Learn more at http://www.miragefilmfest.com
Film Competition Categories
FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS
The Festival welcomes submissions for feature films in narrative and documentary categories. All selected features will participate in the festival’s MAIN EVENT competition. Entering all films into the MAIN EVENT puts everyone on an even playing field in the completion and recognizes the best from across all different styles and genres in the independent film community. In addition, Mirage Film Festival offers several competitive sub-categories designed specifically to recognize excellence within various genres and help promote the various styles, methods and techniques that populate the ever expanding world of cinema.
Main Event - main competition program for all eligible feature-length films
Darkest Before the Dawn - dedicated to showcasing feature length genre films
Cinema Mavericks - feature-length films with budgets less than $1.5 million USD
Newcomer - available exclusively for first-time, feature-length directors.
WorldCine - feature-length films which were financed and filmed outside of North America
The Dockect - non-fiction feature-length documentary films
SHORT-LENGTH FILMS
The Festival offers a robust competition program for short films, divided into institutional and non-institutional categories.
Institute Of Cinema - highlighting the very best in student produced short films
School Of Hard Takes - giving independently produced short films a voice of their own
NEW MEDIA MARVELS - NEW MEDIA/WEBISODE COMPETITION
New Media Marvels is designed to recognize and reward exceptional work in the expanding new media landscape. With the increasing number of success stories of TV series, films and documentaries being developed and produced based on new media content, the Festival's New Media Marvels program provides a solid forum for these new age filmmakers to showcase their stories and network with distributors, producers and industry executives.
Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) is an award winning organization with its mission being to foster appreciation for different cultures by exploring the lives of people around the globe through independent film. In 2014 AIFF was awarded the Community Recognition Award by the Arlington Martin Luther King Committee, in 2013 the Alan McClennen Community Arts Award by the Arlington Center for the Arts and the Gold Star Award by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Through the founding of AIFF, the mission has also focused on enriching the community and broadening the view of our world and ourselves. AIFF believes that the arts are here to connect us, to communicate across boundaries, and touch our common humanity.
AIFF is open to national and international filmmakers. Whether professional or a first time filmmaker, we welcome innovative, original films with unique perspectives. Many of our selected films have been nominated for Academy Awards; i.e. BOTSO: The Teacher from Tbillisi directed by Tom Walters, Elena directed by Petra Costa, and Documented directed by Jose Antonio Vargas. We Still Live Here directed by Anne Makepeace was chosen by the U.S. State Department to screen around the world.
The year 2015 by can be easily termed as the ‘year of intolerance ‘in Indian socio-political and cultural milieu. This was coming all the way from the time the right wing party was voted to rule the country. It began with re-writing Indian history and text books for schools, colleges and academic institutions, running down Gandhiji, the architect of free India as also the free thinkers, eliminating rationalist, outspoken intellectuals and scholars, isolating artists and film makers, taking control of Central Board of Film Certification by forcing the eminent men and women constituted that body to resign en-mass. The right wing people have taken charge of all public art and cultural organizations.
People from the minority communities have been lynched and killed for suspecting to have eaten beef. Cow slaughter has been banned in states like Maharashtra taking away food from the tables of minority communities as well as daliths and increasing the burden on the farmers already bending backward with debt and are committing suicide. Those who protested the beef ban have been beaten up in Kashmir, in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. When the public very clearly understood that the general response of the government to these problems were dismissive as something that is done by antisocial elements people began to take action. The prominent scholars, writers, poets, actors, film makers and theatre personalities started returning the awards they received from the government. There were protests across the country, from politicians and eminent citizens.
Another aspect of this intolerance is manifested in witch hunting NGOs like Green Peace for very prominently taking up environmental issues and challenging the implementation of economic projects without proper environmental impact assessment. Those NGOs on the hit list of the government is harassed in every possible ways including cancelling their FCRA numbers and freezing their accounts. Fortunately so far the justice system was very fair in their judgments which has given much relief to the NGOs under the government scanner. Generally NGOs these days are seen by the politicians as people ‘against development’.
These very arrogant postures of the government was downsized by the people of India through democratic resurgence. First they lost a very high pitched assembly election in Delhi to Aam Admi Party and later in another high pitched assembly election in Bihar the right wing lost to an alliance of democratic forces represented by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar the local leaders. In all these instances the media was very pro-establishment. Were they too scared to investigate issues and inform the public?! While we hope that the people will elect democratic and secular parties in the Assembly elections happening now in April/May 2016,we need to nurture grass root level democratic practices which is one of the major objective of the festival. Whatever work we are engaged in now is from a very diminished public sphere. We do not know what the future holds for us but for now we belong to the breed of marginal citizens of this country.
As for our experience in this specific field is concerned, Bangalore Film Society was the South India coordinator of Tri-continental Film Festival "Human Rights in Frames from 2007 to 2009 organised by an NGO called Breakthrough. An average 5000 to 6000 people used to attend this festival in Bangalore in three days and the event had become very popular. Apart from this, we used to take these films to academic institutions as well as film societies in all South Indian States. However, the tricontinental film festival closed after 2009 and at present to the best of my knowledge we don't have a human rights film festival of that magnitude.
In the present Indian context, Bangalore Film Society wish to start an International Human Rights Traveling film festival from December 7th to 10th or from 9th to the 12th 2016 (depending on the availability of the auditorium) and organise a conference on freedom of speech and the right to dissent. The films selected will address major international human rights concerns such as refugees, lgbt sexuality, boarders, women, socio-political conflict, communal conflicts, child labour/abuse and so on The emphasis on the impact it should create. Once the festival is over these films will be circulated for screenings in educational, media institutions and film societies across India.
ORGANIZERS
Cultural Association Time & Memory organizes the thirteenth edition of the Short Film Festival called "SHORT TO SOUTH", to be held in Polla (SA)ITALY from the 21 - 22 June 2025 at the Auditorium "Holy Nicolicchio".
In 2007 Joaquín Ortega (Director, actor, stuntman and stunt coordinator) created under his trademark NOIDENTITY his international stuntmen team. In 2010 he founded the independent production company NOIDENTITY Films and has already produced two films privately and a program TV. In 2013 he continues to advance its intention to generate film industry and makes the first action film festival in Spain.
So this way born NIAFFS (NOIDENTITY - International Action Film Festival - Spain), with the intention of generating film industry and promote international action films.
After five years of a successful run as the New York City International Film Festival and after many of our films got distribution, we decided to create NYCIFF-St. Lucia edition. We want to open another door for filmmakers from around the world, and establish St. Lucia as a center for the film industry, while highlighting unknown talents from the Caribbean.
The 10th Farinha Film Festival is back !!!! We return with the proposal to light the cultural flame of exchange and learning in film culture. It is during the festival that the backlands of Paraíba experience meetings of cultural manifestations, through exhibitions of regional and national audiovisual productions, with meeting spaces for discussion and learning, as well as film shows, panels, workshops, features and shows.
Her Point of View has entered into a partnership agreement with the Community Education Department of Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville TN. The Nashville festival will be held at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in September 2015. Specific dates are being finalized and will be released soon. Stay tuned! New programming developments occurring every day.
Empowering current and future generations of artists currently underrepresented in front of and behind the camera, Her Point of View, a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization, launches this year and will present arts and entertainment created from a woman’s point of view in Nashville, TN with screenings in Atlanta GA. New cities are added everyday.
In each city, Her Point of View will conduct a four (4) day international film festival complete with workshops, panels, independent and studio films, fine art gallery, live music events, industry parties and plenty of networking mixers. Filmmakers, film, TV, music, art and entertainment executives and celebrities are invited to participate in the event developed to highlight women artists from around the world.
NOFI is a multi stage International Festival of New and Original Films. It was founded by the Center of American New Cinema and Arts (CANCA). The preliminary stages take place in Russia, Sweden and Armenia while the final stage is taking place in USA (Los Angeles). Each year an estimated 1000 independent and student films participate in the NOFI festivals from 60 countries. We have representatives in 10 countries including USA, Russia, Sweden, Armenia, Belarus, UK,Belgium, Holland, Arab Emirates and Philippines.
The goal of the NOFI festivals is to find and invite talented film directors to NOFI film studying and producing programs for shooting their films with the help of our sponsors and grants. We then represent, promote and will try to sell the best films from NOFI in the American Film Market, Cannes film market, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and other markets. Winning films can also participate in NOFI sister’s film festivals in Korea, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Russia and Armenia. The winners from each category and diplomas of honor can have the opportunity to show their films (edited versions) at our NOFI film festival on YouTube channel. The best actors from the best films can join our “Accent” International Talent Management. Also the trailers of the awarded films will be in our web site for years, providing more exposure. Our festival helps expose new and emerging directors and actors. NOFI festivals give them an opportunity to present their names in motion pictures studios and be discovered in the film industry worldwide. NOFI is designed to showcase innovative work by new filmmakers who may (or may not) have been overlooked by other festivals. We organize forums and round tables with filmmakers during the NOFI festivals to understand their needs, help solve common problems with film production and discuss their future projects. Our slogan is- “Indie filmmakers without borders.” Many celebrities and representatives from film studios have attended screenings and award ceremonies of NOFI festivals.
SEMBRANDO CINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
XII EDITION: Recognizing our shadow
Our shade can be a real problem.
It is that side of our humanity, which we prefer to keep hidden, and which makes us act questionably.
This shadow, is in part, what has led us to cause a terrible impact on the environment.
Deforestation, oil spills, pollution of soils and seas, annihilation of species, violation of indigenous rights and assassinations of environmental defenders.
This shadow, individual and collective, is projected from the big cities over our ecosystems and under the protection of state legality and private investments in favor of “progress and industrialization”.
In times where the imbalance we have caused in the environment, comes back at us like climate disasters and nature embezzles, it behooves us to dare to look back at this shadow.
We have a responsibility to understand its impact, point out those projecting it and demand regulations to defend those it affects.
They say that the first step to solving a problem is to identify it and today, through cinema, we seek to acknowledge our actions, to stop the advance of their consequences on our unique natural environment.
ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL SEMBRANDO CINE – XII EDITION
RECOGNIZING OUR SHADOW
Bašta Fest is an international short fiction film festival held in Bajina Bašta, Western Serbia. It is an annual event that is taking place during the first weekend of July and it lasts for four days. Due to the profession of the founders (actors Jovan Jelisavčić and Maja Šuša), the festival's main point of interest is a collaboration between directors and actors. We believe that focusing on the quality of that joint artistic effort will have a positive impact on the positioning of Bašta Fest among short film festivals. Bašta Fest is of great importance for the decentralization of culture since it has brought diverse film, music and off program to this beautiful region. One of the priorities of the festival is to promote the incredible natural beauty to a large number of visitors. Nevertheless, our primary goal is to convert this festival into an exciting cultural oasis, which supports local and international young artists, putting emphasis on short fiction films with authenticity. The main selection is a competition short film program, while two films are screened as a part of non-competition, special program every year - one during the opening and one during the closing ceremony. The last to be screened is a Serbian debut feature film, chosen by Bašta fest team as the most successful one in the previous year. The entrance to all screenings at Bašta is free of charge, while they are always being held under the open night skies. There are currently two official festival locations: Borići park and lake Perućac.
Dear Creator,
The Viewster Online Film Fest (#VOFF) is an international online event that attracts, displays and rewards features, short films, series, web-series and documentaries that are not always as famous as they should be. It’s a community moderated contest where the public audience will create a shortlist out of all qualified entries.
Essentially the Viewster community and your fans will watch, share, discuss and vote for their favorite entries. They will help to curate the entries with at least the top ten moving onto the finals. After that our Jury of Experts - Ted Hope, Nora Tschirner and Timo Vuorensola - will select the winners to be announced December 8, 2014 on http://festival.viewster.com.
The theme for the fourth #VOFF is "Share It Forward." and asks for the issues that are most important to you today.
Shake up our cushy lives, open our eyes, make us laugh, cry or even outraged. For #VOFF 4, show the world the issues that are most important to you today—big or small. You might be passionate about the environment, human rights, public health, politics, social justice or something entirely different that deserves attention. Whether you get your message across through fiction, non-fiction, with humour, in a direct or an abstract way, let's see your passion to influence and make a difference. #VOFF 4 is your chance to bring your message in front of millions of viewers, who will discuss, support and share your cause. We want to take it one step further this time. In addition to the juried awards, we will contribute to an organisation making a positive impact by the choice of one of the projects.
Why Participate?
• Chance to win a piece of the cake with a cool first prize of $50,000
• Chance to donate $20,000 to an organization of your choice
• Gain publicity and awareness for your content
• Chance to connect with other creators online content
The Asian Summer Film Festival wants to present the Asian culture through the popular cinematography produced in the countries of the continent.
The Festival has several categories such as a competitive section, retrospectives, screenings for children and theme nights. Last year, 40 titles from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Corea, Japan and India were shown, some of them were World and International festival premieres, European festival premieres or Spanish festival premieres. The 18 films programmed in the official section competed for the Jury Prize, the Lucky Cat Award, given by the audience to the best film in-competition, and the Critics’ Choice Award.
