A Celebration of Independent Cinema in the Heart of Prague
Founded in 2016, the Prague Independent Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual celebration of independent cinema, bringing together filmmakers, actors, artists, and film lovers from around the world.
The festival takes place at the legendary Lucerna Cinema, one of Prague’s most historic and atmospheric venues. More than a series of screenings, PIFF is an international meeting place where filmmakers and audiences can discover original films, exchange ideas, and connect across cultures.
Over the years, the festival has welcomed filmmakers and distinguished guests from around the world, including renowned actors Lazar Ristovski, Ed Stoppard, and Artur Smolyaninov.
PIFF celebrates films made with imagination, talent, artistic freedom, and a distinctive vision. We believe that great cinema is not defined by budget, production scale, or industry connections, but by originality and the filmmaker's ability to bring a unique perspective to the screen.
We welcome films from all countries, budgets, and genres, including drama, comedy, thriller, horror, animation, documentary, and experimental cinema. We are particularly interested in original ideas, inventive cinematography, memorable performances, and films that challenge conventions or explore new possibilities in cinematic storytelling.
Our aim is to give filmmakers the freedom to experiment, take creative risks, and present work that audiences might not encounter elsewhere.
PIFF has a special appreciation for auteur cinema and filmmakers with a distinctive artistic vision. We admire directors such as Orson Welles, Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, and Andrei Tarkovsky, whose work has expanded the possibilities of cinema.
Their films demonstrate that cinema can be much more than storytelling: it can be a deeply personal form of artistic expression.
We are equally interested in discovering contemporary filmmakers who are developing their own cinematic language. Supporting emerging talent and introducing new voices to international audiences is an essential part of our mission.
Lazar Ristovski receiving his Grand Prix for the film Train Driver's Diary in 2017.
PIFF is about people as much as it is about films. We aim to create a welcoming environment where filmmakers can meet, exchange experiences, engage with audiences, and establish lasting professional and personal connections.
PIFF has also recognized an impressive range of international filmmakers and performers, with festival awards going to artists including Anthony Head, Mickey Rourke, Lena Olin, Lazar Ristovski, Kostadin Bonev, Anna Eriksson, and John Musker, among many others.
With its rich artistic heritage and vibrant cultural atmosphere, Prague provides an inspiring setting for this international gathering.
All submitted films are viewed by a jury of film professionals. Our selection and awards recognize artistic achievement rather than production budgets, commercial success, or industry status.
We value originality, innovative cinematography, strong performances, compelling storytelling, and, above all, a distinctive artistic voice.
The festival culminates in an award ceremony celebrating outstanding achievements in independent filmmaking and recognizing films that have made a lasting impression on the jury.
The Prague Independent Film Festival was founded on a simple principle: independent cinema matters.
We believe filmmakers deserve the opportunity to present their work to international audiences, regardless of their resources or position in the film industry. Our mission is to support artistic freedom, encourage experimentation, discover emerging talent, and foster international collaboration.
We welcome filmmakers with original stories, unconventional ideas, and distinctive visual styles to submit their work and become part of PIFF.
Come to Prague. Discover independent cinema. Meet filmmakers from around the world.
We truly are independent.
THE FESTIVAL:
The International “Cinema Povero” Film Festival is open to everybody: rich film-makers, poor film-makers of any gender or religion all welcome provided they have developed a beautiful, original idea on a limited budget.
The Ojo Indómito International Film Festival is a platform dedicated to independent and auteur cinema, promoting a critical, territorial, and socially engaged perspective. We seek independent works produced outside the major film industries, with a particular interest in memory, human rights, and the realities of communities and their territories.
Categories
Fiction and Documentary:Works with a free, critical, or community-oriented approach.
Children’s and Family Cinema: Audiovisual stories created for children and family audiences.
Animation: Animated productions using any technique or format.
Experimental and Other Formats: Alternative audiovisual languages, artistic explorations, and hybrid works.
Mountain, Nature and Territory Cinema: Stories about life in the mountains, adventure sports, natural environments, rural life, and territories.
Human Rights and Memory: Works focused on the defense of fundamental rights, historical memory, and social justice.
General Requirements
Open to national and international works in short film, medium-length film, and feature film formats.
The maximum permitted duration is 120 minutes (2 hours).
The "Festival Cortos para Tiempos largos" is a proposal for the training, creation and circulation of audiovisual content carried out by young Colombians since 2020 with a clear purpose, to connect people and stories. The festival is not looking for winners, it is conceived as a space for the dissemination and visibility of audiovisual products, carried out for academic and non-profit purposes, where all those who wish to be part of a great story can participate.
Napoli Horror Festival Corti 2026 is a film competition dedicated to horror and thriller short films, organized by Le Streghe del Palco s.r.l. as part of Napoli Horror Festival 2026 – L’Arte Generata dalla Paura – Special Edition.
The competition aims to explore the theme of fear through audiovisual storytelling and to promote filmmakers, directors and emerging creative talents.
Fiction short films with a maximum running time of 20 minutes, including credits, are eligible. Submitted films must explore fear through the different expressions of the horror and thriller genres, including elements of mystery and noir.
Selected films will take part in the final stage of the competition, which will be held in Naples at il Parco San Laise - Ex Base Nato.
Participation in the competition is free of charge.
The Department of Culture of the Municipality of Mentana, organizes the seventh edition of the historical audiovisual Festival "STORY IN SHORT".
The idea was born because our territory is rich in testimonies, from the pre-Roman era up to the Risorgimento: the enhancement of this heritage therefore also passes through a film festival that collects the works of authors who have ventured into an area that is not very 'frequented' such as reconstruction and historical analysis through short films, documentaries and audio-documentaries.
There are no content limits set for participation in the festival: all of History will be the subject of the works presented.
The jury will reserve the right to select the works to be screened in the event that the number of works presented exceeds the times and possibilities of programming.
All the selected works will be presented and the author will be able to tell his work to the audience in the room.
DOCUMED - MEDITERRANEAN DOCUMENTARY CINEMA FESTIVAL
IN TUNISIA
9th Edition - 2026
DocuMed – Mediterranean Documentary Cinema Festival in Tunisia, organized annually by the Tunisian Documentary Cinema Association, offers screenings of creative documentaries from countries around the Mediterranean. It aims to promote the influence and dissemination of documentary films in Tunisia and to promote exchanges between professionals, creators and the public in a spirit of openness to anthropological, cultural and social diversity.
DocuMed:
- Carries humanist values, based on openness to other cultures, freedom of creation and sharing.
- Demonstrates its belonging to the world, its openness to its Maghreb, Arab and Mediterranean geographical and cultural context.
- Allows documentary cinema, as a form of questioning the world, humans and art, to participate in debates on ideas, knowledge, representations and imaginations.
- Encourages the public for the documentary film genre and allows as many people as possible to access theoretical and practical knowledge of documentary creation.
- Promotes exchange, helps to think and gives food for thought by providing access to representations of Tunisian realities and the world.
SHORT/AGE - Shortfilms for a New Age is a Portuguese cinema project created to promote, consolidate and strength short cinema in its different dimensions: filmmaking, production, screenwriting, and the ideas they inspire.
This effort began in 2012 with the first edition of the festival.
Since then, our team has organised almost 250 film screenings, showcasing more than 900 short films from around the globe, cultivating a loyal audience in the small but charming city of Viseu, in the center of Portugal.
The physical presence of the directors it's what distinguishes these sessions, as well as the relevant and full-of-content Q&A.
We have already welcomed more than 500 guests from the film crews.
Every year we honor the Best Portuguese Film and the Best International Film screened at our competition sessions, which take place throughout the year.
In 2020, responding to the growing audience demand and the need to broaden our scope, we started the promotion of screenwriting with 'Novos Argumentos' which invited 24 renowned authors to write and publish their scripts, accompanied by original illustrations and soundtracks.
Recently, we opened the 2026 edition and expect to receive more than 100 submissions from screenwriters nationwide.
This unparalleled initiative's results are published both online and in physical book form, providing a platform for fresh and diverse voices in Portuguese cinema.
Beyond all this projects, we maintain a comprehensive directory of over 200 Portuguese short films available for free viewing at shortfilmsforanewage.com
Our podcast, Conversa Curta, regularly produces episodes that offer continuous and enriching access to the thoughts and visions of guest filmmakers.
Each phase of our journey has built upon the last, culminating in a vibrant, multifaceted festival that celebrates the richness of short cinema.
We invite filmmakers and producers worldwide to join us, share their stories, and become part of our thriving cinematic community.
8th Prize for short fiction films in Catalan. Only works in their original Catalan-language version will be accepted. Films without dialogue are not eligible.
FICAS is now FICSA.
In 2026, the Festival Internacional de Cinema Ambiental e Sustentabilidade presents a renewed identity and becomes FICSA – Festival Internacional de Cinema, Sustentabilidade e Ambiente
This is a rebranding of the existing festival, preserving its history, mission and commitment to environmental cinema while creating a broader programme structure.
Specific objectives:
To screen and award fiction, animation or documentary films by filmmakers that promote debate on the preservation of regional, national and international forests or other relevant themes: climate change, biodiversity, conservation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, among others.
Films that promote environmental awareness and inspire positive change.
Catergories:
1-Short fiction film
2-Documentary short film
3-Animated Short Film
4-Sustainable Short Film
Lens Dans is a Video Dance Festival dedicated to promoting, cultivating, and celebrating video dance projects created by artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
Lens Dans brings together screenings of selected video dance projects from our open call, live performances, workshops, conferences, open mics… AND MUCH MORE!
The first edition took place at La Vallée in Brussels on 11, 12, and 13 June 2021, becoming one of the first cultural events to take place after lockdown. Since then, Lens Dans has continued to grow, with three more editions held across Brussels and Barcelona!
For our 4th edition we are coming back to Barcelona, Spain from November 12-14th, 2026 and Brussels, Belgium on the 28th of November!
This year, we are launching OPEN CALLS for VIDEO DANCE and LIVE PERFORMANCE projects. The festival will feature selected film screenings, live performances, music, creative exchanges, conferences, and more.
APPLY and COME JOIN US for Lens Dans 2026!
For our guidelines and more information about how to register and submit your video dance projects, please visit our website: www.lensdansfest.com
Instagram: lensdansfest
Facebook: Lens Dans Festival
2027 CALL FOR ENTRIES
My First Festival #12 - Solar Edition
A film festival to imagine sustainable futures from childhood
My First Festival (MPF) is the first international film, audiovisual, and new technologies festival for children and youth in Peru. We sow a love of cinema as a tool for social transformation through audiovisual and media literacy. Working with, by, and for children, as agents of change, allows us, through a coordinating role, to contribute to the development of society.
Our cross-cutting theme is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), using a community-based approach to build a sustainable present and future with a positive social impact.
MPF invites you to participate in its 11th edition, which will take place throughout 2026 in different regions of Peru. Building on our first event in Lima, which will take place from February 21 to 28, 2026, both in person and virtually in public spaces and cultural centers, with an innovative proposal that includes 100% solar-powered film screenings.
The festival will reach urban, rural, and hard-to-reach areas of Peru, with open, free screenings and the active participation of children, adolescents, teachers, families, and indigenous communities.
The theme is open, and films from around the world are accepted on our platforms.
24·90 FC is a film festival devoted to football, in Medellín, Colombia. Cinema for football people, football for cinema people.
Four days in a city where football plays at home on every corner, devoted to football cinema from around the world. One condition holds the programme together: football must be present, whether as the core of the story, as its trigger, or as the setting where it unfolds. Format, running time and cinematic language are free.
Organised by Corporación Cinéfagos, 15 years running film festivals in Antioquia.
National short films up to 15 minutes. Free entry for works from Argentina (Check IG: @fic_ve).
International short films up to 15 minutes.
National feature films over 31 minutes long. (Check Instagram: @fic_ve)
International feature films over 31 minutes long.
ECOS: dedicated to environmental topics.
The 4th International Film Festival on Aging: Glimpses Through Time is a university initiative organized by the Interdisciplinary Center for Aging (CIEn) at the Universidad de la República de Uruguay, with support from the Secretaría de Extensión y Cultura Universitaria, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México. It involves collaboration with various universities in the region and government agencies related to older adults from different countries.
The Festival aims to draw attention to themes related to aging and old age as part of our vital and socio-historical time. We start from a paradigm that considers that the images and representations of older adults—including those in audiovisual productions—affect how we live in relation to aging, how we perceive ourselves as aging individuals, and how we interact with older adults. We believe that the construction of collective spaces to think about aging process can contribute to build non-stigmatized social representations.
We invite you to make or present short films that, through their narratives, characters, and/or language, contribute to exploring, understanding, and/or portraying aspects of aging on individuals, populations, institutions, etc., and/or intergenerational relationships.
The festival takes place in person simultaneously at various locations in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain and Mexico, as well as online via YouTube.
Five edition of the Rural and Mountain Festival of Cervera de Pisuerga.
This festival was born out of the need to give visibility to rural and mountain works. To value the natural environment from a rural, ethnographic, sporting and heritage value point of view.
Call for Fiction and Documentary Short Films for the 13th Edition of the Cap Spartel Film Festival
This Year’s Theme: Cinema: A Mirror of the World
Cinema acts as a powerful mirror of humanity, reflecting social changes, fears, hopes, and the contradictions of our societies throughout the ages. Much more than mere entertainment, it shapes our perception of the world, documents history, and explores the human condition, capturing the complexity of reality.
Edition 1 — Gran Canaria, Spain · March 17–21, 2027
NO FUTURE Film Festival celebrates bold independent cinema capable of moving audiences and generating meaningful conversations.
NO FUTURE Film Festival is an international touring short film festival that celebrates independent cinema as a force for dialogue, awareness and social change.
The first edition (2027) will take place across four European cities:
• Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)
• San Marino
• Pontedera, Tuscany (Italy)
• Málaga (Spain) – Grand Final
Each city hosts its own Official Selection, International Jury and Awards Ceremony. The winners of the first three editions automatically become part of the Grand Final in Málaga.
We welcome short films of every genre and style. What matters most is the ability to tell authentic stories with artistic quality and emotional impact.
NO FUTURE is more than a film festival. It is a cultural project created by Asociación Proyecto Habla to promote cinema as a tool against bullying, violence and social exclusion.
A significant percentage of the festival's net proceeds supports Fundación Olivares (Málaga), helping children affected by cancer and their families.
If you believe cinema can leave a lasting impact beyond the screen, we would be honoured to discover your work.
Toronto Shorts International Film Festival is the largest short film festival in Canada.
Toronto Shorts is a non-profit organization that provides a showcase for the best short films from filmmakers around the world.
We believe that short-form cinema and its creators should have their own premier film festival in Toronto deserving similar recognition given to the feature film.
Toronto Shorts is where films from all genres intersect. The heart of the festival is the quality and scope of extraordinary film programming which consists of a wide spectrum of categories from high to low budget films under 45 minutes.
Now in our 15th year, the festival has become a career stepping stone, establishing a tradition of discovering and promoting filmmakers who have gone on to Academy Awards Nominees, including :
2021 Oscar Nominee 'The Present' by Farah Nabulsi
2019 Oscar Nominee ‘Weekends’ by Trevor Jimenez
2018 Oscar Nominees 'Watu Wote - All of Us' (Germany) and 'The Eleven O'Clock' (Australia)
Toronto stands as the largest media market in Canada, it boasts the world-renowned Royal Ontario Museum, the massive Art Gallery of Ontario, the Soulpepper Theatre Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Toronto Shorts international Film Festival.
We showcase the best short films and its filmmakers from around the world.
The Amiens Festival of Film on Affective and Sexual Education (FFEVAS), organized by La Fabrique d’Images, will hold its second edition from May 10 to 14, 2027.
As the first festival in France dedicated to affective and sexual education through cinema, it presents an international selection of short films (fiction, documentary, animation) addressing themes such as consent, gender equality, sexual and gender diversity, sexual health, STI prevention, and the fight against gender-based and sexual violence.
Selected films will be screened before professional juries as well as youth juries. Several awards will be presented.
