Blog: Film festivals

The 2nd CINE RO – Rondônia Film Festival, scheduled to be held from March 1st to 9th, 2024, is a cinematic event that celebrates the diversity and richness of national and international cinema. This unique festival offers a platform for filmmakers from all over Brazil and the world to showcase their work, with a special focus on productions that reflect the various facets of society.

Featuring a hybrid format, the festival will take place both in-person and virtually, providing wide access to a diverse audience through its official website and social media channels. This innovative format allows the festival to reach audiences beyond the geographical borders of Rondônia, promoting a more inclusive and accessible cinematic experience.

CINE RO accepts a wide range of works, including fiction shorts, documentaries, animations, experimental films, student films, music videos, and national feature-length films. With diverse categories, the festival highlights the creativity and talent present in different genres and formats, from short-duration works to more extensive narratives.

The festival is also characterized by its thematic showcases, such as the Women's Showcase, Blackness Showcase, Indigenous Showcase, Diversity Showcase, among others, reflecting its commitment to addressing and giving visibility to relevant social themes and promoting cultural diversity.

The festival's registration process occurs online, through the official website and partner platforms, ensuring a transparent and accessible selection process. The selected films will not only be screened during the festival but will also have the chance to compete in various categories, with awards designed to recognize and honor the highlights in each segment.

The 2nd CINE RO – Rondônia Film Festival is more than an event; it is a celebration of cinema as a medium of artistic, cultural, and social expression. With its wide range of films, thematic showcases, and inclusive approach, the festival establishes itself as an important landmark in the cultural calendar of Rondônia and Brazil.

Open Call – International Experimental Film Festival 2025

The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival (IEFF) – 2025
organized by the Institute for Experimental Arts

“The future of film is female and experimental. We need to destroy and reconstruct cinema itself.” – Maya Deren

About the Festival The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival is an international encounter dedicated to experimental film art, announcing its call for submissions. The festival will take place in Greece, creating a dynamic space for screenings, installations, performances, conferences, film concerts, and workshops. The festival seeks to expand the possibilities of film beyond traditional formats and spaces, creating a zone of creative contagions between cinema and the visual arts, historical works and current production, analog and digital, filmmaking and critical thinking.

“I make films to prevent myself from disappearing. Each frame is an act of resistance against the prescribed narratives.” – Chantal Akerman

Our Vision of Experimental Cinema Experimental cinema is a free, radical, and purposeful cinema that responds to the aesthetic, political, or philosophical need to see and explore cinematic horizons, away from large industries and hegemonic formulas of creation. It is through experimental cinema that we find authentic ways to create audiovisual art.

“Experimental film is not just about breaking rules – it’s about proving those rules never really existed.” – Barbara Hammer

We celebrate a cinema that breaks the narrative, and most of all visual, bounds to which we’re used. A cinema that elaborates on film medium to its fullest, by including even the most extreme possibilities. A cinema that confronts, disrupts, and reimagines. As John Cage said it well: “an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen” – the cinema we’re looking for is a cinema of the unpredictable.

“The experimental is political. Every frame can be an act of rebellion.” – Agnès Varda

FESTIVAL MISSION

The 3rd IEFF continues to be the pioneering space in the exhibition of experimental content in cinema, which seeks to show excellence and innovation in the independent production of the film world. We celebrate aesthetic diversity, new narratives, and new media and formats; a program that reveals the complexity of social, cultural, and artistic phenomena. We understand experimental cinema as a divergent cinema that vanishes the boundaries with art, emphasizing the experimental modes of creation.

“In experimental cinema, we find the freedom to imagine different futures and to remember different pasts.” – Trinh T. Minh-ha

Special Focus for 2025

- Feminist Experimental Practices
- Gender and Technology
- Body Politics in Digital Age
- Queer Experimental Narratives
- Decolonial Experimental Cinema
- Eco-feminist Approaches to Film
- Cross-disciplinary Collaborations
- Digital/Analog Hybrid Works
- Experimental AR/VR Projects

ABOUT

The Institute The Institute for Experimental Arts was founded in 2008 in Athens, Greece as a non-profit platform of creative expression and research in the fields of theater, performance art, digital media, installation, poetry and art theory. The Institute is committed to existing as an open meeting point for poets-writers, directors, actors, theater engineers/technicians, performance artists, photographers, video artists and the writers who develop new analytical tools on contemporary art, media & communication.

CRITICAL DISCOURSE

The festival will always see the development of the cinematic language with critical thinking, regardless of the terms ‘cinema industry’ or independent cinema. For this reason, the 3rd IEFF will bring a critical discourse through curatorial programs, symposium, and public lectures to broaden the knowledge of the ever-changing cutting-edge cinema aesthetics.

“Cinema is not neutral. Experiment is our way to fight back.” – Sally Potter

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES

We accept all works that fit into the experimental film category and all its sub-genres including:

- Found footage
- Essay film
- Expanded cinema
- Experimental animation
- Abstract film
- Experimental documentary
- Video art
- Virtual reality
- Direct animation
- Any other experimental approaches

There are no genre, topic or length restrictions.

The 3rd IEFF features Avant-Garde and Experimental films of any length.

IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS

+ All films with dialogue must have ENGLISH or GREEK subtitles
+ Submissions without subtitles will be considered incomplete
+ Films that have screened before are eligible

AWARDS

We believe in culture as a pluralistic and intangible value. The awards assigned by our diverse jury are purely symbolic. Selected films will be judged by an exceptional jury and seen by a vast audience of film lovers.

Golden Arrow Awards Categories

- Best Film
- Best Short Film
- Best Director
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Music
- Best Performance
- Best Picture

Submission Deadlines and Fees Deadline:
August 15, 2025
Submission fee: 25 euro per video or media project
Program Announcement: October 2025

Contact Information For any questions: theinstitutecontact@gmail.com

RIGHTS

The International Experimental Film Festival reserves the right to use small portions and stills of accepted films for promotion of events.

We actively encourage submissions from women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming filmmakers, as well as creators from underrepresented communities. Our commitment to diversity extends to our jury selection and programming decisions.

“The revolution will be filmed experimentally.” – Su Friedrich

The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival is a project of the Institute for Experimental Arts, celebrating the radical potential of cinema to transform our understanding of art, society, and ourselves.

We are pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 3rd edition of the Kreyol International Film Festival (KIFF), which will take place from September 26 to 30, 2025, in Paris.

This unique, general-interest festival is committed to combining singularity and universality, showcasing the richness and diversity of visions and talents of artists.

It celebrates and highlights the cultures, histories, philosophies, environments, and languages of the Creole Worlds.

It provides an opportunity for cinematic works that rarely have the chance to be screened in theaters in mainland France.

Who Can Participate

KIFF is open to all filmmakers, regardless of origin or nationality, whether they are Creole speakers or not.

Your film is welcome if it explores, either directly or metaphorically, themes related to the Creole Worlds and reflects the authenticity and depth of these cultures.

Whether you are an established or emerging director, we invite you to share your vision and voice through your art.

Locations and perspectives

We warmly welcome films shot in any region of the world, but particular attention will be given to works produced and filmed in Creole-speaking regions. Whether your films are rooted in traditional narratives or explore contemporary or dystopian perspectives, your contribution is vital to enrich the dialogue and understanding of Creole cultures.

Diversity of characters

We also encourage the participation of films where the main and secondary characters are of Creole origin, thus highlighting the diversity of the communities.

A stage for Creole voices and beyond

The Kreyol International Film Festival celebrates the global reach of Creole cultures and its 127 Creole languages of various lexical bases (French, English, Portuguese, Dutch, etc.). Particular attention will be given to films in original Creole language – with subtitles – but this is not an exclusive condition. All languages are welcome.

Why participate?

The Kreyol International Film Festival is an exceptional platform to showcase your work, network with film professionals from around the world, and be part of an event that celebrates cultural diversity and richness. It's a unique opportunity to make your creation shine and contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of Creole cultures.

We are looking for works that challenge, educate, and inspire, while celebrating the universality of Creole expression. We eagerly anticipate discovering your works and sharing them with a passionate and diverse audience at this second edition of KIFF.

After reviewing the conditions outlined in the KIFF regulations, submit your films and become an integral part of this unique cinematic adventure. Leave your mark on the history of the Kreyol International Film Festival!

Then use #KIFF2025 to talk about KIFF on social media.

The u22 Festival is the young film festival of Barcelona, the meeting and networking point for young filmmakers from all over the world. From 25th to 29th September 2024 at the Joan Miró Foundation of Barcelona, and online in Filmin.

Daroca&Prisión Film Fest
Festival Internacional Cine de Daroca

Third call of the first European festival of films generated using artificial intelligence (AI).+RAIN Film Festival is interested in the use of creative methodologies with AI in the service of storytelling. Beyond the visual dimension, this technology poses challenges in the ways of telling stories and also stresses concepts such as creativity and imagination. +RAIN Film Festival seeks to be the gateway to films that experiment with narrative language and these new technological approaches.

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.

We are extremely honored to welcome you to the fifth edition of Shades Festival. The impetus for the festival came from a need to find out and showcase the best of shorts each year.

The last edition concluded on the third week of March 2023 screening 20 short films which got selected from the films sent around the globe.

As in the previous editions we are providing a great platform to showcase your creative works with a great panel of jurors. In this edition we have introduced new category, Documentary

We will continue to raise the bar in standards and we hope you will have an exciting festival this year.

Write to secretary@shadesfestival.org for your concerns.

Asha Achy Joseph
Festival Director

The Render Festival is a space that was created in the classroom, with the aim of strengthening and promoting spaces for training, creation, and film exhibition that allow students from different regions of Peru to develop their skills in the audiovisual profession.

For the seventh edition, the festival addresses a historical moment in which every day new possibilities and threats emerge, Does the future cause us fear or excitement? We want to explore what cinema has to say about the lurking crises: ecological, economic and political. And about the new possible paths. How does technological innovation transform the way we create, watch and consume moving images?

In a society where technological changes and revolution is already part of the global daily life, we propose a critical look at it, through young filmmakers. How the process of creation changes as a result of a galloping technology is the perspective that will redirect us. This call is aimed at filmmakers who are currently studying at universities or other schools or institutions of higher education in any country.

Consequently, as part of the activities of the festival, which will be carried out through the present, we open the call for our international short film competition, which consists of 3 categories that we will explain in the following section.

DEA OPEN AIR International Film Festival is a product of MultiMedia Studio "Nositi".

The Festival will take place in the Capital city of Tirana.

Festival only for Spanish speakers: Spanish and Latin American productions.

La GRAN pantalla is an intergenerational cinematographic meeting space that seeks to dismantle stereotypes about older people through cinema. We look for stories that allow us to generate new readings and discourses about older people, beyond the conventional representations that are usually associated with this stage of life.

We are interested in films that address the issue of the elderly from diverse perspectives: migration, sexuality, feminism, LGBTIQ+ community, among others.

On the border of Europe and Asia, in the 300-year-old city called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains —
we organize an International Short Film Festival with a quarterly Official Selection and Live Screenings every summer, autumn, winter and spring.

NOW OPEN: Submissions for the Ural Shorts Autumn 2024

Our mission is to seek out and unearth fresh talent in the art of filmmaking from across the globe. We aim to showcase and endorse top-tier independent short films, regardless of their origin, production year or budget. Our ultimate goal is to encourage and inspire auteurs everywhere.

Ural Shorts consists of four Seasons and Annual Award Event. Every Season the selection committee watches privately the submitted short films and chooses the Official Selections. All selected films enter the competition for the Season Awards.

Within 10 days after the Official Selection list is published the jury announces the Season Winners. The winning films enter the Screening Program in cinemas and on television for all to see.

All Season winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards in 18 nominations corresponding to the Main and Technical and Performances categories. And receive an invitation to the Annual Award Event.

The Ural Shorts Annual Event takes place in August in the 300-year-old city of Nizhny Tagil, on the border of Europe and Asia, which is called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains. Annual Award Event consists of a cultural and educational program, the annual awards ceremony, screenings, TV interviews, workshops, and other activities.

CLAC is a short film festival created in 2005 by Jacky Goldberg, now a critic for Inrock'uptibles. It is organized every year by the Arts Office of the Lyon School of Management.

This festival aims to encourage young directors to showcase their talents and to project their films on the big screen in front of hundreds of spectators.

The festival takes place over two evenings. The first consists of a screening of 6 out-of-our-themematic films and a time for discussion with the teams who made them. The second evening is the screening of short films in the selected theme followed by the awards ceremony.

As a conclusion for this event, a cocktail is organized at the end of the second evening where everyone is invited to join us in a moment of conviviality and sharing.

Epic ACG fest is a unique event showcase animation, comics and games. Though screening, exhibition and competition, bring together the creative elements, the artists and the general public from worldwide.

During the festival, EACG is also hosting the Live Demonstrations, Networking Receptions, Master Workshops, Panel Discussions, Business Symposiums, Recruiting and the Professional Exhibits offered throughout the event as well as the One-On-One Personal Consultations with creative professionals from top studios and educational institutions both local and international. The Award ceremony is a red carpet event that provides recognition and great memories.

Epic ACG fest will screening animations from worldwide

The largest independent film festival in the state of Kansas. A hallmark of the region’s cinematic landscape and an internationally recognized, multi-day platform for world-class cinematic programming, the festival is a program of the Tallgrass Film Association, a 501(c)3 arts organization that fosters an appreciation of the cinematic arts by creating shared experiences around the international medium of film.

A cool Midwestern city that truly represents the spirit and hospitality of America's Heartland, Wichita is also home to a large art and music community, a growing filmmaking community, and generous patrons of the arts making Tallgrass audiences a hallmark of the festival. Sophisticated movie-goers of all ages and backgrounds - hungry for quality independent film - audiences are receptive, opinionated, and genuine. Screening a film at Tallgrass is a catalyst for generating awareness and buzz in the epicenter of the country that radiates throughout the region. Also accessible at Tallgrass, are the visiting filmmakers. Due to the city’s authentic nature, it’s common to find an Oscar-winning filmmaker deep in conversation with a high school documentarian or an avid movie-goer.

O FICASC objetiva promover através do cinema socioambiental uma reflexão na sociedade contemporânea sobre temas ambientais considerados de extrema urgência e relevância. O festival não se limita meramente a exibir filmes, mas através deles promover uma ampla discussão nos mais variados setores da sociedade, levando conhecimento e entretenimento à crianças, jovens e adultos.

5th Prize for short fiction films in Catalan language. Catalan version only. Films without dialogue will not be accepted.

ONLY FOR SPANISH FILMMAKERS // SOLO PARA CINEASTAS ESPAÑOLES (EXCEPT THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY SECTION, WHICH IS INTERNATIONAL)

IndiFest is festival organized by alterNativa in collaboration with CLACPI (Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Cine y Comunicación de los Pueblos Indígenas), with the aim of giving its own voice to the indigenous peoples and to demand the fulfillment of their Rights.

The Festival’s main objective is to promote the Identity and the Rights of the indigenous peoples through audiovisual tools. The festival includes screenings at physical venues as well as an online week event.

IndiFest is complemented with other activities such as political incidence and conversations with indigenous leaders.

A commitment that enhances the decentralization of cultural habits as well as the communication of indigenous peoples concerning their Rights and intercultural relations.