Blog: Film festivals

Independent producers La Produktiva Films (Sabadell) and Plans Films (Caldes de Montbui) organize inDOCumentari, an international festival dedicated to documentary film in any of its expressions.

The 54th edition of the Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival, one of the biggest film festivals for young filmmakers in Europe, will take place from 23rd April to 27th of April 2025 in Potsdam. It offers up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world a platform to present their works to a broad audience and come into contact with the industry. Founded in the 1970s as a showcase for young filmmakers in the GDR, Sehsüchte has established itself over the decades as an internationally important festival and has become an integral part of the Berlin and Brandenburg cultural landscape.

Sehsüchte sees itself as a place of encounter and creativity, as an event of cultural diversity and a celebration of cinema, today as well as tomorrow. The festival is planned, organized and implemented entirely by students of the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. The direct connection to the renowned film university enables a unique exchange between young talents, media practice and academia.

The motto of the Sehsüchte film festival in 2025 is beyond. The motto is intended to emphasize the diverse and profound aspects of the festival that go beyond the ordinary and connect both the past and the future of filmmaking. beyond embodies the idea of building a bridge between nostalgic elements and modern innovations.The focus is on the synergies that arise when different generations and perspectives, young filmmakers and industry experts, come into contact and learn from each other. beyond reflects the diversity of stories that are to be told at Sehsüchte. In an increasingly polarized social climate, we position ourselves as willing to listen to all voices and remain open. Regardless of origin, financial means, level of education, gender and our other differences, we want to offer everyone a chance for a platform. We want to think our festival beyond boxes, borders and barriers.With beyond, we invite our audience to broaden their own horizons and explore new ideas and concepts. The aim is to overcome cultural, geographical and ideological boundaries in order to create a platform for a diverse narrative.


Our programme offers local and international artists a screen, allows us to experience (un)known perspectives through a variety of cinematic-aesthetic forms of expression, and promotes discourse between underrepresented and established film regions.
With a festival campus centered in the "Schiffbauergasse", Sehsüchte opens up a space for networking and discussion between students and industry experts. We see ourselves as a young festival with a clear stance: only through an honest exchange at eye level can the industry's challenges be overcome, an awareness of ecological and social resources be created and, above all, an open culture of film be shaped. Let us embrace the current transformation and actively shape the resulting potential, the future of film.

Sections
Feature Film
Documentary Film
Engaged Film
Focus: Animation
Future: Kids
Future: Teens
360°
Exhibition – Resonant Realities
Schreibsüchte
Retrospective
Showcase
Genre Film

The Sicilia Queer filmfest – International New Visions Festival is a project whose aim is to promote the cinematographic culture and the fight against social discrimination, and to protect and sustain the culture of diversity through the promotion of non-compliant movies, exploring horizons in search of a new perspective towards the cinema of the future. The festival intends to promote young actors, emerging and independent cinematography, new forms of expression connected to the experimentation and innovation of traditional and non-traditional languages.

Festival idea – “A free format of your story”. 
VOKA Smartfilm International Mobile Film Festival.

We announce the season of (not)ordinary stories open! Each history is unique. Story twists are a matter of your imagination. Tell your (not)usual story and get the opportunity to become the winner of the Grand Prix of the Festival.

Smartfilm has been and it still remains a platform for the realization of ambitious and creative ideas. Discover (not)ordinary stories and create your movies, but remember that your movie should be filmed on a smartphone.

We have put together the best projects from previous festivals for you, we hope they will inspire you.

CINEMA CLUB CONTEST
"An event created by filmmakers for filmmakers”

The Collective and In The Mirror Films are working together to create a short film contest where every month different directors will compete to win the session.

The winner of each session will be elected by the audience !
For every session, you receive feedback from an industry professional to help develop your art.

The wining shorts will go directly to the grand final that will happen the first week of June and the BIG PRIZE is the production of your next Short Film.!
A jury composed by teachers from The Collective school and a special guest from the movie industry will elect the winner of the big prize on the day of the Final.

Movies and Party!

After the presentation of the short films, the analysis if our specialised guests and the election of the wining short, each event will be followed by DJ set to make us feel like sharing more around a beer offered by our sponsor La Cervesera Artesana and get the opportunity to network ! Don't forget your business cards !

1. OBJECTIVES
MEDINA MEDIA EVENTS, S.L. - hereinafter THE ORGANIZATION - with the collaboration of FESTIVAL DE MÁLAGA, aims to encourage film production internationally in 4K-UHD (Ultra High Definition), as well as its dissemination and promotion.
In order to achieve these objectives, THE ORGANIZATION will hold MÁLAGA 4K FEST on November 20th, 2020, with the collaboration of FESTIVAL DE MÁLAGA.

THE HUECC FESTIVAL is a film festival that seeks through itself a space for the construction of new community film schools. It was born from the Homonimo project carried out in 2018 TO MAKE A FILM SCHOOL, a space where different Latin American audiovisual groups came together to lay the foundations to create a film school in Solano/Quilmes.

Currently, this initial experience and through the festival could give shape to the ARROYO SCHOOL, which brings together 40 boys, girls and young people from the neighborhoods on one side of the Las Piedras stream.

Everything raised by this festival is intended to continue with the community film experience and the future construction of the first community film school in Argentina.

All genres, formats and durations are accepted. A selection will be made for the best organization and programming of the Festival. We will take into account formal experimentation and aesthetic risk

We freely accept all kinds of short and feature films without restriction on the production date.

In recent decades, and at one time to the emergence of new technologies that have ended up scanning most of the processes of the film, the documentary has known a notorious and systematic growth around the world. In our country, and for more than one decade, a production before linked almost exclusively to fiction has been swelling their ranks with new topics, new approaches, new geographies, new dilemmas.

It is in this context that FIDBA is proposed as the 1st. International Film Festival dedicated to this genre which films with the same fans - as long as we believe that the forms and the doings of the documentary film are different from those of the fiction - may meet and dialogue among them and with the public. If the documentary is a meeting point for the FIDBA, it is insofar as it proposes an interpellation to the little-known memoirs, disturbing present and (our) future in suspension. FIDBA will then be an approach not only among audiences, filmmakers and thinkers linked documentary but also in relation to the always stimulating possibilities that allow you to open this space to other border and heterodox expressions framed inside of what we would call "non-fiction" and that encourage us to dialogue with contemporary expressions that go beyond even the scope of the film.

FIDBA will pay special attention to those filmmakers for whom cinema is linked to a form of research and knowledge of the world that surrounds us as to the portrait of human beings whose conditions of life, in certain historical and social contexts, allow you to ask us about our. It is, therefore, authors who not only reflect reality but also ethical and moral relationship which involves filming the other.

FIDBA aims to become a point of support for filmmakers seeking to widen the perception of reality and to films which represent a step forward in the effort to understand it and anticipate it. So, it will make focus on films whose aesthetic originality put at risk not only an idea of the documentary but also a thought about the same film and its possibilities. Since this focus implies questioning the status of the real front of the camera or of the film in relation to reality, this is as inseparable from the mediations that arises.

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.

London Short Series is a celebration of the storytelling power of the Internet. Uniting digital media and tech worlds, the festival provides a platform for original web series and short form digital content, as TV and Film production professionals gather in London for this unique annual event.

Part of a worldwide network of festivals,London Short Series is an opportunity for web series and digital content makers to unite for three days to celebrate online storytelling. The festival provides digital story-makers with a unique opportunity to showcase and partake in original screenings, workshops from leading industry professionals and more, as an international audience of digital movers and shakers unite for this unique occasion.

MOSCA – Cambuquira Short Film Festival takes place at an old street cinema that remained closed for about 20 years and was brought to life in 2001 as a cultural centre. Cambuquira is a small town located in the Water Circuit of Minas Gerais.

The programme is composed by brazilian and international short films, special programs, debates, workshops, photo exhibitions, children's activities, MOSCA’s Coffee and the itinerant festival at schools.

13th MOSCA will happen between July 8th and 12th 2020 at Antigo Cinema | Espaço Cultural Sinhá Prado, at Cambuquira/MG - Brazil.

MOSCA's International Sh
owcase is a non competitive film festival (only for Popular Jury) and a non profit project.

Anatomy Crime - Horror International Film Festival (A.C.H.I.F.F.) is an annual international event dedicated for independent filmmakers. Established this year by “THE BASEMENT” a nonprofit and non-governable Cultural and Education Organization (B.C.E.O.).

Located in the city of Athens, we look forward to be hosting an amazing event with you and your friends. The A.C.H.I.F.F. is a multi-day event that takes place each Halloween (October 31st) at venues throughout Athens-Greece. The A.C.H.I.F.F. want to be a world recognized event, with industry, filmmakers, and press attention from around the globe. The festival is competitive, screening approximately 50-60 films each year.

The film industry today is largely monopoly-based and dependent on large scale budgets for productions to succeed. However, this festival aims at providing a voice for those who don't have a massive budget at their hands but nevertheless, an important story to tell.

According to one of the objectives of our non-profit organization to providing a platform for indie filmmakers, we are able to provide an affordable solution catered to advance the cause of independent filmmaking.

ATTENTION: EVEN ENGLISH FILM WITHOUT SAME-LANGUAGE SUBTITLES OR HARD SUBTITLES BE DISQUALIFIED. ALL FILMS MUST HAVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES IN OPEN FORMAT WITH EXTENSION .SRT OR .TXT

Short films, either animation or live action, in the science fiction, fantasy or horror categories are desired. Films are typically from 5 to 15 minutes (as long as 20 minutes)in length.

Currently we plan on a live event from May 23-26, 2025 in downtown Baltimore, much like the events we have had for the past 50+ years.

"Andimotion – Bogotá Animation Film Festival" is one of Colombia's and the central region's film festivals specialized in animation as a hybrid form. It creates a platform for the best projects of graduate students and offers opportunities to connect with the animation industry.

Since its first edition in 2016, ANDIMOTION has consistently provided a platform for screening and awarding animated projects across various media, including video games and mixed realities.

Bushwick Film Festival is ranked as one of the Top 100 Film Festivals. Now in its 12th year, the Bushwick Film Festival has become an industry staple for new talent and a premiere voice for independent cinema in Brooklyn. We have showcased local and international filmmakers from more than 40 countries, providing a platform for diverse stories from all people, especially women, people of color and the LGBTQ community. Located in Bushwick, the bustling center of Brooklyn’s artistic and cultural community, the festival offers five days full of screenings, panels, parties and networking opportunities. We encourage our filmmakers, industry professionals and audiences to engage, share and collaborate in an eclectic and open-minded atmosphere to form new alliances, expand horizons and share our common passion for independent film. After eleven years full of fantastic screenings, people and moments, we are as driven as ever to continue our quest to share amazing stories with an ever growing audience and we hope you will join us!

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

The 2023 COMMFFEST will celebrate 18 years from September 14-22 2023 screening in movie theatres exhibition spaces, and ONLINE presented yearly by a group of dedicated volunteers. COMMFFEST a charitable corporation makes its home in one of Toronto’s most fast growing, economically diverse neighbourhood, Old Town Toronto, where many languages are spoken amongst an eclectic population.

Our screenplay competitions is spearheaded by 30 year filmmaker, writer, director and producer Vladimir Bondarenko who is an instructor at Toronto Film school,

COMMFFEST is a film festival that presents a broad range of local and international films representing current affairs and relevant issues that affect our society. COMMFFEST provides opportunities for emerging filmmakers, artists, musicians and global community stakeholders to express themselves freely and to connect with audiences on a more personal level. This unique blend of film, filmmakers and audiences creates a dynamic atmosphere to provoke thought and stimulate further understanding and exploration of ideas, attitudes, and emotions that can foster change – starting with the communities in which we live.

FILMS OF ANY GENRES ACCEPTED; independently produced films. Included in that mix are childrens issues, poverty, human rights LGBTQ, women's rights, third world struggles,

The last 18 years Commffest has built a valuable platform for introducing emerging and professional filmmakers to bring together communities, not for profit organizations with government officials in panel discussions to tackle pertinent issues often resulting in more funding and support for these groups.
Commffest is a cultural platform that strives to educate and create a hospitality environment where filmmakers and attendees can mix and mingle over food, drink and entertainment.

TESTIMONY , Eleanor Mc Grath’s
As an independent film-maker, you work often for a year or possibly years to direct, edit, produce a film and then comes the waiting game to be selected by a film festival.

COMMFFEST is more than a community film festival in Toronto; it is an art festival with a world perspective and I am most fortunate to have been part of the 2015 film festival programming with my documentary, "Forgotten". COMMFFEST's vision is to share stories that demonstrate the strength, struggles and beauty of humankind while providing a strong platform for independent film makers to showcase their perspective and vision of our world today and into the future. We need festivals like COMMFFEST who step away from the mainstream and champion works where the viewpoint is critical, enlightened or visionary in their approach to conflicts or issues that prevail throughout Toronto, Canada, North American and worldwide.

Behzad Sedghi Filmmaker
For me, COMMFFEST has been where my films have finally reached their maturity by connecting through the big screen with their audience. It is this connection that is essential for any artistic endeavour. As this may be the case with most other festivals, however, in my direct experience with COMMFFEST I clearly felt that each artist was given special attention, a chance to have a dialogue about their creation and ultimately was embraced in a celebration of their achievement. COMMFFEST founders and organizers are filled with the love of films and arts and clearly possess the vision and generosity to make this celebration happen every year. I look forward to being part of the next celebration either as an artist or a member of its community.

COMMFFEST mission statement:
To advance education by raising the cultural, artistic and aesthetic expression of the community and to advance the public’s appreciation of the arts through related artistic workshops and panel discussions, while promoting the works of filmmakers and artists alike.

The programming: The films are chosen by a jury of professionals from a globally solicited call for submissions. Once chosen, the programming is created to generate discussion around specific world events and themes, provoking dialogue and acceptance of others and their concerns.

More about COMMFFEST
COMMFFEST attracts educators, artists, politicians, business leaders, socially conscious organizations and trendsetters.

Local Educational engagement:
Over 6000 Children from local schools across the GTA that now include the COMMFFEST festival experience as part of their annual curriculum.
COMMFFEST’S unique diversity invites the world to one local community event over several days in Toronto

Competition notice
The Association Rive Gauche – Festival, Florence, Italy, is pleased to announce the entries have been opened for the session of 8th Firenze FilmCorti Festival. Festival will held from May 04th to May 08th, 2021, for the following sections:
1 Short film in competition
2 Documentary
3 Cartoons and film for young audience
4 Innovative & experimental film.
Venue: Murate Art District
Piazza Le Murate
Florence, Tuscany 50122
Italy
Last and definitive deadline will be on August 20.

The Mexico City Videodance Festival, in collaboration with Red Nacional de Arte, calls choreographers, filmmakers, companies and visual artists to register their works to the sixth edition of the FIVideodanza, which will take place from September 02 to 05, 2021.

Now in its thirteenth year, the Northeast Film Festival showcases top independent films from filmmakers, as well as new talent. The diverse array of films, selected by a committee, includes features and shorts from all genres, as well as documentaries and screenplays. The festival is hosted in Teaneck New Jersey at the historic Teaneck Cinemas; with planned parties to kick off the festival in style and spirit. In addition, we offer an atmosphere for the film enthusiast to interact with filmmakers as well as filmmakers being able to interact and network with each other and industry professionals.

The festival includes after parties, to offer opportunities for interacting and networking with other filmmakers, actors, and film festival goers. In past years, Harry Lennix, Lloyd Kaufman, Danny Roebuck, Matthew Modine, Vinnie Pastore, David Harris, Robert Clohessy, Brian O'Halloran, Fatima Ptacek, Gianni Russo, Duane Whitaker, Jefferson White, producers from NBC, among many others attended the festival's after parties (and festival).