Lately I have tried to group together festivals based on theme, format or genre. This is difficult to do, as they are not all active at once. Here is a very short list of current festival opportunities for women filmmakers.

Best of luck,

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Ongoing:

Bleedfest Film Festival 2.0
Monthly festival, rolling deadline. BleedFest is a monthly Los Angeles film festival that fetes the women who love writing, producing, directing, and watching badass genre movies: action, thriller, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, western, exploitation (of men or audience only), B-movie, and erotica. DVD Submission.

Upcoming deadlines:

Festival Elles Tournent (Belgium) 4/15/13
The Festival Elles tournent celebrates films made by women. The programme highlights innovative and stimulating productions, chosen for their imaginative potential, their subversive dimension vis-a-vis norms and their capacity to transform our perceptions, to help us to see things differently. feature films and short films, fiction, documentary, animation, experimental. Submit: Entry Form, CV and DVD.

The FEMINA – INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL (Brazil) 4/19/13
is a competitive festival for works directed by women. It is the first event of its kind in Brazil and Latin America. Besides showing the work of Brazilian women filmmakers, broadening its visibility and opening space for the Brazilian feminine cinema abroad, it brings to Brazil the foreign production, as well as international guests. DVD or link. Must submit entry form.

Encontrarte amres (Portugal) 6/12/13
Experimental Animation Film Contest. This competition aims to encourage all artists, professional, independent or amateur creators. The competition is only open to experimental films that explore the visual effects, a non-conventional narrative or a new approach to film-making. Submit by post.

Guam International Film Festival– note: Students under 18 are free 7/19/13
Secure online screeners via Withoutabox. All filmmakers – student, amateur and professionals – are encouraged to submit to GIFF.

CineFringe 5/11/13
CineFringe is the Film Festival of the Edinburgh Fringe, the largest arts festival on the planet. One of the sole torch bearers for film within a chaotic schedule of comedy, theatre, arts, dance and music, no-one else offers a cinematic take on the unique atmosphere of the Fringe. Our mission is to put film back into the Fringe and the ‘Fringe’ back into film!Our screenings offer up an eclectic mix – in any given screening you might find animation, drama, documentary, experimental, comedy, horror… from anywhere in the world, from 60 seconds long to 30 minutes long.DVD or Vimeo, submit online application.

Athens International Science Film Festival (Greece) 05/15/13
Broadening the interest of young people and students on science and science films (only 10% of Greek population is interested in science). Stimulating the interest of new directors on science film making (Greek science film production is limited). Submission form- send video link.

Akron Film and Pixel ongoing
Akron Film+Pixel is a year-round social organization for creators and fans of film and games.

Fonlad 2013, Online digital arts festival (Portugal) 3/31/13
The Festival is open to all national and international artists working at the level of digital arts and new technologies; The On Line Festival of Digital Arts will run between April 27 and July 6, having a digital version, lodge in the page of the festival in the Internet (www.fonlad.net) and several events such exhibitions, screenings and video installations.

Tirana Film Festival(Albania) 08/23/2013

Multimatograf (Russia) 04/07/13* one page states 4/7 by 11 pm, other page states 4/8
submitted by any file exchange program or post
Open International Festival of Multimedia Art multimedia creations with a message, a creative approach… Both independent artists and studios can participate. The festival is non-commercial and our main goal is to share the art works with people and have them enjoy the beauty of computer art. Festival categories: Cartoon, Video art, Music video Wild (for those cool weird works which don’t fit in the other three!

World Festival of Animated Film (Bulgaria) 06/10/2013
Upload to festival site or DVD submission.

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival: 06/14/13 (Scotland)
film or film projects, underway or completed, with links to mental health, then the organizers want to hear from you.

Temps D’Images Film Award for Films on Art 07/15/13
First or second work of Portuguese filmmaker; Portuguese Student film; Portuguese and International filmmaker. Films on art and artists. Submissions on DVD PAL (Eurozone). Producers and filmmakers can submit more than one film.

Grand Off World Independent Film Awards (Warsaw, Poland) 08/15/13
Short Film Festival that supports Independent filmmakers and students before their professional debut. All genres up to 45 minutes.

Paris Cinema International Film Festival 4/12/13
International Competition, Feature Film. DVD submission.

WomenMakeWaves Film Festival (Taiwan) 4/15/13
Women Make Waves Film Festival aims to celebrate the achievements of outstanding female talents, to explore different aspects of women’s lives as well as to promote equality and rights of all genders. By covering a wide range of genres, issues, and representations of women, the Festival seeks to present and honor women’s survival wisdom and power as they are turned into films and gain mainstream recognition. Submission to the festival is open to feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, experimental films and innovative visual productions for digital media. (Subjects: Modern Witch-Hunt, Queer Flame, Women Home and Country, New Currents)

BIFF . BRASILIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 4/20/13

NIFFF Neuchâtel international fantastic film festival, (Switzerland) 5/10/13
Created in 2000, the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) has become a major film event in Switzerland in just 11 editions. Indeed, the NIFFF’s quality and original programs, as well as its prestigious guests convinced both the public (more than 27,000 spectators in 2011) and the critics (press reviews in 2011 – a selection -). The first characteristic of the festival is a rich and diversified programming constructed around one central axis: Fantastic cinema and two complementary axes: Asian cinema, Digital Images.

EIDF International Documentary Festival (Korea) 5/26/13
The Festival has been established to promote the world’s best documentaries through a week-long programming of documentaries via EBS-TV, Korea’s representative public educational channel. It seeks to provide an opportunity for the documentaries to communicate with their audience as well as to encourage young documentary filmmakers all around the world to produce new works.

Josiah Media Festival 6/1/13
Talented, young filmmakers, 21 years of age or under, can now submit their films for competition in this year’s Josiah Media Festival. Almost $2,000 in prizes will be awarded to winning filmmakers. Films should be no longer than 20 minutes trt and can be about anything you wish (no theme required). We accept films in the categories of narrative, animation, documentary, and experimental, which covers just about everything. DVD or thumb drive.

Baghdad International Film Festival (BIFF) 6/1/13
scheduled to take place on October 6th-10th 2013 in Baghdad, has launched its call for entries. As indicated in  the Festival’s press release, the Festival is looking for short-form, documentary, and feature film submissions in all genres

21 Film Project (Decataur, IL) 7/15/13
The 21 Film Project will be held in downtown Decatur during the 28th annual Decatur Celebration! With total attendance of almost 300,000, the Celebration is a great way to get the exposure your film deserves. Film Project events will be held throughout the weekend, including screenings of the top films and award-winning films from other festivals around the country. DVD submission. Projects under 4 minutes long.

Hawaii International Film Festival 8/1/13
any genre, feature films, documentaries, short films, Hawaii-themed films, and student films. note: no entry fee status is only for student filmmakers under 18, and it seems to be hawaii residents only.

Moab International Film Festival (Moab, Utah) 8/19/13
WAB. Moab International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing independent films of the highest quality from around the world. Categories: Experimental Film: Non-conventional ideas in film. Musically Inclined: Stories about music and musicians or music videos. Documentary: Documenting life on earth.Environmental Landscapes: What is in the world around you? Narratives and stories. Fiction or non. Comedy: Humor in any form. Outdoor Action: Stories from the outdoors.

Women Media Arts and Film Festival 11/15/13
WOMEN Media Arts and Film Festival is a gender-specific initiative to invite all women filmmakers and digital media artists from around the world to showcase their works before global audiences and international women jury panel!  The Festival is a platform to create awareness among film and digital media industry professionals and mainstream audiences the significant contribution by women filmmakers and media artists to ever evolving digital culture. Youtube and Vimeo links to preview and view the work. First edition.