Blog: Film festivals

We're looking for the best documentaries, reality shows, TV concepts, docu-series, online shows and web series! Filmed, in production, pre-production and development.
✔️ Winners connected to agents, casting directors and top producers.
✔️ Hone your craft with table reads while connecting with gatekeepers
✔️ Networking - Exclusive invitation to our live events
✔️ Invitation to exclusive classes on Insider Tips for Creators
✔️ Discounts to other festivals and contests
✔️ Connections - Career development, fellow creatives, consultations, casting directors, and more.
✔️ Staff and industry screeners have decades of experiences, along with a measurable track record

Winning projects will be brought to top markets, events and fests including Gotham Week in New York. And shared directly with our top-level agents and production contacts! Contacts who will look at your projects include producers at Brian Graden Media, Kartemquin Films, writer/producer who has created projects for HBO and Netflix,

Top 35% of projects get laurels.

As streaming platforms rush to find content to provide viewers in the streaming/mobile age, they're up against a wall as productions of all kinds have been shut down. They NEED content now!

Our director has optioned two reality shows and sold a documentary film to Amazon. His network of contacts has reached out for help in these unique times. These companies have done shows for all the major channels, from Amazon to Vice, HBO to Netflix.

All projects will be considered for an immediate pitch to execs and agents based on their current need and directives. The Showcase (and Kado) acting as Co-Producer (or agreed upon title) for selected projects. By submitting you agree to the Showcase (and Kado) pitching your project for potential sale, co-production or other agreed upon development. Standard industry sales commissions tentatively agreed upon by submitting. No commissions if a sale is not made.

Submissions open now.
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The Showcase fills the need for bringing quality independent film and TV to industry executives and agents Ran by filmmakers and TV producers with a recognized and notable track record, LIFA is going to work hard to get your project sold, picked up or optioned. After having worked in both Chicago and Los Angeles for 12 years we understand the realities of film and TV and the bulk of the opportunities in LA and New York. We see the need to champion creators and producers within the actuality of the current industry.


“This is another great opportunity for creators to connect with audiences.” - Jack Newell, filmmaker and director of The Second City Harold Ramis Film School.

“There is a strong, immediate need for a quality independent docu-series and reality TV projects in the industry. We want to connect you to the right people.” - Independent filmmaker Brent Kado, the festival’s founder.

“Independent film and television is rapidly changing and we want to help foster that change for all.” Kado also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College.

American Film Market, Los Angeles, Scripts, Screenplay, TV Pilots, Series

AMARU FILM FESTIVAL promotes an International Meeting of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences.

It is a project developed by the AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ART OF PUNO PERU to promote the exchange of ideas, experiences and points of view between students, filmmakers and researchers in the cinematographic field, with the intention of linking the academic and practical perspective of the seventh art from its diversity. The meeting integrates spaces directed for artists of the seventh art.


The AMARU Film Festival exhibits feature films, short films, animations, documentaries and all kinds of audiovisual artistic work. In addition to the films in competition each year, the festival presents tributes and retrospectives around art themes related to the Andean cosmovision.

PUNO - PERU

The International Festival of University Short Films ''CINESTESIA FEST' is an international cultural space that was born in 2017 at the Los Libertadores University Foundation, located in Bogotá, Cartagena, Colombia.

The main objective is to offer spaces to new audiovisual filmmakers and students affiliated to a University from any country in the world, to be able to exhibit their projects, generate ties of recognition and reflection, the training of audiences. It stands out, among other things, having international guests of high prestige such as the nominees for the Goya awards (Mario Campoy, Nacho Rui Pérez, David Desola, Jose Luis Pechorroman, Jonas Trueba) the Colombians (Harold trumpeter, Miguel Urrutia, Aida Morales, Santiago Henao, Jaime Manrique, Jose Alejandro González, Andrés Valencia, Laura Gutiérrez and Jimena Prieto) among others

The Festival annually takes place in the month of October in Bogotá and Cartagena, Colombia, granting the statuette called Kinesthesia recognition to international university talent.

The Ocejón Travel Film Festival was born in 2009 in two small villages in the Sierra Norte region of Guadalajara (Spain), promoted by a small group of neighbours concerned about attracting cinema to the rural environment, particularly the uncommercial and committed cinema that tends to have little distribution in normal theaters, but almost nothing in the villages or small towns. But also the organizers wanted the active participation of the neighbourhood, in addition to attracting the attention of people from other towns, regions and cities to know the place where we lived and share experiences.

For that reason from the beginning we tried to make it with the lowest possible budget to compensate the short economic resources with the courage and will of us and our neighbors, the human capital.

Nine years later, in 2018, the festival moved to another small town, Jesús Pobre, in the Marina Alta region (Alicante), however it retains the same spirit and original interests: we want to bring travel movies (any type) to the village.

Currently the organizers are integrated into the non profit association "La Jalea Cultural del Montgó". In 2018, coinciding with its tenth edition, it was celebrated for the first time in the skirt of the Montgó mountain.

Shorty Week International Short Film Festival aims to:

- To promote the short film as a means of expression, and therefore part of our culture.

- Provide opportunity for the dissemination of the work of new talent.

- Zoom to the public world of the film through different activities.

- Facilitate, through this format, the contribution to improving the world we live in.

- Enjoy what we do.

The X International Shorty Week 2023 Short Film Festival will take place early September in Santa Catalina´s Castle, Cadiz. There, the public will be able to attend the screening of the short films of different competitive sections and the awards ceremony.

The Arctic International Film Festival "Golden Raven" is being held annually on the territory of the Chukotka Autonomous Region and is the professional competitive screening of cinematic works from around the world. The dates of the festival are agreed annually.

The 9th Arctic International Film Festival "Golden Raven" will take place from April 07 to April 20,2025.

The festival sets its goals and objectives as following:

• search and promotion of the best modern films related to the Arctic and reflecting various aspects of life in this region;

• attracting the attention of the public and professional community to the topics relevant to the Arctic including ecology, interethnic relations, the continuity of generations, the preservation of traditions and culture, etc.;

• creation of a communication channel and strengthening of cooperation between Russia and the world community through the territories and cultural space of the Far North of the Russian Federation;

• popularization of event and ecological tourism on the territory of the Chukotka Autonomous Region;

• creation and development of a comfortable environment for residents of the Chukotka Autonomous Region;

• development of the film production infrastructure, as well as promotion of the Chukotka Autonomous Region as an attractive and comfortable location for filmmaking;

• search and support of young talented filmmakers creating films in the Arctic region;

• preservation and popularization of the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.

The Festival is being held by the Youth Initiative Production Center, by the Committee for Culture, Sport and Tourism of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, by the Center of Development and Support of Cultural Projects "Golden Raven" and is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Government of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, the Russian Filmmakers’ Union, AU CHAO Okrkinovideoprokat.

The Festival is composed of the following competition sections:

• international competitive selection of full-length feature and documentary films;

• international competitive selection of short feature films;

• international competitive selection of short documentary films;

• international competitive selection of short animation films;

• regional competitive selection "FilmRising!".

Out-of-competition program of the Festival includes:

• full-length and short films;

• animated films;

• other media content at the discretion of the Organizing Committee of the Festival.


The Festival "Golden Raven" is distinguished by the fact that the winners in the main category (The Grand Prix) are chosen not by a jury of experts, but by the viewers, who take part in preferential voting.

The Festival's expert jury includes professional filmmakers from Russia and abroad, and it chooses the winners in the other categories.

Submissions to the Festival will be accepted to December 20, 2024.

Russian submissions are entered online at the Festival’s official web site http://goldenravenfilmfest.ru/ and it is obligatory to send all the materials to section https://goldenravenfilmfest.ru/zayavka.
Foreign submissions are entered for Selection committee via one of online-platforms including Festhome (https://festhome.com/festival/the-golden-raven-international-arctic-film-festival).

The submission to the competitive sections is free.

The Selection Committee of the Festival will make its final decisions no later than on March 15, 2025.

The Festival’s Artistic Director is Philipp Abryutin.

The Lead Festival’s Producer is Oksana Lakhno.

The Program Director is Alexander Solomonov.

Contact information of the Organizing Committee:
Web: www.goldenravenfilmfest.ru
E-mail: goldenravenfilmfest@yandex.ru
ANO Center for Development and Support of Cultural Projects "Golden Raven"
123056 Russian Federation, Moscow,
Vassilievskaya str., 13, building 1, office 9
Tel.: +7(499)250-89-55

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.

In the 2024 edition of the Quibdó Africa Film Festival, we delve into a unique and vibrant space where Africa and its Diaspora converge. This festival is more than just a series of film screenings – it's a comprehensive cultural experience featuring workshops, conferences, and artistic exhibitions. It's an odyssey that traverses the realms of the unknown, journeying through time – from past to present and into the future. This event is not just about showcasing films; it's about exploring a space that embodies both memory and representation, a space that prompts us to reflect on our history and the myriad ways we have evolved.
The 2024 festival is set to be a grand assembly of avant-garde Afro filmmakers, representing a dynamic artistic and cultural movement that boldly reimagines new identities through the fusion of art and historical fantasy. These creators engage in a vibrant dialogue within this artistic whirlwind, challenging and redefining conventional narratives.
At the heart of our vision for 2024 is the concept of "afrodisruptive" cinema. This genre is meant to startle and challenge, to be potent, impactful, and unsettling. It aims to disrupt the tranquility of the status quo, upending and reinvigorating it. This revolutionary artistic concept spans 360 degrees, offering a critical reexamination and reinterpretation of African traditions and narratives.
In essence, the Quibdó Africa Film Festival 2024 is not just an event; it's a cultural revolution, a reawakening of perspectives, and a celebration of the relentless spirit of Afro cinema and artistry.

CALL FOR ENTRIES FICMA 2024

The International Film Festival with Alternative Media (FICMA) encourages and disseminates the creation of films and audiovisual projects with new digital narratives and disruptive technologies made with various devices such as smartphones, DSLR cameras, GoPro cameras, Black magic pocket, drones, among others. Using technologies such as virtual reality, digital animation, artificial intelligence, among others. Having exhibition media such as projection, transmedia narratives, VR viewers, website and Streaming platforms.

The theme of this edition will be the convergence of media and pop culture, where we will reflect on how in today's world with a saturation of information the various media, increasingly merge creating new formats of consumption, analyzing how it has influenced the Mexican and universal popular culture and what interactions they have with the cinema today.
FICMA will be held from November 8 to 17, 2024 in Mexico City.

The registration and participation of a film or project implies full acceptance of FICMA's rules, conditions and regulations.

Film Festival Ponferrada renews its objectives to specialize in the dissemination and promotion of short films anywhere in the world without taking into account its production, distribution, exhibition, category, gender or theme format.

We also want to value the short film as an audiovisual, current or historical document, which reflects the cultural, social and linguistic diversity of any region of the world as part of the memory of the most unknown universal audiovisual heritage and heritage.

The main objective of the Short Film Festival is the dissemination of ecosystems and biological heritage through cinematographic and audiovisual works selected through quality criteria.

Se abre la convocatoria para la 5º Festival Internacional de Cine Colombiano en Buenos Aires - FICCBA 2023. La inscripción es gratuita y está abierta a:

a) Películas de cualquier metraje realizadas por autores/as colombianos/as (guionistas, directores o productores).

b) Películas de cualquier metraje realizadas por cineastas de cualquier nacionalidad que sean una coproducción entre Colombia y otro país.

c) Películas de cualquier metraje realizadas por cineastas de cualquier nacionalidad cuya temática esté relacionada con Colombia.

d) Películas de cualquier metraje realizadas por autores/as argentinos/as (guionistas, directores o productores).

¡No pierdas la oportunidad de pasar tu película en el 4º Festival Internacional de Cine Colombiano en Buenos Aires - FICCBA 2023!

The Encuentro Hispanoamericano de Cine y Video Documental Independiente: Contra el Silencio Todas las Voces is a space to travel through various realities and aesthetics of Mexico and Latin America.

Contra el Silencio it has its first edition in the year 2000, when practically the only film festivals that existed in Mexico were Guadalajara (1986) and Guanajuato (1998), and in general, at Latin America the situation was not very different, there were very few spaces that disseminated and gave recognition to the social documentary.

From this same spirit and commitment to promote and support the documentary creation is that we come pleasantly to the twelfth edition to be held from November 4 to 12, 2022. In which we will have projections of the competitive sections, special functions, as well as academic activities and of training that promote criticism and reflection.

The 8th edition of the International Independent Film Festival of Ibiza has developed several seus in the 5 municipalities of the Island, for first time with institutional support from the 5 City Councils, and the online version on the Filmin platform. The institutional support in Ibiza is total by adding the Departments of Culture and Tourism of the Consell Insular of Ibiza more various private sponsors in the Island.

Ibizacinefest has renewed its commitment to Ibiza and culture with a program of 132 national and international titles, exclusive premieres in Spain and with 90% of premieres in the Balearic Islands, targeted activities to professionals, shortfilms contests to discover and boost the local and Balearic talent, educational program with special screenings per students and children to create new audiences.
The reflection has also covered his space through 19 conferences after screenings with his creators and creators on his creative process and the relationship between films and problems sociocultural realities. We have arrived at 75 guests, 18 internationals.

Short films are once again the protagonists of IBZCF24 with a qualifier for the Goya Awards 2024 by curtmetratges and colaboration with the European Film Academy with the Short Films on Tour.

Activities like our first golf session or the special one dedicated to Quinqui Cinema with the collaboration of the UNED of the Balearic Islands University.

They have been completely successful.The commitment to the industry is materialized with the Masterclass fees of first national level by Ion de Sosa and Laura Ferrés that even more. We have noticeably increased our in-person audience, by 38 sessions, with online tot l´estat thanks to our 14 program llargmetratges, 3 d'ells of Balearic production, to Filmin, with the presence in communication media, with international articles and a notable increase in impacts respect to the 2023 edition. We will continue to believe in committed author films, bothnecessary views, which is poden moure in fons i form at the margins of the norms of commercial cinema, with total freedom creative.

Xavi Herrero
Director and programmer IBZCF2-European Film Academy Member

Horror Minutes 2023

Minutes of Terror 2023

Bases of participation 2023

The call is open from April 2 to June 30, 2023.
All those interested in the genre of Suspense, Horror and Sci-Fi may participate without restriction of age or professional career.

In this fourteenth edition we are
Short films produced or co-produced in Mexico will compete for the "Juan Mora Catlett" award in honor of the director.

Each team or participant may present an unlimited number of works.

PRIMER FESTIVAL NACIONAL DE CORTOMETRAJES de InOut Distribution
“BUENAS NOCHES, GENTE DESPIERTA”

Contexto:

Dormir es una actividad absolutamente necesaria. Mientras dormimos se llevan a cabo funciones fisiológicas imprescindibles para la restauración del equilibrio psíquico y físico de los individuos. Por el contrario, la ausencia de un sueño normalizado puede alterar el humor, crear dificultad para la concentración y falta de atención, somnolencia, cansancio físico y mental, estado general de nerviosismo, tensión, tristeza e irritabilidad, impactando de manera distinta a cada persona.

Expuesto lo anterior, aflora el tema del presente concurso de cortometrajes. A través de las distintas situaciones que se pueden dar en la vida real, queremos promover y concienciar sobre la importancia para nuestras vidas de tener y disfrutar de un sueño reparador y de calidad.

El concurso "BUENAS NOCHES, GENTE DESPIERTA" surge para proponer la creación de cortos relacionados con el buen sueño​ y ​el buen descanso.​ Relacionado con esta idea, los cortometrajes deberían, a modo de ejemplo, tratar sobre​:

• Disfrutar de un descanso reponedor
• Recrear imágenes y fantasías mientras dormimos de una manera saludable
• Cumplir nuestras metas y sueños (gente vital porque ha descansado bien)

Newcastle International Short Film Festival or NiSFF is an IMDb registered short film festival open to submissions of short films in multiple genres and categories from international, Australian and regional New South Wales (NSW) film-makers. Finalists for the best film in their regional category will be screened at the Royal Exchange Hybrid Performance Space/Cinema in Newcastle Australia in mid November each year. The overall Best Short Film winner will be selected from all the various category winners regardless of its length.

No screening fees are paid to selected films and no DCP is required. If your film is understandable for a mainly English speaking audience without subtitles then English subtitles are not required.

In the Castellón town of Tales, in the heart of the Sierra de Espadá natural area, the 2nd Espadá Rural Film Festival is being held, organized by CASDA, the Castelló Citizen Association against AIDS.

This festival has various awareness and dissemination activities both on the current environmental, ecological and social situation in the towns and in general in the world, as well as on the current social situation of people living with HIV. This year the novelty is that the theme of both the works and everything that is the festival will revolve around the figure of MOTHERS.

It will be through projections of documentaries and short films on social themes, as we have indicated, preferably on the theme of MOTHERS, and a Table for the Exchange of Experiences of different groups and associations that have participated in this project.

The screenings will take place over three different days, which will run from Thursday to Sunday.

Registration for the festival is completely free and must be done following the rules.

We organize this festival in order to create a new reason to produce and introduce films and any other work of art that concentrate on the world’s problems and riches, and to pioneer the creation of a free platform and reward these works. We live in an era where too much information, and input that cannot be considered as information flow at a disconcertingly rapid pace in every plausible channel. We organize this festival so that we could all seek what is more local and smaller, and more importantly the one that is true and genuine together.

The ecological problems are increasing and becoming more and more varied; however, we also witness hope-inspiring developments. We organize this festival in order to create a platform that nurtures this hope. We hope that through our festival, the residents of Bozcaada, farmers, producers, scientists, artists, and all our guests will be informed about the current technological developments, environmental disasters and innovations, the most recent documentary techniques and also about each other’s existence. We hope that our festival will contribute to nurture solidarity.

You’ve chosen to film. Chosen to put together a visual piece of art if we may say so. Today when anyone with a camera can, in theory, make a film... how will you make your short film stand out? What you intend to do with your film is what the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival is all about. We will be what you create. 

After the tremendous success that was BISFF 2023, we are all set to host the 11th edition. Just as every year, this is an attempt to understand the medium a little better and go a little further in inventing new forms of storytelling as filmmakers.

The festival showcases shorts from across the world, creating a physical space for a great audience experience and bringing together a keen audience for the filmmakers. BISFF also exhibits works by past masters who have dabbled in short filmmaking that today is viewed as an art form that needs a unique approach. Additionally, the festival presents talks and panel discussions with leading thinkers and industry practitioners, enabling budding makers to interact with the best in the industry. BISFF also includes hands-on learning experiences in workshops and demonstrations by professionals, putting together an exclusive audience experience and perhaps space for makers to find what they are looking for.