On the border of Europe and Asia, in the 300-year-old city called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains —
we organize an International Short Film Festival with a quarterly Official Selection and Live Screenings every summer, autumn, winter and spring.
NOW OPEN: Submissions for the Ural Shorts Spring 2026
Grand Prix: $1,000
Ural Shorts consists of four Seasons and Annual Award Event. Every Season the selection committee watches privately the submitted short films and chooses the Official Selections. All selected films enter the competition for the Season Awards.
Within 10 days after the Official Selection list is published the jury announces the Season Winners. The winning films enter the Screening Program in cinemas and on television for all to see.
All Season winners enter the competition for the Annual Awards in the nominations corresponding to the Main and Technical and Performances categories, and for the Grand Prix. They receive an invitation to the Annual Award Event.
The Annual Event takes place in August 2026 in the 300-year-old city of Nizhny Tagil, on the border of Europe and Asia, which is called the "Russian Manchester" in the middle of the Ural Mountains. The winner of the Grand Prix will receive a statuette, a diploma and a cash prize of $1,000. The Annual Award Event consists of a cultural and educational program, the annual awards ceremony, screenings, TV interviews, workshops, and other activities.
We are looking for films that have been censored, banned, or have faced obstacles to their development, production and/or exhibition due to political, social, corporate, religious or other reasons, anywhere in the world over the past two years.
Censurados Film Festival is an international film festival that showcases and promotes “the films they don’t want you to see.” Founded in Peru and with over twelve years of experience, the festival has established itself as a key platform for the defense of freedom of expression, human rights, and cultural diversity through cinema.
In a global context where censorship continues to affect artists, filmmakers, and audiences, the festival creates a space for encounter, reflection, and dialogue around the many forms of censorship shaping contemporary artistic practices.
The 12th edition of the festival will take place from October 9 to 12, 2026, in Caldes d’Estrac (Barcelona), where, over four days, cultural venues and public spaces will host screenings, debates, masterclasses, and educational activities, turning the town into a meeting point for filmmakers, industry professionals, and audiences.
The Official Selection consists of two international competitions that approach censorship from different perspectives:
CENSORSHIP COMPETITION
This section is dedicated to films that have been censored, banned, or have faced obstacles, pressure, threats, or any form of violence affecting their development or circulation.
Films of any genre—fiction, documentary, animation, or experimental—from anywhere in the world may participate, provided they have been subject to censorship or interference at any stage of the filmmaking process, from research and concept development, through writing, production, shooting, and post-production, to their exhibition, distribution, or public circulation.
Applicants must provide verifiable information demonstrating the situation of censorship, pressure, threat, or conflict that has affected the work.
STORIES OF CENSORSHIP COMPETITION
This section is dedicated to films that explore censorship as a theme from a narrative, artistic, or documentary perspective.
Films from anywhere in the world may participate if they portray, denounce, or reflect on situations of censorship in cinema or in any other artistic field, as well as on the tensions between creation, power, and freedom of expression.
The Puerto Madryn MAFICI International Film Festival has been held for 14 years and is one of the most important Festivals in Latin America, which takes place in the Argentine Patagonia.
The objective of the Festival is to provide the possibility of screening national and foreign films both feature films and short films and thus generate a meeting space and diffusion of the cinema, from a corner of the Argentine Patagonia.
The Festival will reward the First Movies to Argentine and foreign filmmakers, with the "Southern Right Whale" award, in addition to the different awards of the Official Section in Competition.
MAFICI proposes from its beginnings, reward and promote the new directors of the world, announcing his first cinematographic work, being the only Argentine Festival with this unique peculiarity.
On the other hand, we intend to encourage the development of the film industry, care of the Environment and contribute to the tourist, cultural potential that our beautiful city of Puerto Madryn.
Chambal International Film Festival Season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were grand success.
In Season 1, 316 films from 28 Countries were submitted and 160 films were selected for screening. India’s official entry to Academy awards ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ (2009) was also screened under special focus in Season 1.
In Season 2, 492 films from 35 Countries were submitted and 243 films were selected for screening. India’s official entry to Academy awards ‘Court’ (2015) was also screened under special focus in Season 2.
In Season 3, 604 films from 40 Countries were submitted and 398 films were selected for screening. India’s official entry to Academy awards ‘Shwaas’ (2004) was also screened under special focus in Season 3.
In Season 4, 701 films from 54 Countries were submitted and 464 films were selected for screening.
In Season 5, 809 films from 63 Countries were submitted and 494 films were selected for screening.
In Season 6, 903 films from 71 Countries were submitted and more than 300 films were selected for screening.
In Season 7, 1007 films from 82 Countries were submitted and more than 250 films were selected for screening. Loksabha Speaker Hon'ble Mr. Om Birla Sir inaugurated the opening ceremony.
In Season 8, 1104 films from 93 Countries were submitted and more than 250 films were selected for screening.
In Season 9, 1205 films and projects from 101 Countries were submitted. Renowned actress Seema Biswas Ma'am was the Chief Guest.
The highlights are:
1. Free Hospitality to all the film makers including stay at hotel, meals and conveyance (hotel to venue).
2. Awards in 75 categories.
3. Jury members are from INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY.
4. Excellent media coverage.
5. Great Exposure (5000 plus audience)
6. Support for releasing films on leading OTT platforms.
7. World’s one of the most loved and best reviewed film festivals.
8. Workshops, Networking and Seminars.
9. Certificate Of Official Selection to all the Nominated Films.
10. Certificate Of Participation to all the participants.
11. The films were screened on multiple screens
Chambal International Film Festival, India is a platform where film makers will get an opportunity to showcase their talent to film loving great audience. Also the audience will get a chance to watch some wonderful short films, documentary films, animation films and music videos of various film makers of the World. The Honorable Jury members Mr. Sayeed Quadri (Renowned Lyricist), Mr. Kshitij Tarey (Famous Singer and Music Composer) and Mr. Ranjan Das (Eminent Editor and Writer) from Indian Film Industry are reputed names. Late Mr. Suresh Naik (Highly Experienced DOP and Special Effect Co- Ordinator) was also a part of the jury.
Colors of Love - Queer Film Festival is a vibrant LGBTIQ community initiative created by filmmakers to celebrate and curate queer short films, documentaries, animations, music videos, and web series. Our mission is to introduce these stories to new audiences in a fun, engaging, and informative way.
We welcome submissions of any short films, documentaries, animations, music videos, or web series that explore LGBTQ+ themes, regardless of when they were made. Please ensure that you hold all the rights to your film, including music, images, and likenesses used in it.
With the success of last year’s event, we’re thrilled to announce that this year we are expanding the length of eligible films from 20 minutes to 40 minutes. Additionally, we are introducing a brand-new LGBTQ Feature Film category to further showcase diverse and powerful queer stories.
Colors of Love Queer Film Festival become the official part of FilmyBees Cine Club, which manages and hosts the festival and associated programs. The last event took place on 22nd - 23rd June during Pride Month, celebrating the diversity of love in Mumbai, the Bollywood city of India.
By submitting your film, you grant us permission to screen it in unlimited live screenings throughout the year.
Additionally, we will host an online event at the end of the year, where all selected films will be screened via our online film streaming partners. This is a non-exclusive agreement, meaning you are free to share your film elsewhere.
Moscow International Children’s Film Festival invites children, teenagers, youth, parents and teachers to get acquainted with the best films for children, teenagers and youth and films made by children and teenagers (under 18) under the guidance of adults.
The film festival presents to the public the best films from all over the world made by adults for a children’s audience, as well as films made by children and teenagers from different cities and countries, trying themselves as producers, screenwriters, actors, directors, animators.
The extensive program of the Moscow International Children’s Film Festival is designed for children (6+), teenagers planning to go to the film and art schools, their parents and teachers.
The film festival brings together filmmakers making films for children with young filmmakers who make their first steps at film and video creation. Our goal is to inspire and support young filmmakers, and give wide audiences the opportunity to get acquainted with modern films for children and teenagers.
The Moscow International Children’s Film Festival is a large-scale festive event with an extensive and vibrant program of films on the big screan for children and teenagers, as well as parents, a series of meetings with directors and master classes from leading film experts representing various film schools.
All best films that were selected for the screening, will be shown on the big screen during the solemn final ceremony on March 18 – 21, 2027 in Moscow, Russia and will be able to struggle for the main prize and the title of the “Best film”. As well as for the prizes in the standalone nominations.
The Latin American Film Week will take place over five consecutive days, with its official venues at Arthaus and Cine Arte Cacodelphia in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2026.
During the event, special activities will accompany the screenings, including training workshops, forums, and networking opportunities for industry professionals.
Since 2017, we have been creating spaces for dialogue and debate, with a strong focus on building audiences. We believe it is important that our viewers have a great experience at every screening and leave inspired to continue discovering Latin American cinema.
«38Retinas» is an annual, traveling, thematic film festival that aims to bring comedy short films to the municipalities of the El Bierzo region that request them
SIMFEST is a TV and film festival – competition, the only one of this kind in Romania and one of the few in Europe.
It is organized every year by "SIMFEST Cultural Association", which supports and promotes the creators in visual arts. SIMFEST stands for professionalism and for the freedom of expression of the journalists and the media producers. The festival promotes, at the same time, local journalism and community mass-media.
It is a complex manifestation for electronic mass-media. It is the annual meeting point of the TV's and film’s world specialists from Romania and from all of the world, of students, independent producers, and of media enthusiasts; it is a competition that it's designed to find and form values and talents, to give them the needed validation and for connecting them with the medium in which they can develop. It is a competition and, at the same time, a media school and a cultural event.
The SIMFEST components are:
- The Competition
- The Summer School for journalists and media creators and film
- The official program of the festival
The Competition is opened to all the media creators, reporters, cameramen and media producers from Romania but also from other countries, but is also opened to freelancers, to students and territorial correspondents of central televisions, production houses, as well as to all multimedia creators. It has eight sections.
- PUBLISHING (REPORTAGE/ DOCUMENTARY/ INQUIRY/ ESSAY / TALK-SHOW etc.)
- ENTERTAINMENT
- VIDEO
- MULTIMEDIA (+IA)
- STUDENT PROJECTS (fiction and non fiction)
- TOURISTIC FILM
- FICTION (short movie and feature film)
- ANIMATION
The jury of the competition consists out of well-known personalities in the field of journalism, TV and cinema from Romania and from other countries.
The Summer School for journalists and media creators was founded and included within the festival in 2007, and through it, SIMFEST became in the past few years an institution of non-formal education of media creators and film , especially from the audiovisual section.
The journalists Romeo Couți and Brândușa Armanca (TVR), the writer Bogdan Hrib, Assoc. Prof. PhD. Ion Stavre (SNSPA), Assoc. Prof. PhD. Lucian Ionică (West University of Timișoara), the director Ștefan Fischer (Germany), Charles Fletcher, MBE (Scotland), TV producer Codruț Pânzaru, TV producer Tamas Barok (Hungary), the director Copel Moscu (UNATC Bucharest), Iulia Badea Gueritee and Raymond Clarinard (Courrier International Paris), Beata Biel (Google expert, Poland), Ovidiu Gyarmath (Director of photography), Prof. PhD. Laura Baron (UNATC Bucharest), grat Romanian actors like Marcel Iures , Daniela Nane and Dan Puric, Elisabeta Bostan film producer, JC Guest film producer 2023 Emmy Award Winner and many others held lectures and led workshops or held masterclasses within the Summer School., Toma Enache film producer
The official program of the festival is available for the public with the purpose to, on one hand, construct a way of communication between the creators of media and those whom they serve: the consumers of information in order for the audience to correctly understand the messages transmitted through mass-media. On the other hand, it offers a space of free expression and a non-formal platform for professional development for the journalists and filmmakers. Therefore, SIMFEST is a festival not only a TV and film competition but also a cultural complex.
International recognition: SIMFEST is known and recognized in the Romanian mass-media as a role model in the promotion of artists' free expression and for the promotion and being an advocate of real media professionalism. Most of the creators attending SIMFEST for the past years, have also won international recognition at competitions organized in Sibiu, Prague, Belgrade, Bucharest, London, Kishinaw and Tel Aviv. SIMFEST is also in collaboration or in partnership with other similar manifestations: CRONOGRAF Chishinaw, DETECTIVEFEST Moskow, CINEPOLITICA Bucharest etc.
The Athens Short Film Festival is an annual event that spotlights international independent breakout shorts. Taking place in the multicultural and artistic Greek capital, ASFF supports the city’s underground scene and breaks its geographical boundaries by gathering a mixed audience of locals and internationals. Local cinemas have always been a place where conversations and debates on social, political and gender issues sparked. And it is part of ASFF’s mission to rejuvenate these spaces and honour their cultural significance.
The Festival’s screening programme features emerging talents from all over the world and all filmmakers regardless of background are invited to submit their artworks. Expanding year by year, the Athens Short Film Festival aims to enrich its programme with industry events, workshops and seminars and become a reference Film festival for the Athenian independent cinema scene.
The Athens Short Festival is organised by HFP, a pioneer organisation that runs Film Festivals and other events showcasing and championing ideas of diversity. Through our global series of film Festivals that spread over 13 countries, we open the path to voices with a compelling story to share. Our main mission is to honour independent cinema and establish a network of artists eager to join forces and spread their work across all nations.
We conceive IBZCF as a window into contemporary cinema, its new trends and creators who contribute new narrative paths to create vibrant, necessary, and modern films.
The 11th edition of IBZCF will take place in 10 venues across the island's five municipalities and online on the Filmin platform. Ibizacinefest renews its commitment to Ibiza and its culture through a program of national and international titles never before seen on the island, exclusive premieres in the Balearic Islands and Spain, activities aimed at professionals, short film sections to discover and promote local and Balearic talent, and our educational program with special screenings to create new audiences.
Reflection will also be given space through open discussions on the relationship between cinema and various current sociocultural issues.
Short films are once again the focus of IBZCF, once again as a qualifier for the Premios Goya,Forqué Awards, and the Fugaz Awards, collaborating once again with the European Film Academy on the Shortfilms on Tour program.
Xavi Herrero
Director and programmer IBZCF2-European Film Academy Member
BITBANG International Animation Festival opens its call for entries and invites you to be part of its twelfth edition, which will take place in October 2026, in person, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
BITBANG is a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® (Oscars). The winners of the Bitbang Official Competition, in the categories of Best International Short Film and Best Latin American Short Film, will be automatically eligible to enter the OSCARS® Short Film competition.
BITBANG disseminates and promotes innovative, experimental and authorial proposals through projections, exhibitions and competitions. We promote audiovisual creation in Argentina, orientated towards the development and consolidation of the industry as a cultural contribution on a worldwide level.
We place special emphasis on training and capacitation, for that during BITBANG there are being held masterclasses, seminars, conferences and workshops. In addition to that, there are laboratories, spotlights, retrospectives, illustration contests, installations, exhibitions, making a film in 24 hours, and thematic parties. All screenings are with free admission.
Since 2015 we have organized BITBANG, a unique experience that each edition allows all those interested in art, creativity and innovation, to meet with the most important referents in the country and the world. It is a meeting point that enables collaboration between artists from different disciplines and generates the construction of new languages and other perspectives.
In previous years, the venues were CCK, Planetarium Galileo Galilei, Espacio INCAA Km 0 Gaumont, C3 Museum, Borges Cultural Center, Recoleta Cultural Center, Cosmos Uba Cinema, Da Vinci School, Otra Historia Club Cultural, Local, Club Lucero, C Complejo Art Media, Deseo, Dune Park, La Paz Arriba, Bar El Destello, Arcade Club Social, in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Also we held BITBANG in different parts of Argentina, spreading the best of Argentinean and International Animation.
In this 12th Edition BITBANG welcomes you to these artistic proposals and to the fans and professional audiovisual community.
GuglilemoMarconi filmf - Kids and Teens International Film Festival (former vvfilmf) was created to create a large film festival for children and teenagers that combines talent and culture, to indicate welcoming places for young people and to offer workshops dedicated to the study of new forms of artistic expression.
#GuglielmoMarconi filmf (former vvfilmf) aims to be an initiative aimed at the whole country and internationally to satisfy both the expectations of a young population and those of adult spectators, in an attempt to bring the general public closer to quality forms of cinema. The Festival's programming, despite having children, school-age children and university students as its preferential audience, also opens up with enthusiasm to adults and to the entire population interested in cinematographic art, fascinated by artistic and visual culture, passionate about teaching , pedagogy, fun and educational but also simple entertainment.
It represents a good opportunity to show new training paths, offering a constantly renewed program of cultural activities, and to propose, through the cinematographic medium, respectful skills and fruitful reflections open to all members of the school.
The festival can cite the High Patronage of the European Parliament, the Patronage of the Presidency of Italian Ministers, the Ministry of Culture, Labor and Social Policies, of Tourism, of almost all the Italian Regions, of many Italian Provinces and Municipalities.
Among the multi-year collaborations that vvfilmf has developed are RAI Cinema, Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo and with RAI Radio 2 and RAI Educational.
Due to the high quality of the selection of films in competition and the professionalism of the work carried out over the years, the festival was chosen by the President of the Biennale Foundation, Paolo Baratta and the Director of the Venice Biennale, to choose a group of young jurors and accompany them in the world of international cinema during the Venice International Film Festival.
"PLUM!" is an animation festival that celebrates the art of animation in all its forms. It showcases work from both local and international artists, giving the people of Tafí del Valle access to productions they might not otherwise encounter, while also promoting cultural tourism in the region. The festival aims to be a vibrant platform for the exhibition and exchange of animated content—from short films to feature-length works, from traditional techniques to cutting-edge digital animation.
"PLUM!" fosters creativity, dialogue, and collaboration between artists and the broader community.
Only for Ibero-American filmmakers.
A segunda edição do Festival Internacional Bolivia Lab en Corto 2026 “Intensos Fulgores” faz parte do XVIII Bolivia Lab 2026.
O Festival, voltado para a exibição, difusão e fortalecimento do curta-metragem ibero-americano, bem como para o incentivo a novas vozes do setor audiovisual boliviano, convida você a inscrever seu projeto nas diferentes categorias, abertas a pessoas da Bolívia e de toda a Ibero-América.
Este encontro será realizado na cidade de Sucre, Bolívia, tornando-se um espaço de intercâmbio, exibição e celebração do cinema contemporâneo e contará com duas linhas de participação
claramente diferenciadas:
• Curta-metragem nacional e internacional (tema livre).
• Câmara livre nacional, tema (Histórias que migram)
“Histórias que migram” reúne relatos de partida, retorno, espera, transformação e adaptação, destacando as múltiplas formas como as pessoas e as comunidades se relacionam com o território, a memória e o sentimento de pertencimento. O eixo conceitual dialoga simbolicamente com o comportamento das aves migratórias, tomando como referência o maçarico-de-bico-preto, espécie migratória que percorre milhares de quilômetros do hemisfério norte até a América do Sul e que, a cada ano, encontra na Bolívia um de seus territórios de passagem durante sua rota migratória. Sua travessia representa um poderoso símbolo de deslocamento, resistência e adaptação às mudanças ambientais e territoriais.
Publicação obrigatória na rede social TikTok.
Uso da hashtag oficial do festival (#HistoriasQueMigran).
Publicação em perfil público.
Experimental Superstars is an international festival of experimental films.
We accept experimental films, experimental documentaries and music video works that use film techniques, whether they rely on dance film, animation, or other experimental film techniques.
We are not a big festival, but we have dedicated audience and versatile and quality program.
Only works that can be presented as part of the screening will be included in the selection, no video installations.
Festival takes place in Novi Sad, Serbia.
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 shnit worldwide shortsfestival is a premier platform for the exhibition and promotion of short films. This festival is a unique transnational event held simultaneously in ten cities across five continents. The festival takes place from August 20 – September 20 2026 and consists of three main segments: [1] shnit PLAYGROUNDS* – Festival cities | [2] shnit EXPANDED | [3] shnit FINALE – Awards ceremony.
All winners of the WORLDWIDE COMPETITION & INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION will be eligible to enter the 2027 Oscars® [via Cinematic release | in accordance with the rules of the 99th Oscars®].
Over the past twenty-four years, shnit has evolved into a major international short film festival, continuously reinventing itself. Originally a local initiative, it is now a global event connecting and inspiring filmmakers and audiences from different cultural backgrounds. The festival promotes diversity, originality, and artistic exchange. With its high-quality cinematic selections, shnit attracts over 30,000 visitors, making it one of the leading short film festivals worldwide.
shnit is a non-profit organization, coordinated in collaboration with festival executives. The festival operates on principles of excellence and professionalism, fostering its international expansion.
* Planned PLAYGROUNDS for 2026
shnit worldwide shortsfestival takes place simultaneously in the several cities, the shnit PLAYGROUNDS, on five continents. The definitive setup will be announced by August 1 2026, the planned PLAYGROUNDS for this year are:
▪ Amsterdam [The Netherlands] – shnit FINALE
▪ Buenos Aires [Argentina]
▪ Cairo [Egypt]
▪ Cape Town [South Africa]
▪ Goa [India]
▪ Hong Kong [China]
▪ Moscow [Russia]
▪ Sydney [Australia]
▪ San José [Costa Rica]
▪ Toronto [Canada]
The Elipsis University Short Film Festival, part of the Guayaquil International Film Festival and produced by Kashu Artistic Vortex, LLC. (Vórtice Artístico Marañón, S.A.S.), is a platform dedicated to showcasing national and international student films. The festival highlights works created within academic and training environments and takes place across universities and cultural spaces in the cities of Esmeraldas, Guayaquil and Quito, with participating networks and screenings in Ecuador; additionally, this year’s edition includes countries like USA, Colombia, and Mexico.
