FEST - NDNFF #21
21st of June - 29th of 2025 | Espinho, Portugal
FEST – New Directors | New Films Festival is an all-encompassing celebration of the new tendencies of world cinema. The event focuses on a competitive and non-competitive showcase of the most promising new figures and works from around the globe.
The 21st edition of the festival will take place between the 21st of June and the 29 June 2025, in the seaside town of Espinho (Portugal).
The selection is divided into several categories which include Feature Film and Short Film competitions in the Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Experimental Non-Narrative formats, as well as content adequate for children and teenagers. The event also includes non-competitive sections that range from retrospectives to showcases that can be Shorts, Features or Series.
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 who have completed no more than two feature films, regardless of age.
C) Fiction, Documentary, Animation, and Experimental Series (up to 55 minutes of duration) from directors who have completed no more than two feature films, regardless of age.
Candidates must choose one of the available submission categories. Do not worry if your film fits different categories (Ie: Hybrid productions), as all submissions will be considered for the different competitions. If your film is also eligible for the NEXXT competition (focused on academic productions) but you wish the film to be considered for all other competitions please mention in the comment section of the submission the academic institution where the film was produced. If you have any doubts at all please do not hesitate to contact us at films@fest.pt.
Throughout the years' FEST has selected for its feature film competitions films such as Celine Song’s “Past lives”; Ainhoa Rodríguez´s "Mighty Flash"; Teodora Mihai´s “The Civilian”; Anders Ølholm and Frederik Louis Hviid with "Enforcement"; Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre´s “Zero Fucks Given”; P.S. Vinothraj “Pebbles”; Eugen Jebeleanu´s “Poppy field”; and Valdimar Jóhannsson´s “Lamb”, all of this on the fiction side, then in the Documentary side, Karima Saidi´s "A way Home", Michał Edelman´s "Last Knights Of The Right Side", Franz Böhm´s "Dear Future Children" among many others.
FEST’s Short Film sections are known for its wide variety of styles and filmic visions, having been throughout the years a platform for the launch of new artists such as Govinda Van Maele (Luxembourg), Christos Massalas (Greece), Mati Diop (France), Adriano Valerio (Italy), Patrick Vollrath (Germany), Ninja Thyberg (Sweden), Manuel Abramovich (Argentina), Daria Belova (Russia), Simon Mésa Soto (Colombia), Aga Woszczynska (Poland), Jela Hasler (Switzerland), as well as hundreds of other up-and-coming filmmakers.
FEST also includes a series of other activities that run parallel to the festival, in particular, FEST – Training Ground (one of Europe’s largest film forums) and FEST – Pitching Forum (film project competition), and others. For more information please visit our website at www.fest.pt
