Festival Internacional de Cine con Medios Alternativos (11)

Festival start: 19 November 2026      Festival end: 28 November 2026

The International Alternative Media Film Festival (FICMA) promotes and disseminates the creation of films and audiovisual projects with new digital narratives and disruptive technologies, created with a variety of devices such as smartphones, DSLR cameras , GoPro cameras, Blackmagic Pocket cameras, drones, and others. It utilizes technologies such as virtual reality, digital animation, and artificial intelligence, among others, and features exhibition media such as projection, VR headsets , and streaming platforms .

This year, with our Eleventh edition, we will celebrate the different forms and techniques of cinematic expression we have brought to the public over these past 10 years, as well as incorporating new projects that drive the future of audiovisuals.

FICMA will take place from November 19 to 28, 2026, in Mexico City.

REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION OF A FILM OR PROJECT REQUIRES FULL ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RULES OF THE FESTIVAL WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTION.

• The jury will be made up of professionals from the film, culture and technology industries, and its decision will be final.

• The winners of the different competition categories and the honorable mentions will be announced at the closing ceremony and via email, website and/or social media of FICMA.

• Jury members will not be allowed to participate in the different competitive categories of the festival.

• No member of FICMA may be part of the jury or compete in the festival.

• The official FICMA award consists of a printed and/or digital recognition with official validity, as well as prizes in some categories from our sponsors, which will be revealed on social media and the official website.

• FICMA reserves the right to award honorable mentions to works it deems worthy of them.

• Participation: Filmmakers, producers, collectives and distributors of any nationality may participate, without age limit.

• Registration period: Registration will be open from Monday, April 6th until 11:59 PM on Friday, July 31st, 2026 (Mexico City time).

Projects submitted outside of this deadline will not be accepted.

• Production date: Film works and audiovisual projects produced between 2024 and 2026 will be accepted.

• Official platform: Registration will be done exclusively through Festhome. Projects will not be accepted through any other means.

• Use of Alternative Media: FICMA is a festival dedicated to exploring new tools. Therefore, the call for entries is open to projects that use unconventional devices or emerging technologies as a creative engine.

• Works made entirely with high-end cinema cameras or traditional analog formats, such as: Red One, Scarlet X, Epic, Arri Alexa, Sony F6, 35 mm or 16 mm, will not be accepted unless their use is integrated or intervened by some alternative means or advanced digital technology.

• When registering, participants must clearly specify what devices, software, or creative media they used.

• It is mandatory to have supporting material (photographs, stills or behind-the-scenes/making-of videos) that prove the use of said media, which may be requested in the second stage of the process.

• language and Subtitling: In order to guarantee accessibility and correct understanding of the works in all our venues, it is mandatory that every registered work, regardless of the original language of the dialogues (including projects in Spanish), must have Spanish subtitles.

• Selection Process: Participation consists of three mandatory stages: 1. Registration, 2. Consideration, and 3. Official Selection. Failure to meet the requirements in any of these phases will result in the project's exclusion.

Screenings will be held in person and/or online. The festival reserves the right to program films in one or both formats, as well as to determine the venues and times according to the festival's needs.

CATEGORIES

WORLD QUADRANTS
• International Feature Film
• International Feature Documentary
• International Fiction Short Film
• International Documentary Short Film:

NEW MEDIA
• Experimental Short Film
• VR Projects and/or 360 Videos
• Artificial Intelligence Projects
• Digital Animation Short Film (No Stop Motion)

MEXICAN NARRATORS
• Mexican Feature Film
• Mexican Feature-length Documentary
• Mexican Short Fiction Film
• Mexican Short Documentary Film
• University Short Fiction Film
• University Documentary Short Film

DIGITAL VISIONS
• Vertical narrative
• Commercials
• Video Game Cinematic
• Videoclip Musical
•

*FICMA RESERVES THE AUTHORITY TO REASSIGN PROJECTS TO THE CATEGORY IT DEEMS MOST SUITABLE FOR THE OFFICIAL SELECTION*

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Each work must be consistent with the festival's identity. Films and projects submitted in all categories must be created using devices such as smartphones, tablets, action cameras, drones, DSLR cameras, Blackmagic Pocket, Osmo, 360° cameras, or other alternative techniques (Zoom, Parkview cameras, surveillance cameras, digital animations, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, among others).

Selection criteria include technological innovation and the use of digital tools such as artificial intelligence, VFX, advanced CGI, virtual production, and blockchain, among others. Overall production quality, formats and media employed, and narrative originality will also be considered. While the theme is open, priority will be given to proposals related to artificial intelligence, transhumanism, science fiction, social media, cyberbullying, digital ethics, dystopias, cyberpunk, the metaverse, and other related topics.

Works shot entirely with Red One, Scarlet X, Epic, Arri Alexa, Sony F6, 35mm, or 16mm cameras without the use of any alternative equipment will not be accepted.

VIDEO FORMATS

To ensure the quality of the projections and the correct management of materials, the projects must comply with the following technical standards:

• Video format: .MP4 or .MOV (H.264 or ProRes 422 codec).
• For VR and/or 360° video projects, APK format or formats compatible with commercial viewers are supported. (A detailed installation and execution guide must be attached.)
• Resolution: Minimum Full HD (1920 x 1080). (Or the best quality your device or camera allows.)
• Aspect Ratio: Horizontal (16:9).
• For the Vertical Narrative and Commercial Spots categories, the vertical format (9:16) will be accepted.
• Image Quality: The file must be clean, without watermarks or timestamps.

NO PHYSICAL COPIES OR CHANGES TO THE REGISTERED VERSION WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHIN THE FESTIVAL.


SUBTITLING REQUIREMENTS

• Without exception, all works containing dialogue (including those originally in Spanish) must be subtitled to ensure accessibility:
• Embedded subtitles: If subtitles are included in the video, they must be in Spanish.
• External Files: Files in .srt or .vtt format are accepted. These can be submitted in Spanish or english.
REQUESTED MATERIAL
It is essential that, once registered, participants prepare the following information and materials. These will only be requested from projects that advance to the second stage of the process:
• Full technical specifications: (Title in its original language and the language that appears on the poster, Synopsis, main credits, specifications of alternative media used, etc.).
• Film stills: (Minimum 3 high-resolution images, 300 dpi).
• Photograph of the director.
• Official poster: In PNG or JPG format (preferably with a 2:3 aspect ratio).
• Trailer: (Optional).


SELECTION AND EXHIBITION PROCESS

Participation in the festival is governed by a three-stage mandatory process. Failure to submit materials or information at any stage will result in automatic exclusion from the project.
To make the selection, the committee will evaluate the projects taking into account the production values of the film (script, direction, theme, photography, editing, image quality), devices used to record, use of alternative technologies, creativity and originality.

SELECTION STAGES

Step 1: Registration

Those interested must register exclusively through the official platform: Festhome . The registration period runs from April 6 to July 31, 2026. Projects will not be accepted through any other means.
The submitted version must be the final cut of your project; NO NEW VERSIONS OF THE PROJECT WILL BE ACCEPTED ONCE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FESTIVAL (color correction, sound design, credits, etc.).

Stage 2: Consideration

Once the call for entries has closed, the organizing committee will contact the project managers of the shortlisted projects via email. At this stage, they will be asked to complete a Google Forms form with the technical specifications, press materials (mentioned in the previous section), and the final projection file (clean, without watermarks, and with the corresponding subtitles).

An immediate response is required, with a maximum tolerance of 10 days. Don't forget to check your spam, social, notifications, and promotions folders.


Stage 3: Selection

After verifying that all requirements have been met, the Official Selection and the Competition Team will be determined. The results will be published exclusively on our official social media channels during the last week of October 2026.

This publication is the only official way to confirm participation in the festival.

EXHIBITION CONDITIONS

The screenings will be held in person and/or online. The festival reserves the right to program the films in either format or both simultaneously.
FICMA will define the venues, schedules and exhibition dates according to the individual logistical needs of each venue.

Once the participation has been accepted and the Official Selection has been published, the work cannot be withdrawn from the festival program.

THE PROGRAMMING MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE FOR REASONS BEYOND THE FESTIVAL'S CONTROL.

-ANY VIOLATION OF THE REGULATIONS AND CONDITIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE GRANTS THE FESTIVAL THE RIGHT TO ELIMINATE THE PARTICIPANT FROM THE SELECTION AT ANY STAGE OF THE PROCESS-
REGISTRATION

• Registration will begin on Monday, April 6th and will close at 11:59 PM on Friday, July 31st of this year, Mexico City time, with no possibility of extension.

• Filmmakers will be able to register and pay the registration fees for their projects through the Festhome platforms

• Participants may submit one or more films. Corporate or government videos will not be accepted.
• Once a film has been registered with FICMA and subsequently selected for the official selection, the project will become part of the Eleventh Edition FICMA 2026 and cannot be withdrawn or cancelled from the final program.

JURY AND prizes

• The jury will be made up of professionals from the film, culture and technology industries, and its decision will be final.
• The winners of the different competition categories and the honorable mentions will be announced at the closing ceremony and via email, website and/or social media of FICMA.
• Jury members will not be allowed to participate in the different competitive categories of the festival.
• No member of FICMA may be part of the jury or compete in the festival.
• The official FICMA award consists of a printed and/or digital recognition with official validity, as well as prizes in some categories from our sponsors, which will be revealed on social media and the official website.
• FICMA reserves the right to award honorable mentions to works it deems worthy of them.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
• The person registering the work (director, producer, or distributor) declares that they are the legitimate owner of the intellectual property rights to the project or have the necessary authorizations for its exhibition. FICMA is not responsible for third-party claims arising from the unauthorized use of music, scripts, images, or other protected materials.
• FICMA does not grant any type of financial compensation for exhibition rights of the films that participate in the official selection or in competition.
• By accepting the selection, participants authorize the festival to use fragments of the work (maximum 10% of its duration or the official trailer) and press materials for promotional, dissemination and archiving purposes of the festival in print, digital and television media.
• The films selected for the official selection will become part of the FICMA digital collection, which will be used only for dissemination, cultural and artistic purposes, both in this edition and in future events.
• If the registered project presents internal conflicts or conflicts with third parties that affect the image or organization of the festival, as well as the interaction between the public and/or other participants (whether in person or digitally), it will be automatically disqualified from the selection.
• Any situation not covered in this call for entries will be resolved by the FICMA Organizing Committee. The decision of the committee and the jury will be final.
• The festival reserves the right to cancel or modify the program and exhibition formats due to force majeure or causes beyond the organization's control.
• Submitting a project implies full acceptance of the terms and conditions described in this document. Failure to comply with any of the above points will invalidate the project's participation at any stage of the festival.
• The results of the official selection and competition will be published throughout the last week of October in press outlets, digital platforms, and FICMA's social media. Those selected will be notified by email and/or WhatsApp.

• The films in the official selection will be part of traveling exhibitions and film series in exhibition agreements with other festivals, institutions and digital platforms with the required digital security.


THE REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION OF A FILM OR PROJECT IMPLIES FULL ACCEPTANCE OF THE RULES, CONDITIONS AND REGULATIONS OF THE FESTIVAL.
The FICMA organizing committee will resolve any issues not covered in the call for entries. For further information, please write to the following email addresses:
progficma@gmail.com / coordinacionficma@gmail.com