Blog: Film festivals

IMPORTANT - -> DOCUMENTARIES NOT BEEN PRODUCED OR CO-PRODUCED IN MEXICO DURING 2017/2018 WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AT THE FESTIVAL,

FICMA MX (International Environmental Film Festival of Mexico) it’s been runing now for 9 years in Mexico, and is co organized with ACCIONS 3E UN Environment of Mexico and the CANACINTRA Foundation.

The Festival has among its main objectives: the environmental AWARENESS and EDUCATION to arrive to ALL CITIZENSHIP, with films and audiovisual as a tool and to PROMOTE and HELP the PRODUCTION of Mexican Films
Having a successful ITINERANCE FOR MORE THAN 40 CITIES in the country-reaching more than 30 thousand spectators in its last edition FICMA MX will program documentaries and films of the latest Barcelona FICMA Edition (25 years old Festival and the oldest one in the world in terms of the environment) and also it will include documentaries produced or co-produced with Mexico, which are the ones that are convened in this contest.

The IMCINE (Mexican Institute of Cinematography) and other government entities and civilians, provide us an strategic and permanent collaboration, allowing us to be the environmental Festival of reference in the country.
This year 2018, FICMA MX launches the contest with the highest Environmental Film Awards for a documentary of the country (60.000 MX$) to all those productions made in Mexico between the years 2017/2018 telling us different environmental situations in Mexico: Climate change , Water, New Energies, Biodiversity, Human rights, Animal rights, Oceans, Waste, Forests, Sotenibility, Pollution, Health, Food, among others.
FICMA MX "gives voice" at the Mexican cinema, its filmmakers and producers who produce and are committed through the cinema and talk to us about such important and rigorous issues and current affairs.
On June 5 (World Environment Day), with important monetary prizes, the winning documentary will be awarded access to the pre-selection of the 25th International Environmental Film Festival (FICMA) in Barcelona, from November 1 to 9, 2018.

The most important premieres of environmental cinema have a FESTIVAL recognized by great personalities from the Cinema and Environment world: Jane Goodall, Daryl Hannah, Yan Arthus Bertrand, Martin Sheen, Daphne Zuniga, among many others. This Festival is FICMA.

Since its creation in 2007, Île Courts–International Short Film Festival in Mauritius acts as a tool-kit for the development of cinema in Mauritius. Non-competitive, Île Courts Festival is meant to be a showcase for cinema in Mauritius, taking us to a surprizing journey into world cinema, with a focus given on short films from the Indian Ocean area, at a crossroad between Africa and Asia. In 2018, Île Courts invites french-speaking and creole-speaking Filmmakers from the Caribbean and Pacific Islands to submit their films to the festival, therefore 36 territories are concerned by our call for films. The 11th edition of Île Courts-International Short Film Festival in Mauritius will be held by Association Porteurs d'Images from 9th to 13th October 2018, in various cities and villages throughout the island.

Fusagasugá International Film Festival (FICFUSA) aims to bring the residents of Fusagasugá and the Sumapaz region new screens, points of view and cinematographic work of high quality to promote a critical thinking around the problems and issues experienced by women. In the short term, we aim to become an international platform for gender and women thematic films, attracting producers, directors, and distributors interested in these subjects.

Star Film Fest is dedicated to films made by young authors all around the world. Clear, simple, lovely but also serious! For 8 consecutive years, we have been giving opportunities to young, and talented filmmakers to showcase their works on the projection screen. Through the categories like documentary, feature, experimental, animated, and student film, Star Film Fest provides affirmation to students of the Academy of dramatic arts and the Academy of fine arts, but also to any young person that wants to engage in film outside academic frame.

In addition to film screenings and competition programs, Star Film Fest is held at several ambient locations in Sisak, and with accompanying content such as exhibitions, film workshops, concerts, and discussions on current topics, the festival proudly spreads film art propaganda which for centuries brings growth and cultural development to Croatia and the world while also calling for critical thinking and openness.

As a festival organizator, Kino Klub Sisak is also the only gathering place for filmmakers in Sisak-moslavina county. The development of Star Film Fest showcases the necessity of decentralization of film culture and art in Croatia. Therefore, by promoting the culture of filmmaking, creativity and critical thinking along with creating and maintaining a much needed platform for self-realization of young filmmakers, Star Film Fest gets the mark of a festival that is oriented on the prosperity of new, fresh creators, and audiences.

The Mostra Curta Vazantes: cinema in community, aims to contribute to the inclusion and social and cultural promotion of the residents of the Vazantes Community, Aracoiaba district, Ceará (Brazil) and neighboring locations through the exhibition of films produced anywhere in the world. world with the idea of understanding, observing and making visible the social and cultural processes that are developing both in the south and in the north of the planet.

The purpose of the festival refers to awareness of both the external filters on the screen, including censorship (commercial, ideological, aesthetic), and the internal filters of screen perception and projection, including self-censorship. NEFILTRAVANAE KINO is an exploration of aestheticization and commodification in art. The next aim of the festival is to expose the complexity, manysidedness, and variety of filmmaking.

NEFILTRAVANAE KINO is a film festival that is held by the Short Movie Club, the platform for cinematic projects. NEFILTRAVANAE KINO is ADAMI Media Prize qualified festival. The International Film Studies Conference is held at the same time as the film festival. In this way, film theory and practice are integrated together at the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO.

Originally the festival was held in Belarus, but because of political repression and publicly stated anti-war stance, screenings and events can be held in different countries. First of all in Lithuania (Vilnius). For example, the 10th Nefiltravanae Kino took place in Berlin, Vilnius and Helsinki last year. There were selected 63 films for 12 film programmes. https://shortmovie.club/programmes/10-2024/

The concept of the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO (Unfiltered Cinema):

ALIENATION PROBLEM

We live in a world of malls and cinema multiplexes. We see that indie cinema and non-commodity art go to the periphery of public attention. Primitive attractions replace the cinematography. The escape audience is alienated behind the big screen. So modern mainstream cinema is part of a manipulating tool that leads to the society of alienation. Thus the tendency is that indie cinema becomes more unreadable for the wide audience. We should understand the context of the filmmaker to understand the independent cinema. That is why the NEFILTRAVANAE KINO concept implies the physical presence of filmmakers.

FILM SELECTION PROBLEM
Filmmakers shoot millions of movies. And thousands of short film festivals organize screenings all over the world every year. On average, several thousand films are submitted to a film festival. So various good films can be neglected for whatever reason. Often selecting probability is like winning a lottery. As a result, filmmakers are left with no feedback. It is a paradox that no one can hear you in the age of the Internet! The mainstream culture prefers attractions and casual viewing.

Also, this idea is based on the film selection problem. Perhaps it’s no surprise one person, i.e. programme director at best, or even students of film schools make a preliminary decision to select a movie. Сoncordance of judges or previewers is more seldom thing than the difference of background, tastes. So selection or judging can be one-sided or perfunctory. It is not bad as the programme director has a good taste and aesthetic sensitivity, of course. But we’ve discovered another conception of “unfiltered cinema”. We matched it against “the best of the best” way. This way aids to perceive cinematic idiom without the dictate of art-curators.

CELEBRATION OF INDIE CINEMA
So the Unfiltered Cinema Film Festival tries to avoid “the best of the best” way but it does not ignore it completely, sure. The festival selects fiction, animation, documentary, experimental and virtual reality sections. A jury awards the best film in every section. The festival holds the screenings at cinema theatres, the National Centre for Contemporary Arts, and art-spaces.

Our aim is to gather people in art, to have a dialogue to be happy with smart communication. Cinema is art but not sport. The key point of our project is to establish communication between the filmmaker and the audience.

Please, read about the festival history through the link to the festival's website. http://shortmovie.club/history/

The Short Movie Club provides constructing of CinemaVan ( see https://www.behance.net/gallery/33392769/Cinema-van-Mobile-library-Amphibia ).

The main objective of the Angola International Film Festival is the dissemination of high-quality cinematographic works in Angola. All cinematographic and audiovisual works from all over the world will be selected through quality criteria, which will focus on the discovery of new films and filmmakers, as well as on the legacy of works of recognized value. While the festival will focus on the dissemination of Angolan and African works in programming, we are open to proposals from around the world in order to create greater opportunities for interaction between local, regional and international audiovisual industry.

We are announcing SPIFF 2022, which will take place during 3 days in August 2022.

The winners will receive cash prizes!

The total prize fund is 600$!

Don't miss a chance to screen your film in Saint-Petersburg and win money!

Saint-Petersburg International Film Festival (SPIFF) includes:

- cash prizes, statuettes and diplomas
- the most reviewed by filmmakers film festival in Russia.
- only live screenings at the best venues of the biggest northern city in the World

SPIFF - International Film Festival of short films and animation, started in 2017 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Saint-Petersburg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg) - one of the most beautiful places in the World with more than 5 million citizens and many, many, many film lovers.

Our motto: No internet screenings - only live show!

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.

9rd Morce-GO Vermelho - GOIAS HORROR FILM FESTIVAL - is a film festival in the heart of Brazil, which will have contemporary audiovisual works and historical recovery linked to the themes of horror, suspense and horror. The Festival may have fiction productions, experimental and animation as well as workshops and debates.

The aim is to encourage and promote local productions, Brazil and all over the world for lovers of moviegoers horror movies, suspense and horror featuring some of the most creative in independent productions of short films in competitive shows and feature films in the programming.

As part of the 16th edition of the Urban Films
Festival organized by the association RStyle,
and to be held in Paris which will take place from 7 to 10 October 2021, the association launches its call for entries until June 30,2021.

What is the urban film ? : ”Films devoted to the city and to all the practices and ways of life that come from it. Through urban films, true stories, whether somber or funny, find their common denominator in their scenery: the street, from Seoul to Rio, and passing by Seattle or Ouagadougou. The urban movies rediscover the city in a broad sense: history, dance, movement, community, streets cultures, sports, all of the aspects of the city and urban cultures are represented.”

The festival intends to promote Independent Cinema, national and international.

Montelupo International Independent Film Festival is the brainchild of Lorenzo Ciani, an independent film director charmed by the magic of Cinema Mignon d’essai. Through the collaboration with the Art director Daniele Pertici, the project became a reality.

ZINEBI
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM OF BILBAO

It got started in the year 1.959 and organized by the Cultural Department of Bilbao City Hall, ZINEBI will celebrate its 66th edition from the 8th up to the 15th of November, 2024.

It is the only international Class A festival in Spain in the documentary and short film category recognised by FIAPF since 1974, recognised by the Hollywood Academy as a qualifier for the Oscars among the short films from the official palmares and qualifier as well by the Spanish Academy for the BAFTA Awards and the GOYA Awards.

ZINEBI is a festival which holds all the most current forms and formats, innovative and suggestive and that is making a steady bet for the emerging authors. The line-up of the international schedule (documentary, animation and fiction) and its section ZIFF-ZINEBI FIRST FILM, dedicated to first works, are their really distinguishing mark. Honour Mikeldis are also remarkable, which recognise the prestigious career of distinguising international directors and the strict selections of its sections BEAUTIFUL DOCS, dedicated to the most relevant contemporary features and BERTOKO BEGIRADAK, a section dedicated to the Basque documentary feature films from a recent production. Besides, every year it´s celebrated the profesional encounter entitled ZINEBI INDUSTRY- NETWORKING, dedicated to promote the audiovisual Basque industry.

Highlands Film Festival first time brings a more diversified and pioneer film festival in the town of Highlands, where the idea is to excel creative independent film direction through diversity, innovation, and uniqueness to capture the series of movements and experiences in a single film. We help filmmakers across the world to build an audience for their projects and work to diversify the film industry.

HFF welcomes to the first year of celebrating independent films, the festival will be celebrating cinema from around the world and introduced the festival workshops as a way of teaching and inspiring the filmmakers of tomorrow. Movies features from shorts, documentaries to animation and foreign films to student films. These unique, creative and diverse films come from passionate, independent global filmmakers bringing novel ideas and varied art forms to the craft. The Annual Festival will include Red Carpet, Special World Premiere Shows, Audience Choice Awards and Award Ceremony and much more. Educational workshops will be presented by brilliant filmmakers. We are delighted to have you to be part of the grandeur of the beautiful Mountains. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to connect with the majestic of the town that is bringing filmmakers and creative artists from all genre.

The FIFAK is a film festival organized by the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers .

GOALS AND OPTIONS : • Facilitate the promotion and dissemination of works of amateur film. • Allow amateur filmmakers to share their experiences including the discussion on films participants.• Facilitate contacts between different national cultures. EXERPT FROM

REGULATIONS : The FIFAK includes the following events :

1.The International Competition: Competition open to amateur films, independent films and student films, of whatever origin, of any kind.

2. The National Competition :

• Competition open to amateur and independent and schools Tunisian films of all kinds

• Competition scenarios and photos.
NB : the date of production must not be earlier than August 2016.

3. Information Section : Open to films of thematic interest and / or artistic work and which do not corresponding to competition regulations.

4. Tribute to militant cinema.

5. Special sessions dedicated to a cinema or a country.

6. Symposia and meetings.

7. Discussion of the films in competition.

8. Workshops.

13 August, is women Holiday In Tunisia, so that our team decide to create an event honoring women by the word of women international film festival to project films around the theme of the women.

WOW International Film Festival is an opportunity to meet filmmakers and producers from different nationalities.

FRAPA – The Porto Alegre Screenwriting Festival – is the largest event focused in scriptwriting for television and film in Latin America. The 8th FRAPA will be held at Cinemateca Capitólio, from the 14th to 17th of July, 2020. Our aim is to discuss and strengthen the significance of screenplay writing in times of rising in TV and film production in Brazil and in the whole continent.

Inspired by similar festivals in the United States and Europe, FRAPA has grown in size throughout the years, organizing debate sessions, competitions, workshops, screenings, master classes and business rounds. We intend to make FRAPA a reference for the thought of audiovisual writing in Latin America. By encouraging the exchange of experiences between screenwriters and other professionals in the audiovisual market, we create an opportunity for qualification and celebrate new partnerships.

FRAPA has received many renown professionals throughout its three editions. To name a few: James V. Hart (Dracula, Hook, Contact), Bráulio Mantovani (City of God e Elite Squad 1 e 2), Fernando Castets (Son of the Bride), Marcos Bernstein (Central Station), Pablo Stoll (25 Watts and Whisky), Luiz Bolognesi (Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury), Lisandro Alonso (Jauja) and many others.

FRAPA. Great stories to come.

The Festival consists of several sections, which accepts films shot in any format.

The International Cinema Section presents a series of feature and short films from all over the world.

The Association 400 Colpi is a non-profit organization created with the aim of promoting films that, thanks to their language, style, story, and themes, are intended for both young and adult audiences.
vvfilmf is synonymous with film quality and represents a window into the youth world. It is not just a film festival. It's an experience. It's a significant cultural moment for young people that unites and cultivates.

Over the years, vvfilmf has created events that discover spaces for young people, workshops for the study of new forms of visual expression. #vvfilmf presents itself as an initiative aimed at the entire country and internationally, with the intention of meeting the expectations of both a young population and adult viewers.
The goal is to bring the general public closer to quality cinematic forms. Despite the festival's programming having a preferential audience of children, school-age youth, and university students, it enthusiastically opens its doors to adults and all those interested in cinematic art, fascinated by artistic and visual culture, passionate about education, pedagogy, educational fun, and simple entertainment.

The festival represents an excellent opportunity to showcase new educational paths, offering a constantly renewed program of cultural activities, and to propose, through the cinematic medium, respectful skills and fruitful reflections open to all school members.

vvfilmf boasts the High Patronage of the European Parliament, the Patronage of the Italian Council Presidency, the Ministry of Culture, Labor and Social Policies, Tourism, and almost all Italian Regions, many Provinces, and Municipalities.

Among the multi-year collaborations developed by #VVFILMF are those with RAI Cinema, the Foundation for Entertainment, and Lancia Europa, as well as with RAI Radio 2 and RAI Educational.

Thanks to the high quality of the film selection in competition and the professionalism demonstrated over the years, vvfilmf has been chosen by the President of the Biennale Foundation, Paolo Baratta, and the Director of the Venice International Film Festival, to select a group of young jurors and accompany them into the world of international cinema during the Venice International Film Festival.

The Mexico City International Independent Film Festival STUFF MX celebrates its ninth edition in August 2024 and opens its official call to filmmakers from all over the world to register all their film materials, music videos; in all formats, genres and categories of any length, in animation, documentary, fiction and live-action, which will be valid from February 1, 2024 until June 30, 2024 at 23:59 CST (CST), Washington, D. C. time. CST (CST), Mexico City time.