Blog: Film festivals

The International Sea Film Festival invites national and international documentary and cinematic productions that explore the seas and oceans as their central narrative thread, approaching these themes from scientific, cultural, and/or artistic perspectives, to participate in the 2027 Edition of the Festival.

FRAME Film Festival es un festival de cortometrajes itinerante, sin una única ubicación, que se celebrará en la provincia de Tarragona.

El FRAME Film Festival consta de dos fases.

• FASE CLASIFICATORIA
• FASE FINAL

El objetivo principal es difundir y promover la cinematografía en general y el cortometraje en particular, apoyando a las directoras y los directores de cortometrajes y creando un espacio donde puedan dar a conocer sus trabajos.

Pero sobre todo trabajamos para que las y los cineastas se sientan acogidos y vivan la experiencia de visitarnos cómo si estuvieran en familia. LA GRAN FAMILIA DEL CORTOMETRAJE!

Otro motivo es ampliar la oferta de eventos culturales para hacer llegar el cortometraje a a poblaciones que no tengan la oportunidad de disfrutar de nuestro cine en formato CORTO.

En el FRAME Film Festival queremos darle al público que sigue y disfruta los cortometrajes, la oportunidad de decidir sobre la selección de las películas que pasarán a la FASE FINAL para recibir los premios TALENTO FRAME.

SOUS-SOL INTERDIT is an underground horror short film festival based in Paris, dedicated to bold, unsettling, and uncompromising cinema.

SOUS-SOL-INTERDIT will take place the October 31 2026. Screenings take place at the Théâtre STEPHANE GILDAS located at 16 rue Tolbiac, 75013 Paris.

Born in a literal basement, the festival embraces dark atmospheres, raw storytelling, and films that dare to cross boundaries, aesthetically, narratively, or emotionally. We are looking for horror in all its forms: psychological, visceral, experimental, strange, or poetic.

The first edition was sold out, with a packed room and a highly engaged audience. Our goal is not to become a massive industry event, but to remain a human-scale festival, where films are watched carefully, discussed passionately, and experienced collectively.

What we’re looking for :

Horror short films (fiction, experimental, animation, hybrid)
Strong visual identity and atmosphere
Singular voices and personal visions
Films that work on a big screen, in the dark, with an audience

Low-budget films are absolutely welcome, sincerity and creativity matter more than production value.

What selected filmmakers will experience

Selected filmmakers will be invited to take part in a unique, live cinema experience.
All selected films will be screened in a theater setting, in front of a real audience.
Films are discovered by the jury and the audience at the same time, during the screening.

After the projections, awards are decided live, including:
Jury Award
Audience Award

Filmmakers are warmly encouraged to attend the event to present their work, meet the audience, and take part in post-screening discussions.

While attendance is not mandatory, we strongly values the presence of filmmakers, as the festival is built around human encounters and shared cinematic moments.

Award winners will receive an official laurels pack and will be highlighted on the festival’s social media and website.

SOUS-SOL INTERDIT is a human-scale, underground horror festival that celebrates bold, dark, and original short films in a friendly and immersive atmosphere.

Calling all industry professionals and blossoming talent! Like the stars you are, it's your time to shine! Welcome to the premier VertiStar Vertical Film Fest. Created by industry professionals to feature the exciting, ground-breaking, and disrupting genre of vertical micro-dramas and creator content.

Our goal is to acknowledge and celebrate emerging talent and raise the standard of quality in this space.

VertiStar’s mission is to empower the next generation of storytellers, social media influencers, and artists by delivering cinematic short-form content through a mobile-first platform that fuses entertainment, commerce, and culture.

To this end we are only accepting vertical-format micro-drama features; any genre, but primarily: Romance, Drama, Thriller, Action, Comedy, Quick Reels, & All AI. Our audience and judges will decide the winners of these categories.
***EVERY VIEWER'S "LIKES" COUNT !!!***

This is a hybrid event with initial digital screenings and voting on the VertiStar.app followed by a day-long live event on July 24, 2026 featuring a networking event, breakout sessions, and showings of all the winning entries by category and laureled award recognitions.

Purchase Tickets at: https://vertistar.app/festival-attendees/#register

The 2nd Eurodesk León European Film Day – Time to Move is an in-person short-film showcase organised by Eurodesk León and the Youth Department of León City Council.

The event uses cinema to bring the cultural and creative diversity of Europe closer to young audiences, encourage dialogue between viewers and filmmakers, and introduce opportunities for mobility, education, volunteering and participation across Europe.

The programme brings together fiction, documentary and contemporary audiovisual works from countries represented in the Eurodesk network, as well as a dedicated section for filmmakers and productions connected to the province of León.

The official gala and screening will take place on Wednesday, 21 October 2026 at 5:00 p.m. at Espacio Joven Vías, Avenida Padre Isla 48, León, Spain.

Admission will be free, subject to venue capacity.

This is a festival that seeks to honor those who once witnessed and listened to a sunrise in Mexico and decided to preserve it for someone else; dedicated to the people who have given everything to express their art, no matter the cost or the challenges involved. It is for those who chose to portray a part of their reality through the different disciplines that shape the art of cinema.

In November 2026, the selected projects will be screened as part of the festival program, competing for awards granted by a jury composed of film industry professionals. The festival will also feature two workshops and a special recognition honoring an outstanding figure in the cultural field of Jalisco.

Screenings will take place at three representative venues in Atequiza and Guadalajara: the emblematic Teatro de Atequiza, the auditorium of the Miguel Hidalgo Rural Teachers’ College, and the Arróniz Building in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

1. ORGANIZERS
The TARANTO FILM FESTIVAL is organized by the Cultural Association Levante International Film Festival, in collaboration with and with the support of public and private institutions as well as sponsors. The next edition will take place in the area of Taranto in December 2026; in-person activities will be supported by online services, according to the arrangements to be announced by the Management through public communication.

2. OBJECTIVES
The TARANTO FILM FESTIVAL serves as a meeting point and forum for international cinema, aimed at promoting and fostering the distribution of works by authors from all over the world. Special attention is dedicated to films addressing innovative subjects and themes, or showcasing formal and linguistic research, with a preference for works connected to the Mediterranean area and its culturally influenced regions.

3. SECTIONS AND SELECTION
The films in competition (divided into Feature Films, Short Films, and Documentaries) will be evaluated and selected by a dedicated Selection Committee. Works will be chosen both directly by the Festival Management and from candidates submitting through dedicated entry portals and the official TFF website.

To be eligible, films must have been produced between 2024 and 2026. A maximum of 30 selected titles will enter the 'Contemporary' Section.

An International Jury, composed of prominent figures from the film and cultural sectors, will award the following prizes:
* Best Film Award (for each of the 3 categories)
* Best Director
* Best Screenplay / Story
* Best Cinematography
* Best Performance

In addition, a Public Choice Award will be decided by audience votes cast both in person and online.

Only for Spanish Filmmakers.

The main purpose of La mida no importa-Size Doesn’t Matter is to promote short film production and culture.

Sometimes we are warned that if “size doesn't matter” we would have to select and show audiovisual works with no length limit, and perhaps they are not wrong. However, we like to think that things do not have to be too big to be important, beautiful, necessary or decisive, and this is the philosophy that we have been applying since almost the first edition of this Festival.

We vindicate the works of short duration because we believe that it is possible to discover the ingenuity concentrated in a short space of time. This objective is the reason that moves us and drives us to continue searching and rummaging through the proposals that reach us to make a selection of quite different themes, typology and genre to show the range of expressive possibilities of the short story.

Further information: www.lamidanoimporta.cat

The Cultural Británico cordially greets you and opens the call for entries to the “XIII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN, CINI 2027”, to be held in Lima, Peru, from February 10th to 14th, 2027.

This festival is held in the auditoriums of the Centro Cultural Británico, located in the districts of Surco, San Miguel, San Borja, Pueblo Libre, San Martín de Porres, Santa Anita, San Juan de Lurigancho, Camacho, and Miraflores.

All screenings to be held during the “XIII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN, CINI 2027” will be free of charge for the general public.

A home for the biggest, baddest, in your face, down your throut, melt your brain Horror, Sci-fi , Action , Martial Arts , Exploitation , Mobsploitation , Sexploitation and everything-elsploitation. You will find no dramas, no rom-coms and no musicals ( unless totally twisted )

The best new Grindhouse movies are shown at an epic festival held at one of the UK's longest running entertainment venues - The Legendary Shed Venue.

What you will find at the Grindhouse Planet festival is a playlist of movies like no other. Each film is selected by a Panel of Grindhouse connoisseurs form around the globe. The festival is for film fans and filmmakers to meet like-minded people, have a drink, watch some movies, eat some Pizza ( for free!! ) and have a bloody good time. There is a movie stall hosted by The Cult Movie Store where some rare Grindhouse flicks can be purchased, along with lots of other stalls offering Grindhouse goodies.

There is also a chance to attend Q&A sessions with some of the planet's best Grindhouse directors and producers.

Want more?

There is more! Much more!! How about a music festival at the same time? You got it. As well as all of the awesome films, there are live bands playing throughout the day. From Thrash Metal and Punk to Acoustic & Electronic, there is something for everyone. You may even find your next Grindhouse soundtrack.

Muestra de Cine Social
Luminiscence.


Presentation

The Social Film Festival organized by Luminiscente Estudio since 2013 has no competitive character, our intention is to screen projects with a clear social commitment, bringing the works presented to the public closer so that a link can be created between filmmakers, the public and organizers.

Starting in 2026, SOCIALMED will focus on films made by and about women, highlighting in particular the situation regarding women's human rights as well as the fact that women remain a minority in the audiovisual sector in every corner of the world.

SOCIALMED VALÈNCIA was founded as the first Human Rights Festival of the Mediterranean, with a special focus on cinema and artistic creation related to social issues geographically and culturally linked to the Mediterranean Sea. The festival is based in València and holds its main event once a year in November.

Festival organizers: VSRIGHTS (Valencian Agency for Human Rights).
Festival sponsors and funders: Diputación de Valencia Provincial Council of Valencia.

This call for entries pertains to the festival’s competitive sections.

A national jury will evaluate the submitted entries and select three winning short films for each competition. The winning works will receive a Festival statuette (the *Canoa Dorada* / Golden Canoe) and a cash prize.

New Features

This year, the Festival is implementing a new selection process for the works included in its program. Participants will be notified via email if their short film has been nominated for the *Canoa Dorada*, signifying its inclusion in the official competition lineup.

Additionally, some works that are not nominated may still be selected for screening during the event as part of the official showcase. These pieces will receive an "Official Selection" badge from the Bajo Cauca Film Festival in recognition of their quality and creative contribution.
Regional Competition

● First place: $1,500,000 + *Canoa Dorada*.

● Second place: $1,000,000 + *Canoa Dorada*.

● Third place: $500,000 + *Canoa Dorada*.

Neighbor Cinema International Film Festival is a Turkey-based short film festival dedicated to bold storytelling and new cinematic voices, with a particular focus on women-driven narratives and socially engaged cinema.

The name itself reflects the festival’s vision of creating a space where stories from different cultures, identities, and communities connect and engage in dialogue across borders.

The festival presents a curated selection of international fiction and documentary shorts that explore identity, gender, and contemporary social realities. Alongside its main program, the festival features dedicated sections that highlight emerging and evolving forms of storytelling:

Women Focus – spotlighting films by women filmmakers and women-centered narratives
Student Films – showcasing new voices and emerging talent from film schools worldwide
AI & New Media – exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and cinema, with a focus on innovative storytelling approaches

Bringing together filmmakers from Turkey and around the world, the festival combines screenings with opportunities for exchange between filmmakers, audiences, and industry professionals.

OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES / CONVOCATORIA CORTOMETRAJES _ MOSMOS 2026
 
MosMos (Mostra de Stop Motion de Sagunt) presenta su convocatoria Internacional 2026 para cortometrajes de animación con la técnica de Stop Motion organizadas por la Asociación Cultural Pausa Zulú con la colaboración de la Concejalía de Juventud de Ayuntamiento de Sagunto.

OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES / SHORT FILM COMPETITION - MOSMOS 2026

MosMos (Sagunto Stop Motion Film Festival) presents its 2026 International Call for Short Films using the Stop Motion technique, organized by the Pausa Zulú Cultural Association in collaboration with the Sagunto City Council's Youth Department.

Drag Me To Fest is the independent horror film festival that lights up Milan with a unique and immersive program and takes place at the end of November. Founded in November 2021 through the collaboration between Joe Godoy Gonzalez, Art Director and creator of the horror website Non Aprite Questo Blog, and filmmaker Chiara Natalini, the festival is a shining beacon for horror lovers—an event that has become a unique point of reference for fans, filmmakers, collectors, and the entire Italian horror community, ready to drag you straight into horror.

Located in the heart of Milan, at WAO Romolo C30, Drag Me To Fest offers a celebration of independent horror cinema in a 480-square-meter space designed to host screenings, talks, and special activities in a single, atmospheric home for horror. With the aim of rediscovering and enhancing the collective experience of cinema, the festival creates a unique environment where the magic of the big screen is shared and enjoyed live. This partnership, strongly supported by WAO, seeks to open new and thriving horizons for culture and cinematic meeting spaces in the city of Milan.

Drag Me To Fest collaborates with sponsors and partners such as Midnight Factory (a label of Plaion Pictures), WAO, Taboo, Rustblade Records, Vagin Lover, Horror Park, Fulci, Mostro Production, Bloodbuster, Horror Italia 24, Horror Dipendenza, and Nocturno Cinema.

Drag Me To Fest is much more than just a festival: it is a celebration of creativity and innovation within the horror film landscape. If you are passionate about horror movies and want to discover the latest trends in the genre in a stimulating atmosphere, don’t miss the chance to take part in this unmissable event.

Our prize is the audience

Since its birth, Drag Me To Fest has embraced an ideology that abolishes the concept of awards—a system that pushes cinema to be seen more as a competition than as a “place” of intellectual and emotional encounter. This does not mean that we do not believe in the pursuit of quality, and for this reason we always work to guarantee a careful selection of the films that can access our festival. But we want to remove the idea of assigning hierarchical value to works and avoid rhetorical thank-yous and self-celebration, focusing instead on giving visibility to the entire crew and to the stories that led to the completion of each film. The only “prize” we aim to guarantee through our work is a high-quality audience.

Films taking part in the festival may be selected to be included in a DVD-format anthology distributed worldwide.

Rather unusual, rather trapped on the border between dream and reality, silent film has for several years found affirmation at the PSSST! Silent Film Festival organised by the Trešnjevka Cultural Centre.

PSSST! is a unique film festival presenting the art of silent film in a new, exciting and entertaining way. This Festival is a rare gem on the cultural scene which lacks initiatives offering artists the opportunity to try out their skills in this specific (and demanding!) artistic form.

The event confirms its status as a festival in the classic sense of the word through its competition programme in which contemporary “silent” titles are screened to an audience. The best film in the competition is awarded the Brcko Grand Prize, the official award of PSSST! named after the main character of Croatia’s first feature film Brcko in Zagreb made back in 1917.

But how many real silent films are made today, someone may rightfully ask? Certainly very few are made (although we can’t say none), and so we could ask the question – what is the point of the competition, what is the point of the Brcko Grand Prize? But the concept of this festival should be understood as a media experiment, created in the spirit of heterogeneity and the visual wealth of silent film. Authors can send films to PSSST! which they think could function and communicate even after we remove the original sound, and our festival is responsible for providing high-quality sound support, live music which will accompany the silent projection. Our expert improvisers cover a range of different genres and their hybrids – from rock via classical to jazz and electronic music, providing the audience with an interesting synaesthetic experience. This of course creates a film completely different from the original from which we removed the soundtrack, which is precisely why PSSST! is so exciting.

Apart from the competition programme, the Festival screens a rich selection of film classics from the golden era of silent film.

Silent film, with an expressive musical accompaniment, will lull you into a state of reverie. Its hypnotic power is not destroyed by the rude reality of the spoken word and so it becomes clear that dreams and silent films have much in common – they both deal with simple, direct emotions and action, such as love, hate, conflict or escape. This dimension of silent film emphasises its undying charm.

If you wish to open the door to a different world of unusual poetics again this year, come to PSSST! where the art of silent film lives on.

Film Invasion Lima showcases wonderful undiscovered films in one of South America's most dynamic cities! The team running FI-Lima is dedicated to bringing the same "filmmaker's first" festival experience to Peru!

FI-Lima embraces the work of filmmakers from diverse backgrounds and communities. It is our philosophy to honor their work as filmmakers and not place their work in separate categories based on race, sexual orientation, or gender identification. We have been proud to honor films from every community as Official Selections and Award Winners, honoring their work as filmmakers without being balkanized as "Black filmmakers" or "LGBTQ filmmakers" or "Women filmmakers." At FI-Lima, all of our filmmakers are filmmakers and we honor them equally.

The FI-Lima team is passionate about forming a community around the wonderful work discovered at the festival. We will invite alumni to return as jury members and we hold Filmmaker Mixers throughout the year to foster a creative community.

Podcast + TV Series
FI-LA/SOFF festival runner Jeff Howard established the "Discover Indie Film" podcast in 2017 and has had over 250 filmmakers sit for an in-depth interview. H intends to invite the great filmmakers discovered at FI-Lima onto the podcast as well! In 2019, the TV series "Discover Indie Film" premiered on Amazon Prime Video; DIF TV is an anthology of shorts handpicked from the festival circuit.

The Halloween Horror Festival
Prepare for a night of fear, suspense, and spine-tingling storytelling. This screening event showcases short films from across the UK—all 15 minutes or less—across a thrilling range of dark genres. Whether you’re into ghosts, psychological chills, or powerful dramas with a sinister edge, there’s a category for your vision.

Featured Categories:
Environmental Horror
Where real-world crises meet terror. These films tackle ecological nightmares—whether it’s nature’s revenge or the terrifying cost of human actions.

Zombie Horror
Apocalyptic chaos, flesh-eating undead, and a world in ruins. Classic or creative takes welcome—just bring the bite.

Suspense/Thriller Horror
Tension, paranoia, and the fear of the unseen. Your film might feature ghosts—or maybe the horror is all psychological. Either way, it’ll leave audiences unsettled.

The Spooky One
From haunted houses to eerie towns, these are the films that give us goosebumps. Expect the classic horror atmosphere—with a fresh twist.

Spiritual Horror
Good vs. evil, possession, rituals, and otherworldly forces at play. If your film explores spiritual dread or divine conflict, this is your category.

Expanded Categories (New for This Year):
Psychological Thriller
Diving deep into the mind, these films explore obsession, mental decay, and disturbing truths. Perfect for fans of tense, character-driven horror.

Dark Drama
Serious, emotional storytelling with a sinister or unsettling edge. Themes might include grief, revenge, or inner demons—grounded in realism.

Surreal Horror/Thriller
Stylized, dreamlike, or abstract. These films push boundaries and blur realities. If it’s strange and disturbing—we want it.

Period Horror or Thriller
Set in the past, filled with dread. Think candlelight, corsets, and creeping shadows—or haunting tales from historical moments.

Mind-Benders
Twisty, complex narratives that keep the audience guessing until the very end. Ideal for nonlinear timelines, unreliable narrators, or shocking reveals.

Folk Horror / Rural Thriller
Isolated communities, ancient rituals, or countryside dread. Where tradition turns terrifying and myths become real.

Sci-Fi Horror or Thriller
From alien invasions to dystopian futures and AI nightmares—if your horror or thriller is set in the world of science or space, it belongs here.

Screenings will take place at Cold Harbour Cinema in Brixton, London (UK).
For submission rules and full guidelines, please visit the “Rules” section on our website.
All films must be 15 minutes or less in length.
Selected filmmakers will only get one ticket per entry and will need to purchase additional tickets .

48-Hour Halloween Horror Film Challenge

The Halloween Horror Film Challenge is a 48-hour filmmaking competition.

Teams must register by Thursday 8 October 2026 through the Halloween Horror Film Festival website.

The Challenge begins at 8:00 pm on Friday 9 October 2026. Registered teams will receive the required Challenge criteria, theme and/or elements at this time.

All films must be written, filmed, edited and completed during the 48-hour Challenge period.

At the beginning of the finished film, teams must include a five-second blank gap, followed by a clear display of the required Challenge criteria/elements included in their film.

Final films must be submitted by 8:00 pm on Sunday 11 October 2026. Late submissions may not be accepted.

At the point of final submission, teams must pay the £25 Challenge entry fee.

Challenge films must follow all stated criteria, required elements and technical submission instructions. Films that do not meet these requirements may be disqualified.

The strongest completed Halloween horror shorts will be selected to screen at the Halloween Horror Film Festival. Selection is not guaranteed and all decisions remain at the discretion of the Festival judging panel.

If a Challenge film is selected for screening, the submitting team will receive one complimentary ticket to attend the Festival. Any additional tickets must be purchased.