Hi all-
Here is a list of upcoming festivals. They will be added to the pages for each month shortly. If you notice any fees, it is an oversight, and I would appreciate you letting me know. With that said, I list festivals that have any categories and/or deadlines that are free, which can be a single category or an early bird deadline.
Note, there is a deadline tomorrow for the International Debut Feature Film Competition in Germany, that is looking for fictional debuts or graduation pieces by women directors.
As always, best of luck,
tracy
Slim Cinema Film Festival accepting submissions, festival postponed
Create a visual piece shot in Vertical Composition that tells a narrative. Content can be shot using your equipment of choice (i.e. SLR, red, smartphone, etc.), but aspect ratio must be 9:16 for any submissions to be considered. We want to challenge your creativity to tell an original narrative through vertical visual storytelling.
Internationales Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund+Köln 12/5/21
Germany’s largest forum for women in the film industry and presents outstanding films by women spanning all genres and styles. Deadline is for the International Debut Feature Film Competition. Eligible are fictional debuts or graduation pieces by women directors with a length of at least 65 minutes. Film production has to be completed after 1st March 2020.
It’s all true: International Documentary Film Festival 12/10/21
Brazilian. This film festival was created to support the genre of documentary films.
FEST- New Directors / New Films Festival (Portugal) 12/11/21 *
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? We are accepting films under the following formats: A) Fiction and Non-Fiction feature films (minimum length is 55 minutes) from directors who are on their first or second feature-length project, regardless of age. B) Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental Short films (up to 54 minutes of duration) from directors up to the age of 35 (including) at the end of the production. No fee applies only to Portuguese films.
Internationales Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund+Köln 12/15/21
Germany’s largest forum for women in the film industry and presents outstanding films by women spanning all genres and styles. Eligible are graduate films and films of the first two years after completion of studies. Film production has to be completed between 1st January 2020 and 15th December 2021. There are no genre or length restrictions, animated films are excluded. Please note: This is a national competition for DoPs living and/or working in Germany!
Kristiansand International Childrens Film Festival (Norway) 12/15/21
Kristiansand International Children’s Film Festival (KICFF) is Norway’s largest film festival aimed at children and youth. The target group is age 3-19. The festival takes place in Kristiansand, Southern Norway. The festival accepts features, documentaries, animation films and short films from all over the world.
Short of the Year 12/21/21
PROMOFEST opens the call for entries of SHORT OF THE YEAR – AUTUMN. Every season 50 works will be selected. The winner of each season will be awarded with 250 submissions to film festivals (for free) and will directly become one of the films selected for The Short of the Year. Submission is through click for festivals.
Moinho Cine Fest 12/31/21
Moinho Cine Fest is an international film festival, exclusively dedicated to a one minute films and to mobile films with maximum duration of 5 minutes. Local films have free submission for all deadlines. International and other categories are free for first deadline only (June).
Animocje 12/31/21
A lot of the people think that the animation equals cartoons for the children. An opinion like this could not be more wrong! A fine example of the fact that the situation is completely different is International Animated Film Festival Animocje. This event is focused on an ambitious cinema searching for its artistic character.
Anifilm 12/31/21
Anifilm’s mission is to present current trends, methods, technologies and animation techniques in its programme. It also supports works in progress and brand new animation projects and their authors, producers and distributors. Film professionals from all over the world can use Anifilm as a platform for positive confrontation and meeting place for forging new contacts. Anifilm is aimed at authors and film professionals as well as students, educators, film theorists and all fans of animated production, including children.
Neisse Film Festival 12/31/21
Documentary, Short and Feature-length films from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, or in co-production with these countries, are eligible for submission.
Landshut Short Film Festival 12/31/21
Short films of all genres up to 30 minutes. (FFL charges a fee, not the festival itself). If it is not possible for you to upload the film file to FFL you can send also a secure Vimeo link or a file by e-mail of the submitted film to: Michael Orth m.orth@dynamo-kurzfilm.de
Fest Anca Internacional Animation Festival 12/31/21*free entry deadline*
Only short animated films and music videos – completed after January 1, 2020 and submitted with English subtitles – are accepted into the Festival’s competition program. This year’s call for entries is open via Film Freeway. The submission process is free of charge until December 31, 2021.
goEast film festival 12/31/21
From September 20th, Filmmakers are invited to submit their fiction films as well as documentaries to the Main Competition of the 22nd goEast Film Festival, which will take place from April 19th–25th 2022.goEast countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
UPIKE Film & Media Arts Festival 1/02/22
We accept paid submissions for films and screenplays from across the world, but all submissions from Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia can be submitted for free. Additionally, students can submit to the early deadline of all our categories for free. This includes elementary level students all the way up the grad students in college.
Le Plein de Super1/5/22
“LE PLEIN DE SUPER” is a SHORT FILM FESTIVAL organized by the French association “La Boîte Carrée”. La Boîte Carrée goes ON TOUR by bus across FRANCE (Pays de la Loire) and PORTUGAL to bring cinema in small villages on the road. Le Plein de Super is a real opportunity (and most of the time the only one) for people and communities to discover short films and share unique moments.
Crossing Europe (Linz, Austria) 1/07/22* European or Austrian only
The goal of CROSSING EUROPE Film Festival is to give various perspectives on contemporary European cinema. The program focuses on innovative European films, which reflect current political and social realities of Europe‘s changing societies. We want to trace a cinema that tells of regional peculiarities and different conditions for living on this continent. We aim to open up new cinematic territories, which are under-represented in everyday movie business.
Sehsüchte Film Festival 01/09/22
Film festivals bring not only new, exciting and unique films into our orbit, but also the creative minds behind them. It is exactly this aspect which Sehsüchte has passionately committed itself to for the past half century. As the biggest international student film festival in Europe, it has taken on a special place in the festival landscape. The next generation of filmmakers across the globe are given a platform to present their work to a broad audience and make contacts within the industry. Sehsüchte has always seen itself as a space for networking, a showcase of cultural diversity and a celebration of film and continues to do so today.
FISH- Filmfestival I’m Stadthafen 1/15/22
The national short film competition JUNGER FILM is the heart of FiSH. The partaking films have a maximum runtime of 30 minutes and the maximum age limit for the directors is set at 27 years. In the previous year, more than 400 young directors have submitted their short films to the annual competition. 30 to 40 of all submissions are then selected to be shown during the festival. What makes JUNGER FILM so special is the open and communicative atmosphere between filmmakers, the jury and the audience. Through said communication, FiSH becomes a school of speaking about films. After every screening the filmmakers are interviewed and after every film block the jury openly discusses the movies on stage, contrary to a lot of other festivals. This approach to film screening provides a direct path for criticism and praise between the directors, the actors and the audience.
CEE Animation Forum 1/16/22
The leading regional pitching, financing and co-production event. It aims to boost the international circulation potential of projects, as well as their visibility and access to a wider European market. With our growing professional network, we are building a strong community with the aim to support the projects, to boost the circulation of works and creative ideas, and the creation of new partnerships, to give media exposure to selected projects through various media partners, and to promote projects throughout the year, not only during the event, i. e. to follow the life of the project after the Forum as well.The main focus remains on the two most important Forum activities: the pitching of animated projects in development and 1:1 industry meetings.
Melbourne International Animation Festival 1/20/22
The Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) is one of the largest animation festivals in the world. It usually screens around 400-450 films each year in competitive, panorama, student, curated and retrospective programs.
International Film Festival for Children and Youth 1/20/22
Only films for children & youth are accepted to the selection process. Amateur films, music videos, experiments are not accepted. Date of production: 2020 and later. We will consider shorts, features, and animations. Please send your entries through Film Freeway or via email to festiwal@kinolub.pl.
Kent County Teen Film Festival1/21/22
All Kent County teens in grades 6-12 are invited to enter films in the Kent County Teen Film Festival. A jury will review all submitted entries and select films to be screened at the festival. Prizes will be awarded for the best films in various categories. The Kent County Teen Film Festival is free and open to the public.
Vinilonga Film and Music Video Festival 01/22/22* see note
Welcome to Vinilonga! We are a friendly festival made with love by filmmakers. We like to think of ourselves as a costume party, changing dress codes every three months. We hold online and live exhibitions in the city of Buenos Aires on specially curated themes based on the entries. The themes vary widely, so we invite you to register with your short film or video clip from any date to participate. You can register with documentaries, fictions, experimental short films, video-dance, video-poetry, animation and any other hybrid work. Note: festival does not charge a fee for projects from African countries and Argentina, but does have a fee for all other categories.
Animayo 1/31/22
Animayo, first Spanish animation Festival names “Qualifying Festival” for the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the OSCAR® AWARDS. The winners of Animayo may be taken into account in the category of “Animation Short Film” will be eligible for consideration in the “Animated Short Film” of the Academy Awards® Exclusive for applying to works of 2d animation, 3d animation,special effects, experimental, advertising, animation spots, videoclips, video games cinematic, special effects series and animation series.
Krakow Film Festival (KFF), 1/31/22
International Competition. The Krakow Film Festival aims to review and promote documentary, short animated and fiction films. The films are screened in four competitions as well as non-competitive sections. The entry fee shall not apply to Polish films. In addition, films produced in the countries mentioned below may be exempted from entry fees (not applicable to films co-produced with countries not listed below): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Camboia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo Dem. Rep., Cuba, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria,Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Deadline for films made after 31 October 2021.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival 1/31/22 *early bird free deadline
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is now accepting film submissions. We want films that confront stereotypes, push boundaries, arouse and tantalize, and above all, highlight the tremendous diversity of queer + trans* stories.
Transilvania International Film Festival (Romania) 2/1/22
(TIFF) is organized by Romanian Film Promotion and it is the first international feature film festival in Romania. The main objective of Transilvania IFF is to promote the cinematic art by presenting some of the most significant films of the moment, films which exhibit not only originality and independence of expression, but also unusual forms of cinematic language and modern trends of the young culture. Please note: *** no entry fee for Romanian films only
Animafest Zagreb 2/1/2022
World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb invites you to submit your film for the 32nd edition of the Festival, taking place 6-11 June 2022 in Zagreb. Short films (maximum running time 40 minutes) can be submitted to following competition categories: 1. Short Film Competition, 2. Student Film Competition – films produced in an educational institution (art schools and film schools), 3. Films for Children Competition< 4. Croatian Film Competition – films whose majority producer is Croatian and/or films by Croatian directors. Submission deadline for short films in all categories
Noisefloor 2/04/22
NoiseFloor is an interdisciplinary event with a focus on experimental composition. Submissions are invited from composers, academics, practitioners, individual researchers, postgraduates and any other interested parties. Note: there is a registration fee to present at the conference, but no submission fee.
Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival 2/6/22
Horror or Fantasy genre. Submit through Festhome or Moviebeta
Hamburg International Short Film Festival 02/14/22
Triple Axel Competition 2022. Call for Entries! Topic 2022: On very thin ice. All good things come in threes. Three minutes of film. Three spins in the air. The triple Axel is one of the most difficult jumps in figure skating. And in our competition, it’s a matter of getting a spin on a given theme in no more than three minutes. Whoever manages to do this goes into the race for the audience’s prize and € 1,000 in a legendary short night. So join in the triple Axel, the theme for 2022 is: On very thin ice. Steep theses, risky moves, unknown terrain, dangerous societies – we leave it up to you to decide how or where you venture onto very thin ice, but we are counting on your proven associative creativity. We will be accepting your three-minute stories on this topic from the beginning of November.
KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2/15/22
Is the first and only LGBTQ film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theater and the only queer festival to receive clearance from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. * free submission until this date, all categories – only Indian documentary and Indian short past this deadline.
Annecy International Animated Film Festival (France) 02/15/22
Submit short films, commissioned films, TV series and specials and graduation films.
Krakow Film Festival (KFF), 2/15/22*see note
National Competition. The Krakow Film Festival aims to review and promote documentary, short animated and fiction films. The films are screened in four competitions as well as non-competitive sections. Note: no entry fee for Polish films.Deadline for films made after 31 October 2021.
Dead by Dawn 2/15/22
Dead by Dawn is the UK’s longest running genre film festival, established in 1993. It is a unique festival, celebrating the finest independent film-making with a focus on emerging talent. Our approach to horror is broad; story is paramount, as are humour, suspense and atmosphere. We welcome lifelong fans and the genre-curious to discover the breadth of unusual stories lurking under the ‘horror’ banner! Note- festival is postponed so will continue to accept entries for now- check site.
Countryside Animafest Cyprus 2/27/22
Countryside Animafest Cyprus is the official Cyprus animation Festival. Its aim is to cultivate the art of animation, by raising audience awareness and promoting cultural, financial and social development in the field of independent animation filmmaking. nternational short film Competition. National Competition, workshop films and student projects (Cypriots only)
Minute Festival (Brazil) 2/28/22 online submission
Various themes, categories. One Minute Festival was created in 1991 and has inspired the breeding of over 50 “one minute festivals” all around the world. One Minute Festival also could be called Ideas’s Festival, once idea is the most relevant criterion used in the vídeos evaluation.
International Animation Film Festival Golden Kuker Sofia 2/28/22
IAFF GOLDEN KUKER – SOFIA plays a key role in the animation industry because it is organized by animators who produce animated films themselves which are interesting for people of different generations. IAFF Golden Kuker – Sofia shows a high level of professional performance and a huge international participation with plenty of works of talented people from all over the world. During the festival and throughout the year, animators and audiences have the opportunity to attend professional master classes led by world-renowned directors and animators, exhibitions, seminars, round tables, presentations and impressive events related to the art of animation.
Shorts @ Fringe (Portugal) 3/1/22
SUBMIT YOUR FILM for the upcoming festival, up until March 1st.Send: Title | Director | Length (less then 15 minutes) | Country | Year (since 2018) as well as an image of the director and one of the film and the link to a downloadable platform of the film. azoresfringe@gmail.com
Animafest Zagreb 3/15/2022
World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb invites you to submit your film for the 32nd edition of the Festival, taking place 6-11 June 2022 in Zagreb. Feature films (minimum running time 40 minutes) can be submitted to the following competition category: 1. Feature Film Competition. VR/360/interactive projects can be submitted to the following competition category: 1. VR Animation Competition – open to immersive works (created for the Oculus, HTC Vive or Samsung Gear VR) that include animation as the main component. Films compete for awards that are given by international juries. Submission deadline for feature films and VR projects
International Short Film Festival Landau – La.Meko 3/15/22
International Short Film Festival Landau – La.Meko. Since 2001 filmmakers from around the world are invited to send their works to the Short Film Festival La.Meko wich takes place yearly in the beautiful city of Landau in South/West Germany. The La.Meko Festival wants to be a stage for all kinds of short movies and the team takes care that the programme is a delicate mix of entertainment and cultural challenge across all genres. The festival is also known for its enthusiastic audience and its outstanding moderation.
ConnectHer Film Festival 06/01/22
Through ConnectHER, high school and college students submit original short films focused on critical women’s issues such as girls’ education, ending violence against women, poverty & economic independence, and authentic beauty/body image. We’re thrilled with how the film festival is turning students into filmmakers—and filmmakers into activists.
River Aire Ten Minute Amateur Film Festival- RATMA (UK) 7/31/2022
It only takes 10 minutes to tell a story and often a lot less, RATMA International Film Festival helps up and coming film makers get those stories in front of film fans who would otherwise never get the opportunity to see them. @RATMAFF