Cinema is an art form that needs to be simultaneously nourished and challenged and ÉCU - The European Independent Film Festival provides the perfect arena for indie filmmakers to express authentic cinematic storytelling in the most compelling ways possible.
As one the World’s truly stand out independent film festivals, ÉCU embraces innovation and creativity and allows directors in competition to showcase their films to audiences who appreciate and love independent cinema. Filmmakers who are selected into ÉCU’s Official Selection join an active community of creatives who continually push the boundaries of indie cinema.
"It is always an absolute joy to present one's work at ECU. The team are fantastically helpful, the jury extremely competent, and the selection of the highest quality. I would recommend participating to anyone who's in love with indie filmmaking!" - Celina Liesegang, producer of Viscera: Autopsy of a (non)human body, ÉCU 2022 Official Selection
"It's always a pleasure having our films at ÉCU, especially this year with our awarded short film "Useless"! The communication has been great during the whole process and our filmmakers are so excited to be part of this competition. See you again next year with new projects!" - Marta Salvador Tato, distributor of USELESS, the winner of the Best European Independent Dramatic Short award 2022
Since its inception in 2006 ÉCU has forged a path for independent film and the scope of its presence has grown to a global scale with the festival often being referenced as the European equivalent of Sundance, an honour that we don’t take lightly.
Spring is not only a fabulous time for Paris but an exciting time for ÉCU because that is when we showcase roughly around 100 of the World’s very best independent films. Although ÉCU emphasises European talent, it also recognises the genius of international filmmakers with several categories allocated to non-European films.
The next ÉCU, the 19th edition, will take place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of April, 2024 in Paris, France.
ÉCU isn’t just all about screening an amazing slate of films over its three-day event in Paris in April. There are also professional workshops led by experts in the industry, Q&A’s held with the attending filmmakers after every screening session and a chance to network with fellow filmmakers, producers, agents, industry representatives, prospective film buyers and, of course, the cinema-loving public. At ÉCU, there is a continual dialogue celebrating and critiquing the world’s best indie cinema of today.
Though ÉCU’s main event IS the three-day festival in Paris each spring, there is even more! Thanks to our over 50 partner festivals, partner organizations, film centres and film commissions, ÉCU’s goes on an annual world tour called ÉCU-On-The-Road, which gives award-winning films (as well as many of the Official Selection films) the opportunity to have their films screened to a broader, global audience. ÉCU-On-The-Road showcased films in over 80 countries around the globe in 2016 - 2023 at special ÉCU mini-festivals, partner festivals, cultural institutions and film schools, including an amazing seven day special festival in São Paulo, Brazil. The event was made possible through the support of Caixa Cultural, São Paulo and was a huge success. ÉCU also held special events in Berlin (Germany), Cannes (France) and was part of festivals in Lebanon, Italy, Russia, USA, Romania, Austria, Denmark and other countries. This gives ÉCU filmmakers great exposure to audiences that they may never have reached.
Since 2006, ÉCU has helped the careers of literally hundreds of independent filmmakers, actors, DPs, editors, screenwriters and is honoured to be firmly established as one of the World’s eminent indie film festivals.
Above all, we are proud to be a filmmakers’ festival!
Experimental Forum is an international performance, film and video art festival showcasing experimental film and artists’ moving image from new directors and innovative video artists from around the globe, with the third edition taking place in Los Angeles in November 2018. Our aim is to provide a supportive platform for the exciting and challenging work that is outside the scope of mainstream film festivals and art galleries.
We welcome experimental cinema pieces (abstract, narrative or documentary), video art works, essay films, artists’ moving image and media art, as well as documentary and narrative films that seek to expand, redefine or reconfigure the means and ends of their respective fields. Experimental Forum exists to provide access to, and develop audiences for, artists’ moving image work and is committed to engaging local audiences with new and/or unheard voices in film.
We are particularly interested in works made by early stage filmmakers and artists whose work is underrepresented. We provide a collaborative platform for moving image works made for the gallery and for the cinema with the aim of building a community across disciplinary and institutional faultlines.
*About the festival
The year 2016 marked the commencement of a new tradition in the city of Miraj, as the first ever Miraj International Short Film Festival(MISFF) was held in February 2016.
It was for the very first time a festival of such kind and magnitude was being held here. To bring back the fading lime light, bestow the truly deserved recognition of the city and safeguard the city’s rich heritage was the sole purpose of organizers and the festival directors.
It seems art does not have language, it neither minds borders nor race, and it rather came true at the film festival. Films from different states of the country and across the globe participated in the festival and proudly took back prizes from our soil, entwining with us, a lifelong relation. We are now reaching to you with the second edition of the MISFF only to join more people in our initiative and inspire the youth of today in the art of film making. We aim to recognize the smallest glimpse of a filmmaker and avail them a platform to showcase their talent. Come; let’s get mesmerized in this beautiful carnival of art.
*About the City
Miraj- a city that can be defined in a single word: Art! The city adorned with a crown of art and music. They say art runs in the blood and it couldn’t be truer for this city. The hometown of percussion and stringed instruments, a rich heritage of classical music and a tradition of theater and dramas dating back to the independence struggle. The land gave birth to many artist.
1. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of Festival de Malaga are to disseminate and promote Spanish films and their general cultural sphere. In this sense, the Festival is also a platform for Latin American film productions. Its functions include hosting an event for the different professional sectors of films in Spanish (construed as films produced in Spain and all of Latin America, including Brazil) to boost their development and promote international sales.
Festival de Málaga is recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers' Associations (FIAPF) (www.fiapf.org).
In compliance with these objectives, the 29th Edition of Festival de Málaga will be held from 6th to 15 th March 2026.
Tlanchana Fest, Festival of Cinema and Digital Art is carried out by Tlanchana Cultura Audiovisual AC, in order to create an exhibition space for emerging talents from Mexico and the world, by combining elements that promote cinematographic creation in conjunction with new media and digital art.
The 9th Edition of Tlanchana Fest will be held from July 3 to 5, 2025 and will feature a series of screenings, conferences and workshops, as well as facilities and other activities that will be carried out virtually and in person and that will serve as an incentive for the work in cinematographic and digital art matters.
Miniboxoffice International Film Festival is now Noida International Film Festival. After having three successful editions of Miniboxoffice International Film Festival which caters mainly for short films only is now turned bigger with the addition of feature films section to it. In year 2014 the management of Miniboxoffice has renamed it on the name of India’s fastest developing city ‘NOIDA’. It’s a tribute to the city where Miniboxoffice starts in year 2010 and the city itself is the house of North India’s largest Film City.
12th Noida International Film Festival-25 objective is to feature great cinema of worldwide filmmakers in a big way & at the same time providing professional networking & introducing current trends of cinema to the participants. The festival goal is to empower independent filmmakers and committed to become premium movie going event which foster the growth of independent filmmakers.
The 2014 to 2024 editions of NIFF was huge success with participation of filmmakers from more than 90 countries. The NIFF-25 is expected to achieve many milestones towards the development of Independent Cinema. With this I welcome all filmmakers to come and join the movement which brings highest level of thoughts & culture of different nations in the form of enriching & entertaining cinema.
Festival with national and international competition section.
Special sections for invited movies and to workshops
ASSERTING WOMEN'S RIGHTS is a project that emerged from the Festival de Málaga, in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Mabel Lozano and the Equal Opportunities Department of the Malaga City Council, as a tool for protest and advocacy. This section was created with the aim of exploring and addressing issues that raise social awareness about women's rights each year.
Launched in 2008, this section of the Festival de Málaga is now in its 19th edition. The project has a dual purpose: to shed light on the injustices that women continue to face in the 21st century simply because they are women, and to promote and support films created by women.
Through Asserting Women's Rights, we have brought attention to the challenges women face in different parts of the world. Even today, there are many places where women and girls must fight daily for their survival. In these regions, traditional practices and cultural norms often hinder their personal and social development, preventing them from achieving equality with their male counterparts.
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.
Medina del Campo Film Week (SECIME) is one of the most consolidated events on the national film scene, standing out as a benchmark in the promotion and dissemination of short films, and being a key exhibitor festival for the Academy of Arts Awards. and the Cinematographic Sciences of Spain. Its main objectives are to support both new talents and established filmmakers, promote the creation and production of short films and contribute to the growth of the audiovisual industry.
Medina del Campo Film Week (SECIME) is one of the most consolidated events on the national film scene, standing out as a benchmark in the promotion and dissemination of short films, and being a key exhibitor festival for the Academy of Arts Awards. and the Cinematographic Sciences of Spain. Its main objectives are to support both new talents and established filmmakers, promote the creation and production of short films and contribute to the growth of the audiovisual industry.
LA Underground Film Forum (LAUFF) is dedicated exclusively to independent, experimental, and auteur cinema. It focus on avant-garde, art-house, independent and no/low budget filmmaking.
Our program provides a venue for filmmakers to reinvent and explore new approaches, to foster new forms of media art and to build an audience for such work. We aim to present a wide range of work exploring the many definitions and interpretations of the concept of “underground”.
We’re looking for films made with passion, obsession and drive; films that go beyond expectations and genre; films, video and audio projects that strive to push the boundaries of accepted form and content. A strong sense of authorship is a must.
LAUFF accepts all forms and genres: from drama, documentary, experimental, cult, art-house, foreign language, comedy, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, animation, LGBT, indigenous, erotica to slow cinema and video art …
The first AfryKamera Film Festival was organized by FilmGramm Foundation in cooperation with the South African Embassy during the months of April-June 2006. It aimed to use cinematography to bring Africa to the attention of the Polish public. The 1st AfryKamera premiered in Warsaw and also ran in Krakow, Poznan, Lodz, Torun and Konin. The unbelievable media interest and good ticket sales during the first festival in 2006 confirmed our belief that Africa is a theme of immense interest to a growing number of people. Since the very 1st edition, AfryKamera has been well covered in the Polish media, which confirms the great marketing potential of such an event for Africa in general, as well as, for sponsors and patrons.
As it stands AfryKamera is the first African Film Festival in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the largest African-themed event in Poland and the wider region.
AfryKamera has managed to occupy a niche in the film festival market – although there are many international film festivals, they generally show a limited range of African films. AfryKamera is therefore the only festival in Poland dedicated purely to films from the continent. In the past few years the festival has decided to explore new avenues not only in the art of cinematography, but also in the presentation of African art, music, and culture.
The main events of the African Film Festival AfryKamera take place in Warsaw, Poland, traditionally in either Kino Luna or Kinoteka, the capital city's premier arthouse cinemas. The event in 2018 will last 10 days and presents 15-25 full length features and documentaries as well as some 20 short films from around the continent and from the African diapora. The key motto of the festival is "Made in Africa", as the focus is put on the quality of moviemaking on the continent and the enhanced capacity to make world-class movies.
The Nollywood Travel Festival celebrates the best of Nigerian cinema and will be hosted in Toronto, Canada from 5-7 May 2017. It will be a weekend of special indoor and outdoor screenings, inspiring discussions,meeting,parties and awards.
Now in its 16th year, Ffresh – the Student Media Awards – features the best student work from all over the world, along with masterclasses, panel sessions and workshops with some of the industry’s most renowned and respected figures.
Previous guests have included directors Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Asif Kapadia, Jonathan Caouette, Matt Lipsey, Matt Lambert, and Gaston Kaboré; screenwriters Andrew Davies and Tim Firth; producers Stephen Garrett, Bethan Jones, and Sally Hibbin; highly acclaimed visual artists Lichtfaktor and Semiconductor; international FX companies The Mill and Double Negative; Oscar winning editor Jim Clark; and animators Johnny Kelly, Merlin Crossingham, Phil Mulloy, & Peter Dodd, amongst many others.
The purpose of the Awards is to celebrate the best work being created by the up-and-coming media talent from around the world, and to provide a vital link between higher education and the media industry sector.
Ffresh is a BAFTA Cymru qualifying festival.
Ffresh also runs two BFI Film Academies in South Wales for 16-19 year olds in VFX and Animation.
PLEASE BE AWARE WE MAY ASK FOR STUDENT IDENTIFICATION TO CONFIRM THAT YOU ARE A STUDENT. THIS FESTIVAL IS JUST FOR STUDENTS.
Please check with your educational institute first to check if they are a member of Ffresh, as they may be able to give you a password that will enable you to submit to us for free. If your education institute would like to talk to us about being a member of Ffresh please get them to email us on info@ffresh.com.
The International Human Rights Film Festival of Uruguay organized by Tenemos Que
Ver and Cotidiano Mujer opens its call for national and international films, to select
its 7th edition.
In this edition the central theme is Institutional Violence. Other human rights topics are NOT excluded.
From April 23 to 27, 2025, the 54th edition of the Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival, one of Europe's largest festivals for up-and-coming filmmakers, will take place in Potsdam. It offers up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world a platform to present their work to a wide audience and make contacts in the industry. Started in the 1970s as a GDR film festival for young filmmakers, Sehsüchte has established itself over the decades as an internationally important film festival and has become an integral part of Berlin and Brandenburg's cultural landscape.
Sehsüchte sees itself as a place of encounter and creation, as an event of cultural diversity and a celebration of cinema, today and tomorrow. The organization and implementation of the festival is entirely in the hands of students from the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. This enables a dynamic exchange between young talents, media makers and researchers.
Motto: beyond
The motto of the Sehsüchte film festival in 2025 is beyond. The motto is intended to emphasize the diverse and profound aspects of the festival that go beyond the ordinary and connect both the past and the future of filmmaking. beyond embodies the idea of building a bridge between nostalgic elements and modern innovations.The focus is on the synergies that arise when different generations and perspectives, young filmmakers and industry experts, come into contact and learn from each other. beyond reflects the diversity of stories that are to be told at Sehsüchte. In an increasingly polarized social climate, we position ourselves as willing to listen to all voices and remain open. Regardless of origin, financial means, level of education, gender and our other differences, we want to offer everyone a chance for a platform. We want to think our festival beyond boxes, borders and barriers.With beyond, we invite our audience to broaden their own horizons and explore new ideas and concepts. The aim is to overcome cultural, geographical and ideological boundaries in order to create a platform for a diverse narrative.
Sections
● Fiction Film
● Documentary
● Engaged Film
● Focus: Animation
● Future: Kids
● Future: Teens
● Virtual Reality
● Exhibition - Beyond the Screen
● Schreibsüchte (Script)
● Retrospective
● Showcase
● Genre Film
El Festival Internacional de Cine y Derechos Humanos de Uruguay organizado por Tenemos Que Ver y Cotidiano Mujer, abre su convocatoria a películas nacionales e internacionales para la Muestra “Cine y Derechos Humanos para Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes” que estén dirigidas al público infantil y adolescente en dos franjas etarias: niños y niñas entre 6 y 11 años y adolescente entre 12 y 17 años.
