Blog: Film festivals

DATE AND LOCATION

The 29th edition of the European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux will take place from March 26th to 27th 2026. 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.

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (MDFF) is looking for a Melbourne-based or Melbourne-made feature documentary to either open or close our historic 10th edition. You can submit via Film Freeway or email us at info@mdff.org.au.

The festival has become a cultural phenomenon in Melbourne, with sold-out sessions and encores, ranking as one of Australia’s top film festivals. We aim to promote diverse, independent, and creative filmmakers, supporting global and local talent. MDFF has helped filmmakers reach major platforms.

MDFF is known for its commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and safety. We’ve had no reported COVID cases at our events for the last five years and have worked to ensure a safe environment for everyone.

This year, we're excited to host encores for popular short documentaries and have seen great success. We've also become the Film Freeway Top 100 Melbourne Film Festival and are ranked in the top global documentary festivals. We are especially proud to have had 7 documentaries eligible for the 2024 Oscars.

MDFF showcases documentaries that promote critical and independent thinking, debate, and diverse perspectives, with a focus on issues like human rights, equality, social issues, and freedom of speech. We have supported various causes, including BLM, Indigenous communities, and environmental organizations.

MDFF is an indie festival that helps filmmakers make their mark, offering opportunities for premieres, screenings, and networking with industry professionals. The festival takes place at Cinema Nova, one of Australia’s largest independent cinemas, and offers a fun, community-driven atmosphere.

We’re looking for local and international feature documentaries, short films, VR projects, video essays, and web series to compete in our Australian Documentary Awards. Submit your documentary to be part of this prestigious event and help us celebrate the best of the documentary genre.

CARACASDOC is an international film festival dedicated to the documentary genre in Caracas, Venezuela. It’s 8th edition will take place from november 24 to the 30th, 2021.

This festival is based on an idea that transcends the limits of the documentary, an expanding genre, that from it’s own truth reflects a world filled with different points of view and voices. A genre that always aims forward, to reinvent itself and express human relationships without stereotypes, without following an agenda.

We bet on a clever creation, thoughtful and reflexive, that gives us stylish, thematic and formal visions to think about cinema from different places inside the documentary aspect genre with intentions from their authors, without format limitations, materials or experimentation resources.

The 8th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival, opens its convocation from august 24 to october 6th, 2021, to filmmakers from around the world to submit their feature films and short films, that make up the sections of this 8th edition.

For more information, please visit our website at caracasdoc.com

Onward!! Join us during this decadal survey of sci-fi excellence.

It is a celebration of old and new. As one of the oldest science fiction festivals, we will present you with a selection of insights and stories never seen. There is plenty of planning and work to do. We are open to participants planetwide to join us in the beautiful city of Miami, Florida.

The intent of SciFi Miami is to showcase the best in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comedy, and other imaginatively-themed films from around the world. This celebration is in the trendy and progressively global megalopolis of Miami, Florida. Our creative and inspirational environment is ideal for exploring films that ponder the infinite possibilities our multiverse holds.

There will be workshops, panels, and lectures. In addition to this ninth season, the Film Market will be available. We have invited distributors to connect with filmmakers.

Notifications typically begin a week after the last submission date. So grab tickets early, inform your friends, and prepare for the best original content to reach South Florida.

RULES OF THE CALL FOR DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS MENORCA DOC FEST 2025

The Menorca Doc Fest is a film and photography festival that aims to raise public awareness through the documentary genre, understanding it as a tool to promote critical thinking about the phenomena of the past and present that affect contemporary society.

The Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival is a cinematographic event socially and culturally minded and by choice, free for anyone to access. FICCI constantly reads the particular circumstances of our country and our world to produce every year a world class version of our festival, guided by the preservation of freedom and the amplification of the cultural conversation through films and academic events that are relevant, humane, subtle, sophisticated, and act as a vehicle to enhance human consciousness, expand democracy and help create free, progressive and inclusive societies.

The Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival (FICCI) is the oldest and most permanent forum in the Americas for Colombian, Ibero-American and world cinema. Being an active part of the world cinema map since 1960, in the 64th edition, it will continue to provide spaces for memory, reflection, diverse voices, and as always, for the best cinephilia.

The Festival values the creative freedom of the world’s filmmakers and has space for films of any format, length, nationality, theme, genre or technique, that meet the highest standards of quality, take on narrative risks, and propose contents of great human and cinematic relevance, pertinence, and sustainability.

Cinema awards in which online media related to the seventh art choose the best of the year in independent Spanish cinema.

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

Al Este is a festival coming out from the french festival A l'Est du Nouveau. Present in Colombia since 2018, the mission of the festival is to promote film culture of the other Europe, that relegated to independent circuits, owning however, an invaluable wealth and tradition. Thus, Al Este - Colombia seeks to spread the filmography of Central and Eastern Europe into a profitable cultural exchange with South America.

*** Submissions for the 2024 Short Film Slam, presented by The Madlab Post will be opening in the Spring. If you are interested in submitting your live action, animation, documentary or experimental film, Sign up for our waitlist to be the first to hear about the Call for Entries for our 2024 season - https://cinema.madlabpost.com ***

The Short Film Slam is a bimonthly competition presented by The Madlab Post that focuses on providing a platform for emerging and established filmmakers to showcase their work. Each round, a selection of up to twelve short films will be screened for local audiences who get to cast a vote for their favorite film. The highest rated film at live screenings will be declared "Movie of the Month" during the following month. The highest rated "in-competition" films from each live and online screening room will advance to the final round. All finalists get to compete for a total of $1,000 in prize money during the final round and festivities preceding the 2023 shnit Cinemas screening in Philadelphia.

Since 2012, The Madlab Post has promoted community outreach and engagement through film, screening dozens of exceptional short films from around the world to local audiences; including the Academy Award nominated short film A SINGLE LIFE, Clermond-Ferrand International Film Festival Special Jury Prize winner THE BATHTUB and Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee Et ta prostate, ça va? (HOW'S YOUR PROSTATE). Main venues include the historic Bok building and Taller Puertorriqueño's state-of-the-art El Corazón Cultural Center.

Welcome to the KRIBS International Film Festival: - The KRIBS International Film Festival (KIFFEST) is considered to be the grandest MR. K Award for the achievement of a winner in a film industry. Our mission is to discover high quality and ambitious films, to promote the work of filmmakers and to help make their dreams come true. KIFFEST is an exciting event for film lovers and makers alike.

Each month the officially selected winners receives the KIFFEST Logo and Certificate. All finalists’ winners and valuable notes will be listed on our website and shared on our social media.

During the months of August 2021 to July 2022 all winners will automatically be nominated for the prestigious MR. K Awards. In it the annual event screening films will be selected from the list of monthly winners by our annual event jurors. Winners of the competition will receive a Mr. K awards certificate and Shield.

Join One of the World’s Leading IMDb-Qualifying Film Festivals!

Welcome to the Bristol Independent Film Festival (BIFF)—one of the UK’s fastest-growing and most dynamic platforms for global cinema!

Since our launch in 2017, BIFF has received submissions from over 160 countries, making us a truly international festival. Our screenings take place at the Bristol Megascreen, a 300-seat cinema, over a 3-day period, providing filmmakers with a premier venue to showcase their work to a large and engaged audience. Our mission is to support and celebrate filmmakers through diverse awards and industry recognition.

Why Submit to BIFF?

- A Thriving Community: BIFF fosters a creative space for filmmakers to connect, collaborate, and celebrate their craft.

- Networking Opportunities: Our networking booklets introduce winners to industry professionals, complete with contact details to encourage future collaborations. Additionally, we host exclusive networking sessions where all attending winners and nominees can connect in person, fostering valuable relationships and future collaborations.

- Awards and Recognition: We honor excellence with trophies, winner’s packages, and cash prizes to help fuel your next project.

- Global Exposure: BIFF offers filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their work to a global audience. We actively connect winning projects with distribution and production opportunities to ensure your film gets the recognition it deserves.

Audience Choice Award

New this year, we are excited to introduce the Audience Choice Award, allowing our festival-goers to cast their votes for their favorite film of the festival! This special recognition provides even more exposure and the chance to connect with an engaged and passionate audience.

Why Bristol?

Recognized by UNESCO as a “City of Film,” Bristol stands alongside global cultural hubs like Sydney, Rome, and Galway. As one of the city’s largest film festival, BIFF is committed to nurturing a vibrant hub for filmmakers, offering them a stage to shine.

We can’t wait to experience your work and celebrate film at our 8th annual edition of BIFF!

The PuntodiVistaFilmFestival 2025 is an International Prize Competition for unpublished (or published, but in any case free from transfer of copyright) shorts produced from 2023 onwards, in any language ( provided that, for those not in Italian, there are subtitles in Italian, unless they are music videos).
The Festival has two sections:

Short films with a maximum duration of 20'
Social Cortospot with a maximum duration of 3'.

Italian subtitles are mandatory.

Sahasrara International Film Festival (SIFF) is organized to identify and promote the international talents in film making. The art of film making undergoes drastic changes in terms of artistic, technological and social developments around the world. SIFF is an opportunity for film makers from all over the world to understand, analyze and improvise the new changes in film making. Planned to be one of the largest and most sought-after film festivals in the world, SIFF will be a cherishable memory for film fraternity around the globe.
Sahasrara International Film Festival will be conducted in the first week of December every year at the picturesque and adorable city of Trivandrum in Kerala. Almost at the southern tip of Asian sub-continent, and being one of the most beautiful tourist destinations, Trivandrum sets the right arena for SIFF. SIFF welcomes film makers, artists and technical crew, journalists and all those are associated with film industry and film making to come and participate in this festival.

The Morros Films Made with Smartphones Festival proposes a competitive event conceived to be carried out annually online and traveling, with the purpose of valuing short films in the Mobile formats, thus supporting this important genre that every day has greater exponents.

POST-ALMOST-APOCALYPSE

Mórbido turns 15 years and it’s time to celebrate the survival of the modern apocalypse.
In those terms, Mórbido 2022 will have a hybrid identity. The festival will take place in theaters, on the LATAM Pay TV channel Mórbido TV, online and in a drive-in Cinema.


SHORT FILM SELECTION / Pay TV + Online
25th Oct through 31st Oct
The 2022 short film selection will be broadcasted through Mórbido TV. (Basic Pay TV, Latin America, not Brazil).

FEATURE FILM SELECTION / Cinemas + Drive In + Online
25th October through 31st October
The 2022 feature film selection will be shown:
- Cinépolis Diana, Cinemanía Loreto, Autocinema Coyote.
- Cinépolis Klic (November 1st-6th).

DA Z DIGITAL ARTS ZURICH is a leading international festival for Digital Arts.

The DA Z Festival invites to its DA Z AWARD competition in the sections of VIDEO/FILM, VIRTUAL REALITY and MIXED REALITY works.

Like the entire festival, the DA Z AWARD expected and promotes excellence in storytelling, execution and critically questioning the digitalization of our society.

The Minute International Short Film Festival is initiated by eyepetizer. Focusing on short films up to 60 minutes in length, entries may be presented via mobile, small screen, streaming media and video websites. The Minute International Short Film Festival showcases short films under 60 minutes from all over the world, covering dramas, documentaries, and animations, as well as experimental and commercial short films

- M (Modern): With the power of eyepetizer, a short video media platform, the Minute International Short Film Festival will utilize mobile, small screen, streaming media and video websites as the stage for short films. In addition the Festival will also integrate technology and art, focusing on new video technology such as VR, holographic film, virtual production, and even artificial intelligence creations, to explore new multimedia possibilities.

- I (Inspiration): The Minute International Short Film Festival is not only an exchange and clash of inspiration, but also a discussion on the value of short films themselves.

- N (Navigator): The Minute International Short Film Festival will facilitate high-end appreciation of the arts, enhance cultural exchange and cooperation between various fields and even different countries and regions, and establish a standard evaluation system for the short video industry by way of a professional, focused and innovative short film festival competition.

The Festival Villa del Cine is a four day experience where the streets and theaters of Villa de Leyva, Colombia become a stage dedicated to celebrate, encourage and reward the seventh art.

Rural FilmFest, member of Green Film Network (GFN) and Pantalla Federation, is an international itinerant film festival, which offers a current overview of international documentary film, fiction and animation in a short, medium and long format related to the rural world, ecology, sustainability and natural and cultural resources. Rural FilmFest is not a common film festival, it is a unique and unrepeatable event. It is a summer camp, with excursions, multi-adventure, geocaching awards ceremony (Yes, you read that right. As a filmmaker you will have to find your trophy at the closing gala via GPS coordinates), international coexistence, dance, party and lifelong friendships. It is the experience of your life and if you attend, you will not want it goes over and you will want to return next year... Just read the reviews to discover the opinions of other filmmakers who have attended the Rural FilmFest. If you have a fiction film, animation or documentary whether it is a short film or a feature film, do not hesitate to submit.