Blog: Film festivals

50 Film Festivals worth the entry fee - MovieMaker Magazine

20 essential International Film Festivals - MovieMaker Magazine

10 most exciting European Film Festivals - The Guardian

Mallorca International Film Festival enters its 13th edition, with a clear mission statement; BRIDGING CULTURES – BRIDGING PEOPLE. This is reflected in the film's storytelling, the shooting locations, or the cast and crew. The idea is to screen films that are inclusive, diverse, and invite the audience to experience a variety of languages and cultures.

MIFF is recognized as one of the fastest-growing international film festivals in Europe, using independent film to shape a creative community, allowing filmmakers to feel inspired, network, and thrive in this idyllic Mediterranean island paradise.

THE hub for networking, MIFF brings together the brightest local and international minds in cinema in Mallorca’s buzzing and the culturally rich city of Palma. For seven days EMIFF’s program is curated to showcase a culturally diverse, inclusive and provocative mix of feature films, short films, documentaries, music videos, films for kids, experimental films, animation shorts, student films and a feature film and short film screenplay competition.

Some of our resent programs included award winning films such as:

Triangle of Sadness
Corsage
Un Amor
Perfect Days
The Promised Land

With competitive screenings unfolding at the most striking island locations, MIFF is an ideal place for filmmakers to rub shoulders with industry professionals at the festival’s Producers Club, Cinematography Focus, Pitch Forum, and numerous workshops. Speakers and mentors have included Oscar Winners Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, Melissa Leo, Director Ruben Östlund, DP ED Lachman, Actor Mads Mikkelsen, Director Isabel Coixet and many more.

MIFF is proud to be part of MovieMaker’s list “TOP 50 Film Festivals Worth The Entry fee” SEVEN years in a row, as well as appearing continuously on the 100 Best Reviewed Film Festival list on Freeway, ranking in the top 1.5% of more than 10,000 film festivals and creative markets around the world.

Launched in 1980, our festival, the first of its category in South Korea, has grown and evolved from the Korean Short Film Festival, to become the Busan Asian Short Film Festival in 2000 and eventually the Busan International Short Film Festival in 2010 (www.bisff.org).

Taking place late April at the Busan Cinema Center, BISFF delivers a dozen awards in three competitive sections (International Competition, Korean Competition and Operation Kino) while also presenting several curated, non-competitive sections including: Guest Country, Korean Shorts, Asian Shorts, Prism, 3D Cinema, etc.

BISFF is a member of the Short Film Conference (http://shortfilmconference.com/) and of the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema https://netpacasia.org). In 2018, it became South Korea’s first Oscar®-qualifying festival.

We are NGO of film enthusiasts named as Nirvan Foundation.
We are on a mission of providing platform for anyone who wants to showcase their artwork to the world. As the first step to this mission, we have formulated and sustained Jyotiba Phule International Film Festival

In 1855, Mahatma Jotiba Phule wrote his play Tritiya Ratna (Third Gem), which is also called ‘Tritiya Netra’ (The Third Eye). This play was the harbinger of social theatre. That is why Phule is known as the father of not only Marathi but also Indian social theatre. He had written this play with the objective of bringing about social change. Phule was an active social worker and thinker. He not only theorized social change but also worked for it and built a movement for social reform.
This Film Festival is small tribute to Jyotiba Phule's work!

The 5th Greece International Film Festival is coming with screenings of the best films. The GIFF is a screening festival that will take place in a live audience in Athens.

We are a team of filmmakers, producers and distributors and we have been professionally involved in cinema and theater for over 25 years.
The Best Short, Mid-Length and Feature Film of the Festival will win the Greek Trophy's and will be awarded to the directors at the closing ceremony.

The ultimate goal of the GIFFestival is to make it accessible to everyone.

Greece International Film Festival provides Trophys, Honorable Mentions and Laurels to the best projects of the participants.

Films
Music Videos - Dance Videos
Screenplays - Theatrical Plays

Laurel

The tradition of awarding a laurel wreath to the winner began in the Pythias at Delphi in Greece in, the 6th century BC.

They were organized in honor of the god Apollo, who usually appeared with a laurel wreath in memory of the nymph Daphne who transformed herself into a plant to escape his amorous moods. The plant was named "Daphne".

The International Film Festival of Greece opens its doors to the audience for the fifth time to present domestic and international films, videos and screenplays .

The last events of the festival took place on 28th of September in the center of Athens with screenings at the historic Cinema "Iris" (Cinema Sector), and hosted short and feature films from around the world. The festival screened fiction films, documentaries and animations by Greek and foreign directors with free entrance. A significant number of films had their world, European and Greek premieres in Greece.

https://youtu.be/jb4s6fVTzdU

The Greece International Film Festival aspires to function as a channel of communication between artists, directors, screenwriters and producers of the international and domestic film industry.

A special place in the activities of the GIFF is held by the Competition Department of Greek and International Short, Mid-Length, Feature Films, Music Video, Dance Video, Screenplays, Theatrical Plays, which supports new works of art to find their way and get to know their audience.

Το Διεθνές Κινηματογραφικό Φεστιβάλ της Ελλάδος θα ανοίξει για 5 φορά τις πόρτες του στο κοινό και θα παρουσιάσει ταινίες της εγχώριας και παγκόσμιας παραγωγής. Οι τελευταίες εκδηλώσεις του φεστιβάλ έλαβαν χώρα την 28η και 29η Σεπτεμβρίου στον Κινηματογραφικό Τομέα στην "ΙΡΙΔΑ", και φιλοξένησε μικρού, μεσαίου και μεγάλου μήκους ταινίες απ’ όλο τον κόσμο. Στο φεστιβάλ προβλήθηκαν ταινίες μυθοπλασίας, ντοκιμαντέρ και animation Ελλήνων και ξένων σκηνοθετών με δωρεάν είσοδο. Σημαντικός αριθμός των ταινιών έκαναν την παγκόσμια, την ευρωπαϊκή και την ελληνική πρεμιέρα τους στη χώρα μας. Επίσης, στο φεστιβάλ συμμετείχαν Music Video, Dance Video, Κινηματογραφικά Σενάρια και Θεατρικά Κείμενα.

Το Greece International Film Festival φιλοδοξεί να λειτουργήσει ως δίαυλος επικοινωνίας μεταξύ των καλλιτεχνών, των σκηνοθετών, των σεναριογράφων και των παραγωγών της διεθνούς και εγχώριας κινηματογραφικής βιομηχανίας.

Μια ξεχωριστή θέση στις δράσεις του Greece International Film Festival καταλαμβάνει το Διαγωνιστικό Τμήμα Ελληνικών και Διεθνών Ταινιών Μικρού, Μεσαίου και Μεγάλου Μήκους, Κινηματογραφικών Σεναρίων και Θεατρικών Κειμένων, το οποίο υποστηρίζει τα νέα καλλιτεχνήματα ώστε να βρουν τον δρόμο τους και να συναντήσουν το κοινό τους.

A.P.S. Callysto presents the first edition of the East Naples Short Film Contest as part of the Cinematopedia project, co-funded by the Creative Europe & Media program, an initiative aimed at current students and those who graduated no more than three years ago from film schools in Italy.

The contest aims to give voice to the talent and creativity of the young generation of authors and filmmakers, through meeting and participation, bringing out themes of interest to contemporary society and originality in storytelling.

The International Film Festival - El Cine Suma Paz is an event that takes place for the first time and brings together cinematographic content related to the Culture of Peace and the protection of the environment.

Our up coming LIVE event will take place at Maya Cinemas on August 10, 2024.

SFO Short Film Festival is dedicated to promoting short films created by College Film Students, High School Students, and Independent Filmmakers. Awards are given to symbolize a record of accomplishment and Distribution is offered for marketing.

SHORT FILM CATEGORY SUBMISSION: (Minimum length 2 minutes; No longer than 30 minutes, including credits.)

1) Independent Filmmaker Short
2) Film Student Short
3) High School Short
4) Animation Short

SHORT FILM GENRES:

Short Film: Drama/Action/Crime/Suspense/Thriller
Short Film: Comedy/Romance
Short Film: Horror/ Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Short Film: Animation

Welcome to the CHENNAI WORLD CINEMA FESTIVAL-2025!

Chennai World Cinema Festival successfully held its inaugural event on September 19th-25th, 2025.

700 seater Sri Devi Karumari Theater.
A widescreen is like an IMAX theatre.
The theatre has a 4K projection and Dolby Atmos sound system.

Three days,
18 screenings,
27 Short Films & Feature Films,
All visitors were admitted free of charge.

The 1st Chennai World Cinema Festival was held from October 4 to 10, 2024.

200 seater Prasad Preview Theater.

The theatre has a 4K projection and Dolby Atmos sound system.

3300 submissions from 114 countries.

6000 visitors.

Seven-day screening.

Eight venues.

38 Short Films and Movies.

Ambassador of Venezuela's two-day participation.

Direct participation of 42 foreign and domestic filmmakers and celebrities.

Chennai World Cinema Festival grandly celebrated its first year.

The Festival (CWCF) is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema.

All visitors were admitted free of charge.
CWCF juries comprise filmmakers, film critics, academics and industry figures.

We work hard to serve our filmmakers!
Awards are given in several categories across several genres, including features & shorts.

The Chennai World Cinema Festival has gained an excellent reputation with filmmakers and film fans,
Chennai World Cinema Festival with live screenings in Chennai, India.

Our mission and goal is to discover and promote talented filmmakers worldwide and present them to the public. Therefore, our festival is a brilliant opportunity to participate in international and Indian competitions.

The festival is created in cooperation with the Indian Film Industry. This year, the festival prepares several engaging educational activities for students, such as analysing films from the CWCF-2025, and interviews with festival guests.

Chennai World Cinema Festival is a seven-day celebration of film. All films are screened in a cinema with full surround sound and crystal-clear visuals.

* Current award categories and prizes are subject to change.

VISIONI FANTASTICHE (Fantastic Visions) is a film festival addressed to schools of all types and levels focusing on fantastic cinema and all its declinations, ranging from sci-fi to fairy-tale, mystery, adventure, fantasy, using specific languages depending on targeted ages. As specified by Plan Mic – MIM, the purpose of VISIONI FANTASTICHE is to contribute contrasting iconic illiteracy through a Festival project where the educational, formative and spectacular elements find their point of conjunction.

Mostra Dr. Mabuse is an international short film festival taking place in Barcelona for three days. It is conceived as a festival open to new artists as well as experienced. A jury consisting of professionals in the audiovisual world, teachers and students of film festivals and other collaborators carry out the selection of films to be screened in the three sessions that are scheduled during the month of June in Barcelona. The project was initiated twenty years ago and has been growing and multiplying the number of films screened and registered, having received works of relevant directors such as JA Bayona, Nacho Vigalondo, Mateo Gil or Kike Maillo. Instead of just being an audiovisual festival, Dr. Mabuse is intended to be an homogeneous and free event, in which everyone can have a good time enjoying theater and cinema.

Welcome to Paradox, Pune

Paradox is an Independent film festival with live screenings and Award Ceremony, that happens every year in Pune, India. Five Years have been passed for from 2019 this festival has been taking place even during difficult times as we promised our Filmmakers to do so. We are facilitating our fifth Annual Festival in 2023. Our mission is intended to help make a stage for the filmmakers and support their skills and talents for a long time to come. The PISFF is amazingly energized for its grandstand season and plans on getting better compared to other film festivals in Pune.

PISFF helps autonomous movie producers to make and show their skills and to find and celebrate unprecedented movies and create free filmmaking. Our Jury group is searching for potential movies and producers for scheduled meetings with officials from the film and media business. PISFF will have screening occasions at the Pune with post-screening Q&A with executives, makers and entertainers and the open door for them to coordinate with industry experts at our networking occasions and workshops.

PISFF is back in another extended format in 2023. In the principal occasion of the new decade, go along with us for a couple of diversely hypnotizing films that imagine hyper vivid universes of experience on screen.

PISFF is built up as a means for supporting and advancing film movie producers everywhere throughout the world. Our central goal is to advance exceptional artists by giving a portal to extend their vocations in media outlets. We sparkle a light on the obscure artists of today, helping them turn into the praised movie producers of tomorrow.

Organized by Associazione Culturale “NO_NAME” with support of the Municipality of Pedara (Sicily, Italy), SICILY INTERNATIONAL SHORT LEAGUE, is a festival totally dedicated to short movies from all over the world, included in the annual program of “Via dei Corti - Festival Indipendente di Cinema Breve”.

The 8th edition of Sicily International Short League will take place among 8th and 24th of July in Pedara

Foreing authors are invited to send their short movies with italian subtitles. Info: shortleague@viadeicorti.it

CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival is traditionally organized in September each year, in the heart of the biggest North-Hungarian city. Since the first CineFest organized in 2004, it has become Hungary’s leading and most popular film festival. Our aim is to introduce young film-making talents from all over the world and to provide an opportunity for them to present their work. Films compete in long feature and short films sections, and there’s a so-called CineNewWave section (for animation and short films) exclusively for young filmmakers from Hungary. All the films in the competition are Hungarian premieres.

Our mission is to mediate cinematographic values on an international level. To achieve this, we provide professional help to the up growing filmmaker generation, we provide a meeting point for film professionals, and we are serving film-lovers with both new film premieres and historical cinematographic masterpieces.

We have a partnership with more than 10 European partner festivals.

Programs related to the festival:
- CineClassics film historical series
- Miskolc International Film Market
- meeting of partner festivals
- annual 2-day-long professional program of the Hungarian Art Cinema Association
- roundtable talks and conferences
- country focus screenings
- documentary professional day
- “Our Home: Miskolc” filmmaking workshop
- lifetime achievement awarding
- wreathing Emeric Pressburger’s birth house in Miskolc.

In the previous years, such world-famous filmmakers were our guests receiving CineFest’s Lifetime Achievement Award as István Szabó director, Agnieszka Holland director, Vilmos Zsigmond cinematographer, Károly Makk director, Claudia Cardinale actress, or Jiři Menzel director, Bille August director and George Lazenby actor. In 2019 Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave, in 2018 Krzysztof Zanussi, in 2017 Magdalena Vášáryová, in 2016 Juliette Binoche visited our festival and received our special award as Ambassador of European Cinema.

The film festival is organized by the CINE-MIS Nonprofit Ltd. which runs Miskolc City’s two art-cinema screens in the House of Arts that serves as the festival center. All festival screenings and related programs are free.

Contact:
office address: CINE-MIS Nonprofit Ltd., 3525 Miskolc, Kossuth Lajos u. 11., Hungary
telephone: 00 36 46 325 000
webpage: www.cinefest.hu
e-mail: cinemis@t-online.hu, info@cinefest.hu
festival director: Tibor Bíró

This international meeting, already a classic in Punta del Este, has some peculiarities that distinguish it from other Jewish Film Festivals in the world, due to the fact that it takes place in such a special seaside resort as Punta del Este, a meeting point where communities from different countries gather annually in Uruguay.

The Punta del Este Jewish Film Festival (Festival Internacional de Cine Judío de Uruguay, FICJU®) was born in 2003, with the purpose of generating a cultural, educational, didactic and illustrative space, oriented to promote the knowledge of the history of the Jewish people and its diverse cultures and traditions, thus seeking to strengthen our identity and integration through art.

Fiction films and documentaries with different perspectives of the Jewish theme are shown, spaces are organized for the analysis and reflection of the history, customs and cultures of our people around the world, and the memory of the Shoa (Holocaust) is constantly maintained.

We discover new aspects of our heritage and identity, as well as learn about the current conditions of the different Jewish communities around the world, fostering the integration of all Jewish people through the knowledge of our shared essence.

Thanks to the above, the Punta del Este Jewish Film Festival becomes a focus of tourist attraction, with an average of 2,500 attendees.

SMR13 INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

The SMR13 International Independent Film Festival is an annual, IMDb-certified, four (4)-day event held in the second half of November, in Saint-Mitre-Les-Remparts, in the south of France, near Marseille.

First and foremost, it's a physical festival, taking place in "La Manare", a dedicated performance hall with a total surface area of 1000m² and a capacity of 250 spectators.

The 9th edition of the SMR13 international independent film festival will take place from November XX to XX, 2024.

The festival stands out for its highly developed network, passionate members and trusted partnerships. It is a unique showcase for independent cinema, attracting professionals from all over the world.

Since its inception, the festival has been supported by a patron, an emblematic figure in independent cinema. John Carpenter (2018), director, screenwriter and composer (Halloween, The Thing, New York 1997...). Andréa Ferréol (2019), actress (La Grande Bouffe, Le Dernier Métro, La Scoumoune...). Francis Ford Coppola (2019), director and screenwriter (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Dracula...). Virginie Lemoine (2020), actress (Famille d'Accueil, Nos années parallèles, Oscar...). Sean S. Cunningham (2021), director and producer (Friday The 13th, Spring Break, DeepStar Six...). Patrice Leconte (2022 and 2023), director and producer (Les Bronzés, Les Spécialistes, Maigret...).

Underwater film festival in Neum, accept all movies filmed 50% of time underwater, in sea, ocean, lake, river, pool, bathroom etc....

From YouTube, Twitch, IGTV, TikTok, Spotify, Facebook and beyond, web content is king. And we want to celebrate you! ACTORS whether you are creating your own content or starring in other web series style show and video, this fest is for YOU!

IMDb qualifying!

After years of running Chicago Comedy Film Festival, LA Comedy Film Fest and America's Funniest Viral Videos, we see the need to add another event to our programming. Web content often gets lost in the traditional festival circuit and we're out to change that. In the Spring of 2022 LA Web Series Fest will all take part during LACFF! It's hard to predict what the "new normal" will be for events, but we plan to have this portion of LACFF at a fun live venue in 2022.

¡Hola! We are MADRIFF • Madrid Indie Film Festival, an international film festival with monthly screening events from Madrid, Spain, and member of the IBERIFF • Iberia Indie Film Festivals, which celebrates and showcases new productions and independent artists from all over the world in Madrid (MADRIFF), Barcelona (BARCIFF), València (VALÈIFF), Seville (SEVIFF), Lisbon (LISBIFF) and Montpellier (MONTIFF), that you can also find them here in Festhome.

MADRIFF also promotes the selected films on its official website www.iberiff.org and social media channels, where the nominees can share their nominations with their followers. Fiction, animation, documentary and experimental films of any genre and subject are welcome!