environment and network during the festival and forum days.
Relaxed atmosphere and easy access to guests makes it a unique place to be for people that want to expand their network and show their films to some important key players in the film industry from Europe and region.

To date PriFest was visited by Mr. Paul Haggis (Canadian screenwriter and director), Ms. Vanessa Redgrave (British Actress) who is also the President of our Honorary Board, Stephen Frears (British Director), Joshua Marston (American Director), Franco Nero (Italian Actor), Eva Orner (Australian producer), Gideon Burkhard (German actor), Samuel Maoz (Izraeli director), Danis Tanovic (Bosnian director), Velibor Topic (Bosnian actor), Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnian director), Mirjana Karanovic (Serbian actress) and other important guests.

We like to think that PriFest is a true cultural diplomacy tool for a new country like Kosovo to present itself to the world in the best possible light.

Last but not least, we have very cool parties of electronic music with international and local DJs, great music, great bars to hang out, and most importantly great food and lots of booze with very affordable prices. Kosovo and Prishtina is fun to visit because 65% of our population is under 25 years old!

We can guarantee that hot summer nights should be spent here, and seaside (Albania) is just 3 hours drive from here :)

The slogan of the festival is Friendship. Forever.

Now celebrating its fifth year, the annual Berlin Short Film Festival aims to be one of Europe's leading film festivals for international film-makers. It is a unique platform for new talent and a celebration of cinematic creativity and innovation.

The Festival attracts a broad selection of shorts by film-makers working in every genre and format, and offers Berliners and visitors an extraordinary chance to glimpse the future of cinema. The festival prides itself upon providing opportunities for talented directors, producers, writers, actors and crew members from all over the world to learn together and exhibit their work in a stimulating international environment.

The 2018 Berlin Short Film Festival will show over 90 short films. Four days of premières and networking events provide ample opportunities for selected film-makers to showcase their achievements, learn from their fellows and build contacts for future collaborations. The Festival also benefits from the vibrant Berlin film-making community and the cinema's proximity to the media hub of the metropolis.

The festival is open to any film in any genre under 50 minutes in length, and especially prioritises low-budget films of independent spirit and exciting new talent.