The Watoto International Film Festival - Zanzibar is currently accepting applications from filmmakers from around the world according to different categories of competition.
The Watoto International Film Festival - Zanzibar (WIFF Zanzibar) is East Africa’s first and largest Children's film and arts festival, exhibiting the latest and best films and promoting film talents from across the African continent and beyond.
The 1st Edition of WIFF Zanzibar will take place on 11th -14th March 2021 in Zanzibar.
The theme of the festival is 'Chei'Chei - Hello' and will prioritize African cinema and cinema from the African diaspora and the rest of the world.
WIFF Zanzibar also opens the call to films from different regions around the world.
VITA SHORTS is presented jointly by the Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall, Hoyts Cinemas, and Goethe-Institut Shanghai, serving as the only member festival of the Short Film Conference (SFC) in Shanghai and Beijing, China.
Since its founding 5 years ago, VITA SHORTS has curated spotlight programs featuring directors such as Christian Petzold, Tsai Ming-liang, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Truong Minh Quy, and has collaborated with organizations including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Busan Shorts, Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, and Beijing Film Academy. Starting in 2025, the festival introduced the Discovery Short Film Award, which carries eligibility for the Annual Short Film Selection of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival under the International SFC.
From October 16–19, the four-day VITA SHORTS (2025) took place in Shanghai, presenting 64 shorts and medium-length films. All screening sessions were free and open to the public and film fans, and a “Shanghai Choice Honor” Audience Award was determined by popular vote. Participating filmmakers included Helena Wittmann, Danzuka Yui, and Tetsuya Mariko, among others. Nearly 30 crews from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Singapore participated, with a total attendance of over 2,000 viewers.
VITA SHORTS 由上海音乐厅、寰映影城（上海）与德国驻上海总领事馆文化教育处联合呈现，是国际短片联盟（Short Film Conference, SFC）中国上海及北京地区唯一成员节展。
成立5年来，曾策划克里斯蒂安·佩措尔德、蔡明亮、黑泽清、张明归焦点影人，与德国电影资料馆、UCCA 尤伦斯当代艺术中心、北京电影学院导演系、奥伯豪森、日本亚洲短片、釜山短片合作节目。历任评委：邱阳、张吉安、周飞、李冬梅（2025）；杨弋枢、耿军、姜秉和（2024）；高志森、陈东楠、大飞、邓伟、蒋能杰、廖勇（2023）。2025年起，增设 Discovery 短片发现奖，具备克莱蒙费朗国际短片电影节国际短片联盟年度短片评选资格。
10月16日至19日，为期4天的 VITA SHORTS（2025）在上海举办。期间共呈现64部短片、中长片，所有放映场次均免费向市民、影迷开放，并票选产生“上海选择荣誉”公众奖项。参展作者包括海伦娜·维特曼、団塚唯我、真利子哲也等。含中国内地、香港、台湾、澳门、越南、日本、韩国、新加坡在内的近30个剧组，累计超2000人次观众抵达。终审评委邱阳、张吉安、周飞还与入围导演们携手“上天台”，在上海音乐厅95周年之际，共创城市艺术行动。
As part of Multicultural Youth Leadership Day, Utah high school students in grades 9–12 are invited to participate in a short film competition focused on this year’s theme: Tell Your Story, Shape Your Future.
Students are encouraged to create a short video (3–5 minutes) that shares something about their story — their culture, family, community, challenges, goals, or experiences that have shaped who they are and who they want to become. The goal of the film competition is to give students a platform to share their voice, reflect on their experiences, and inspire others.
Finalist videos will be shown during Multicultural Youth Leadership Day at the Utah State Capitol on May 11.
Film Topics
Students may choose to create a short film about topics such as:
• A challenge you have overcome
• A person who inspired you
• Your culture, family, or community
• A problem you want to help solve
• What leadership means to you
• How your story has shaped your future
Students are encouraged to be creative.
Films may be interviews, personal stories, documentaries, spoken word, animation, or other creative storytelling formats.
The Fashion Cinema Festival was created to shine a spotlight on the art of costume design—an essential element in the magic of filmmaking—and to celebrate the unique connection between fashion and the cinematic world.
Every garment tells a story. Costume design reveals the essence of each character, transforms actors, and brings to life the worlds that only cinema can imagine.
At our festival, we honor the brilliant creators behind costume design and offer experiences, encounters, and activities that showcase the extraordinary work of these artists.
Fashion takes center stage in this section, illuminated through a truly cinematic lens.
The Ayerbe Film Festival Association launches this second stage of the "Villa de Ayerbe International Short Film Festival".
Since the 19th edition, with new members in the organization, we want to give a great boost to the festival. In addition to the international competition, we have created a new section dedicated to Science and Research to give greater visibility to the event and from this edition onwards, the awards are now called "CAJAL Awards".
We want to continue with the idea of collaboration with neighboring towns.
This collaboration is carried out in this way: All the selected short films may be screened locally collaborator simultaneously with the development of the Festival and their votes will serve to award the public prize.
The InFest Film Festival is a 2-day freak short film Festival which is held in Rubí, a city of asphalt, industry and smoke located in the Valles Occidental, a region located near Barcelona (Spain).
The InFest festival emerges as a firm and clear proposal: that Rubí be known as the Rubiwood of the Vallés district. During the last 10 years, InFest has organized the best possible short film experience: outdoors screenings, concerts, bar service and all kinds of activities related to cinema. What else can we ask for?
The InFest is devoted to showcase new short films (produced after year 2020) showing Sci-Fi, Fantastic, Freak and Horror elements. Short films cannot exceed 15 minutes length (credits excluded). Foreign films MUST be dubbed or subtitled in Spanish or Catalan, or the film will not be accepted.
In 2026, the InFest will celebrate its 11th annual edition. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the InFest was moved to the amphitheater of The castle of Rubí ("El Castell"), a defensive construction from the 13th century, which can host public events with more than 2000 people. The amphitheater features seats, stage and bar! Jury Prize and Audience Award will receive 1000 and 250 euros, respectively.
RURÉFILOS, International Film and Rural World Festival is a multidisciplinary meeting point in which, through audiovisual language, a space is provided for debate and creative reflection on the past, present and future of the rural world.
CortiFestival Cine Escolar will be held in the Ámbito Cultural of El Corte Inglés in Alicante and Elche (Spain).
CortiFestival (Educational centers): Short films made by students, which aims to bring the audiovisual language to the classroom and introduce the cinema as a didactic tool in educational centers.
CortiFestival (Professionals): Short films made by professionals or enthusiasts of the seventh art, with a theme aimed to children and young people where education in values is present.
Only for Spanish Filmmakers.
LAZOS es un festival de cine surgido en la zona de Montes Torozos como una iniciativa para promover y divulgar el cine de provincias, alejándose del modelo industrial centralizado en las grandes ciudades.
BAARIA FILM FESTIVAL is an international film festival focused on island cinematography of the world, showing the cultural diversity of island territories through cinema. This event is unique in its theme, in Italy, being the first film festival in the country that programs exclusively island cinema.
A great deal of space, of course, is devoted to Sicily, comparing it to other island territories, always using cinema as a means to explore and reveal the beauty and deep identity of the region.
The Marrakech Short Film Festival (MARRAKECHsFF) is currently accepting submissions for its sixth edition, scheduled 25-30 September 2026. We invite filmmakers from around the world to participate in our international, national and documentary competitions.
Submission Guidelines:
The Marrakech Short Film Festival (MARRAKECHsFF) is currently accepting submissions for its sixth edition, scheduled 25-30 September 2026. We invite filmmakers from around the world to participate in our international, national and documentary competitions.
Submission Guidelines:
Eligibility: Open to all filmmakers, with no restrictions based on age, country, or genre.
Running Time: Films must have a duration between 6 and 24 minutes.
Submission Deadline: Please submit your films by May 1st, 2026
The festival features four main selections:
-Moroccan Selection
Dedicated to Moroccan filmmakers, this section highlights national talent with awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Actor/Actress, in addition to Excellence Awards presented by the festival’s international professional guests.
-International Selection
Open to filmmakers from around the world, this section celebrates global storytelling through awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and a Coup de Cœur Award presented by the festival’s international professional guests.
-Documentary Section – Bridges of Reality
A curated programme dedicated to documentary films connected to the African continent. Open to African filmmakers and the diaspora, this section showcases narratives rooted in African realities and perspectives. It includes two Excellence Awards and one Jury Prize.
-Guest Country – Curated program
We look forward to receiving your submissions and celebrating the art of short film together in September 2026.
Submission Deadline: Please submit your films by May 1st, 2026
The festival features four main selections:
-Moroccan Selection
Dedicated to Moroccan filmmakers, this section highlights national talent with awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Actor/Actress, in addition to Excellence Awards presented by the festival’s international professional guests.
-International Selection
Open to filmmakers from around the world, this section celebrates global storytelling through awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and a Coup de Cœur Award presented by the festival’s international professional guests.
-Documentary Section – Bridges of Reality
A curated programme dedicated to documentary films connected to the African continent. Open to African filmmakers and the diaspora, this section showcases narratives rooted in African realities and perspectives. It includes two Excellence Awards and one Jury Prize.
-Guest Country – Curated program
We look forward to receiving your submissions and celebrating the art of short film together in September 2026.
A unique short film festival situated in the backdrop of a beautiful village in the north of Castellón: Herbers.
Promoting film talents that highlights the importance of repopulation, rural environment, biodiversity and diversity in the rural environment giving them the platform to showcase and promote their work.
ONED was founded in 2019, We focus on unconventional images, experiments, and extreme themes. From 2023 the official selection will be screened in China and France. We cooperate with China's largest experimental culture company, Toulouse Art Fair in France. Hope to normalize the unconventional
We cooperate with the Toulouse Experimental Exhibition in France, and it has now developed into the largest experimental film festival in China.This will be a great opportunity to showcase in front of China’s avant-garde artists and audiences
We have signed contracts with more than 40 livehouses in China, focusing on experimental and avant-garde images, combined with electronic music performances, to bring a different film festival experience to the new generation of creators.We hope that the world’s pioneers and experimental video creators, electronic music, VJ, and AI creators will join us and enjoy the future world together.
Are you ready? China's largest avant-garde image art promotion platform, ONED, has reached a cooperation with Midi Festival. Over 100,000 people have attended the event in 3 days. We are ready to welcome you with the most avant-garde image works from around the world.
Will include screenings, live music, alcohol duels, ancestor worshop, but all to unconventional extremes
We pay special attention to Horrors, experimentals, VJ ，electric music videos, SCI-FI, AI
ReelRaw Film Festival – 1st Edition
Official Description:
The first edition of the ReelRaw Film Festival celebrates the power of independent cinema in its purest and most authentic form. This virtual festival aims to give voice to creators who dare to present unfiltered stories, fresh ideas, and original visions of the contemporary world.
With a fully online format, ReelRaw offers an accessible and global platform for filmmakers, visual artists, and emerging storytellers who wish to share their work with an international creative community.
Our goal is to discover new perspectives, promote artistic freedom, and connect talents from around the world through the universal language of cinema.
Categories:
Fiction Short Films
Experimental Cinema
Independent Documentaries
Animation
Video Art & Digital Creation
Mission:
To promote alternative and experimental cinema by providing a space where raw, authentic, and bold works can be seen, appreciated, and shared with a global audience.
Format:
100% Virtual Festival — online screenings, discussion forums, and an online awards ceremony.
Motto:
“Unfiltered Stories. Unbound Visions.”
Special Section: Mobile Film Stories
The Mobile Film Stories section of the ReelRaw Film Festival celebrates the power of cinema in its most accessible and contemporary form — films shot entirely on mobile phones.
We believe that true creativity doesn’t depend on budget or equipment, but on the filmmaker’s unique vision.
This category is open to short films created entirely using smartphones or tablets, emphasizing imagination, visual storytelling, and authenticity in every frame.
From experimental pieces to fiction, documentaries, or hybrids, this section honors a new generation of filmmakers turning the everyday into cinema.
Maximum duration: 20 minutes
Format: shot entirely on a mobile device
Accepted genres: fiction, documentary, experimental, or mobile animation
Requirements: English subtitles (if the original language is not English or Spanish)
Cinema in your hands. Stories without limits.
SplashFest! is a multi-country festival celebrating creative storytelling about our oceans, lakes, rivers, and the wider world of water. From 5th to 8th June 2026, culminating on World Ocean Day, selected short films, illustrated tales, comics, and visual artworks will be showcased across Greece, Italy, the UK, and Germany.
SplashFest! is created and run by an international collective of creative professionals, filmmakers, writers, and educators united by one clear mission: to inspire children and families to care about our waters through powerful storytelling that sparks curiosity, imagination, and genuine environmental awareness.
We invite filmmakers, screenwriters, animators, illustrators, and visual artists to submit work that can captivate young audiences and open new ways of thinking about our blue planet. Whether your story is scientific, myth-inspired, humorous, adventurous, or wildly imaginative, SplashFest! is built for creators who want their ideas to ripple far beyond the screen or page.
Each festival location brings its own distinct character: Greek coastal culture and splendour, Italian lakeside creativity and energy, British storytelling charm and diversity, and Germany’s strong tradition of environmental education. Together, these parallel events form a single international platform for artists and storytellers who believe that water connects us all.
The International Unseen Film Festival 'Social Films' from Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) is organized by Kultura, Communication y Desarrollo KCD NGOD; Organization dedicated to promoting a human, intercultural, equitable and sustainable development through Communication and Culture.
The International Unseen Film Festival 'Social Films' from Bilbao is an annual celebration dedicated to show a cinema full of diversity and social commitment, a cinema that is usually excluded from commercial screens.
The Festival is centered on four major themes: Sustainable Development, Human Rights, Interculturality and Gender Equity.
With its continuous work, it has become an indispensable appointment for all those interested in communication for development and social transformation.
The Festival is also a recognition of all people who make a communication that allows to reflect through their audiovisual works all those different causes and problems of humanity.
