Open Call – International Experimental Film Festival 2025
The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival (IEFF) – 2025
organized by the Institute for Experimental Arts
“The future of film is female and experimental. We need to destroy and reconstruct cinema itself.” – Maya Deren
About the Festival The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival is an international encounter dedicated to experimental film art, announcing its call for submissions. The festival will take place in Greece, creating a dynamic space for screenings, installations, performances, conferences, film concerts, and workshops. The festival seeks to expand the possibilities of film beyond traditional formats and spaces, creating a zone of creative contagions between cinema and the visual arts, historical works and current production, analog and digital, filmmaking and critical thinking.
“I make films to prevent myself from disappearing. Each frame is an act of resistance against the prescribed narratives.” – Chantal Akerman
Our Vision of Experimental Cinema Experimental cinema is a free, radical, and purposeful cinema that responds to the aesthetic, political, or philosophical need to see and explore cinematic horizons, away from large industries and hegemonic formulas of creation. It is through experimental cinema that we find authentic ways to create audiovisual art.
“Experimental film is not just about breaking rules – it’s about proving those rules never really existed.” – Barbara Hammer
We celebrate a cinema that breaks the narrative, and most of all visual, bounds to which we’re used. A cinema that elaborates on film medium to its fullest, by including even the most extreme possibilities. A cinema that confronts, disrupts, and reimagines. As John Cage said it well: “an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen” – the cinema we’re looking for is a cinema of the unpredictable.
“The experimental is political. Every frame can be an act of rebellion.” – Agnès Varda
FESTIVAL MISSION
The 3rd IEFF continues to be the pioneering space in the exhibition of experimental content in cinema, which seeks to show excellence and innovation in the independent production of the film world. We celebrate aesthetic diversity, new narratives, and new media and formats; a program that reveals the complexity of social, cultural, and artistic phenomena. We understand experimental cinema as a divergent cinema that vanishes the boundaries with art, emphasizing the experimental modes of creation.
“In experimental cinema, we find the freedom to imagine different futures and to remember different pasts.” – Trinh T. Minh-ha
Special Focus for 2025
- Feminist Experimental Practices
- Gender and Technology
- Body Politics in Digital Age
- Queer Experimental Narratives
- Decolonial Experimental Cinema
- Eco-feminist Approaches to Film
- Cross-disciplinary Collaborations
- Digital/Analog Hybrid Works
- Experimental AR/VR Projects
ABOUT
The Institute The Institute for Experimental Arts was founded in 2008 in Athens, Greece as a non-profit platform of creative expression and research in the fields of theater, performance art, digital media, installation, poetry and art theory. The Institute is committed to existing as an open meeting point for poets-writers, directors, actors, theater engineers/technicians, performance artists, photographers, video artists and the writers who develop new analytical tools on contemporary art, media & communication.
CRITICAL DISCOURSE
The festival will always see the development of the cinematic language with critical thinking, regardless of the terms ‘cinema industry’ or independent cinema. For this reason, the 3rd IEFF will bring a critical discourse through curatorial programs, symposium, and public lectures to broaden the knowledge of the ever-changing cutting-edge cinema aesthetics.
“Cinema is not neutral. Experiment is our way to fight back.” – Sally Potter
SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
We accept all works that fit into the experimental film category and all its sub-genres including:
- Found footage
- Essay film
- Expanded cinema
- Experimental animation
- Abstract film
- Experimental documentary
- Video art
- Virtual reality
- Direct animation
- Any other experimental approaches
There are no genre, topic or length restrictions.
The 3rd IEFF features Avant-Garde and Experimental films of any length.
IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS
+ All films with dialogue must have ENGLISH or GREEK subtitles
+ Submissions without subtitles will be considered incomplete
+ Films that have screened before are eligible
AWARDS
We believe in culture as a pluralistic and intangible value. The awards assigned by our diverse jury are purely symbolic. Selected films will be judged by an exceptional jury and seen by a vast audience of film lovers.
Golden Arrow Awards Categories
- Best Film
- Best Short Film
- Best Director
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Music
- Best Performance
- Best Picture
Submission Deadlines and Fees Deadline:
August 15, 2025
Submission fee: 25 euro per video or media project
Program Announcement: October 2025
Contact Information For any questions: theinstitutecontact@gmail.com
RIGHTS
The International Experimental Film Festival reserves the right to use small portions and stills of accepted films for promotion of events.
We actively encourage submissions from women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming filmmakers, as well as creators from underrepresented communities. Our commitment to diversity extends to our jury selection and programming decisions.
“The revolution will be filmed experimentally.” – Su Friedrich
The 3rd International Experimental Film Festival is a project of the Institute for Experimental Arts, celebrating the radical potential of cinema to transform our understanding of art, society, and ourselves.
In 2003, the non-profit created the International Strange and Unusual Fantasy Short Film Festival, Court Métrange.
The event offers a creative harbor for authors wherein to expose and endorse their ideas. With an irrefutable penchant for a different form of filmmaking, these motion picture partisans fascinate countless audiences, the latter of whom paradoxically struggle to reap the same attention.
The purpose of the Court Métrange Festival is, ultimately, threefold, boasting: a place to screen, a place to scream, letting its "cult" shorts thrive, and a place whose limitless resources endeavor to not only emphasize the credentials of those having fought to make Fantasy film what it is today, but also attribute to them what is rightfully theirs. Court Métrange has become crucial not only in putting back on the radar screen the artistic and cultural value in a certain category of works, but also in breaking down barriers between film genres.
Sole member specializing in short films of the renowned European Fantastic Film Festival and CNC Category 1 Festival, Court Métrange is, in a way, a rite of passage for some authors in the quest for validation of their work with their sights set on becoming the directors of tomorrow. As a result, it is unrivaled, and plays an influential role on the short film scene in Europe.
Artistically agile, film communicates in a number of languages. The Fantastic is one of them. Court Métrange has chosen to hand over the mic and screen to those who share the same speak. For Fantasy filmmakers, this moment with their audiences is invaluable. Theaters teeming with fans and backing from a significant part of the profession have, in turn, legitimized the festival in its entirety. The enthusiasm and support from the teaching community and the active involvement of its student population in the educational and cultural initiatives organized by the festival come full circle with the idea that Fantastic films are a formidable breeding ground for culture and reflection.
Alongside its screenings, the Festival also strives to open up channels for exchange between film and other creative disciplines in order to broaden and boost the manner in which the "Fantastic image" materializes. Every year, conferences, exhibits, music, encounters, and debates round out the Court Métrange agenda.
Great Message International Film Festival
We really wish to share international thinking which is developed in the form of films with the society and the young generation of humanity.
Every human being is a message in himself or herself, we just have to channelize & nurture that message into a great one. Filmmakers from all across the globe are respectfully welcome to share and submit your great films into the GMIFF.
Listed on IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0005053
We understand that you understand the realm of understanding and so you have created your wonderful films with your conscious understanding.
Showcasing Greatness through Audio-Visual
Through vantage point we see that entertainment is just the medium to share realm of life with film lovers. If we penetrate the meaning of life sometime we feel that there is no such meaning or purpose to life, yes! Sometime, but we must have to give a great meaning or purpose to life to create great message for whole humanity or for our next generation.
We are really very small people; please understand what we want to say. But the task or mission which we want to empower is very big. One can understand it by the example of river. The beginning or origin of every river is so small but her consistency with selflessness leads her towards more hugeness.
Most Welcome!
Dear human beings, being human it is good if we transform each moment into humane one.
We really admire your passion and enthusiasm as a filmmaker so with humbleness we invite filmmakers from all across the globe to share your great films into Great Message International Film Festival - GMIFF.
The Chefchaouen International Environmental Film Festival is a film festival dedicated to film lovers and those concerned about the environment in Morocco and abroad, it is an annual event in the superb blue pearl of northern Morocco, the tourist and ecological city of Chefchaouen.
The 14th Edition of the Chefchaouen International Environmental Film Festival will be held from september 10 to 13, 2025 on the occasion of World Environment Day.
The 14th Edition of the Chefchaouen International Environmental Film Festival will be held from September 10 to 13, 2025 on the occasion of World Environment Day.
A varied program, and a jury composed of internationally and nationally renowned film and environmental professionals will be responsible for designating the winners of the planned awards.
Animacción is an international festival of animated short films, which showcases the artistic potential of a whole new generation of animators. Organised by the cultural association dedicated to animation ‘Ánimas Anónimas’, the festival returns this year for its 9th edition.
I would put this whole paragraph like this: The selected short films will be screened from 27/10 to 01/11 in different venues in the metropolitan area of A Coruña, and the winning films from both the general section and the children's and Galician sections will be chosen by voting by the audience attending the screenings.
The days of the screenings will be an opportunity to create a bridge between professionals from the world of animation and the public, as we will be programming talks and activities for all audiences related to this discipline.
In addition, the programme will include a series of talks and activities which, together with the screenings of the short films, will serve to create a bridge between professionals from the world of animation and the public.
FantasticGijón was born with the illusion of filling a space that we believe empty in Asturias, to accommodate national and international productions of the Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction genres that, due to the genre to which they belong, have less chance of reaching our community within of the programming of the rest of regional festivals.
The FICTU is a festival that focuses on short films and seeks to connect the audiovisual production of Boyacá with the current national and world cinema.
The festival has 4 competitions which are:
- Boyacá short films competition
- Colombian short films competition
- International short films competition
- Colombian feature film competition
The Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) stands as one of Asia's most prestigious and widely recognized platforms for short films, celebrated for its dedication to creative excellence, innovation and the promotion of diverse voices in cinema. Over the course of its illustrious history, TISFF has evolved into a vibrant hub for global storytelling, attracting thousands of submissions from filmmakers worldwide—a reflection of its unparalleled reputation as a cornerstone for emerging talent and visionary cinematic voices.
To support emerging filmmakers and promote diversity, TISFF allows free film submissions; ensuring financial barriers never hinder talented filmmakers from sharing their unique visions.
Organized by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS), a leading organization in short film production and education, TISFF benefits from an extensive infrastructure comprising 57 branches across Iran and a thriving network of filmmakers and alumni. The IYCS supports the production of countless short films annually and trains aspiring filmmakers each year. Many of its graduates have risen to prominence as some of the most celebrated filmmakers in international cinema, reinforcing its profound influence on the global filmmaking stage.
An OSCARS®-qualifying festival, TISFF is renowned for embracing innovation while celebrating cinematic tradition. For its 42nd edition, TISFF proudly showcases its established categories of fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental films—genres that have long been at the heart of its commitment to cinematic excellence, with the Grand Prize winner becoming eligible for Academy Awards® consideration. In addition, the festival spotlights its AI Competition Program, highlighting the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in redefining storytelling and artistic expression, reflecting TISFF's vision for the future of filmmaking.
New this year, TISFF proudly presents the Emerging Horizons Award which reflects TISFF's enduring focus on emerging talent. This category is dedicated to first or second short fiction films from filmmakers in the MENA region, offering a platform for fresh and visionary voices from this dynamic part of the world.
As ever, TISFF remains a global platform for filmmakers to present their work, fostering the evolution of short film as a compelling artistic and cultural medium. We warmly invite you to join us in vibrant and culturally rich Tehran this autumn for the 42nd edition of TISFF.
LesGaiCineMad Madrid International LGBTIAQ+ Film Festival is a LGTBI+ Film Festival in seen in Spanish Speaking countries. The inaugural edition was held in 1996. With an estimated audience of more than 10,000 spectators, it is a well attended festival by members of the Community of Madrid and is covered by the Spanish Press.
The City Council of Noia convenes the "24th Short Film Showcase Vila de Noia 2023", to be held in the last quarter of this year.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Rock Horror Film Festival is more than a film festival, it’s an event that unites the best of the horror, thriller, and fantasy films with rock & roll in a big party for moviegoers who love music, and cinema. Prepare your heart for scaring and exciting nights filled with the best of the national and international thrillers, and a lot of rock & roll.
ROCK HORROR LABS
The festival will also have a team of international professionals in pannels, workshops and round tables about cinema in different areas such as: production, photography, directing, acting, makeup, soundtrack, among others.
ROUND TABLES
The festival organize round tables with the participation od the directors, actors and professionals.
18 CINETORO EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
CINETORO is projected as a transdisciplinary Festival-School, dedicated to curatorial practice and the training of filmmakers; building bridges between emerging talents and prominent national and international artists, and promoting analysis and criticism related to the production and thinking behind experimental cinema and animation.
We advocate for a cinema where poetry and art dialogue; that draws its limit beyond the perimeter of spectacularity, of technical correctness, of the topics and forms on the agenda. It is an imperfect cinema, which accepts its artisanal condition and is concerned with the recovery of the consciousness of corporeality; reflecting, problematizing and questioning the construction of image and sound.
Cinema with a territorial imprint, which redesigns, mutates and pronounces itself before the world. Resignifying the territory, transforming the perspective on rurality and providing the community with spaces for the appropriation of knowledge.
ABYSSAL CHANTS
Is what we hear alive?
#SeeAndHearDifferently:
18TH CINETORO EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
From October 28th to November 2nd
A distant sound rumbles in the darkness of the room, a call coming from the abyssal depths of the ocean, a penetrating song that attracts and binds. The listener slips through a seam in time and plunges into the void.That leap entails risk, and an encounter with the unknown. Those films that jump, that search in the darkness, in the shadow, in the mystery, in the spectral, in the sound but also in the silence, are the ones that captivate us in this edition.
Sound as movement, can reveal the temporal dimension of an image —whether still or moving. Rather than merely supporting images semantically, sound may serve as their structural axis. We are looking for films that explore diverse relationships between image and sound or treat sound as plastic material. Whether through a conceptual approach where sound structures the film; or where the voice carries weight not just for what is said, but also for its qualities: the voice as a malleable medium, as revelation and reverberation; or where music, instead of simply accompanying the image, becomes a structural part of the film itself . Films that take shape through sound.
We want to dive into the depths of sound, so that with our eyes closed we can see and listen as we swim and immerse ourselves. From a theoretical or curatorial perspective, little exploration has been done in these waters
The abyssal chants act as a call, and this call is what we want to respond to, in this edition. We are looking for animations, documentaries, fictions, hybrid films and experimentations that resonate with these chants, with this call to see and hear differently.
#AbyssalSongs #DeepListening #Cinetoro2025 #LookAndListenDifferently #LeapIntoTheAbyss #FilmAndSound #ExperimentalFilmFestival #HybridCinema #ExperimentalCinema
#ExperimentalNarrative
FesticineKids 27 is an international children's and youth film festival in Cartagena de Indias, it is a film competition that orients its efforts towards strengthening the production and distribution of Colombian, Latin American and world cinema for children and young people.
In 2025, FesticineKids reaches its 27th, edition with the same spirit of highlighting and celebrating cinema for girls, boys and young people. The phrase has been chosen as the slogan: OUR KIDS VALUES. From this concept it is intended to invite children and young people to be aware of the responsibility they have to be agents of change in their environments. Children and young people are the future that should encourage the care of our planet earth, the human beings that surround them, animals and plants, as well as the places they visit. The tendency to Afro movies and ones oriented to indigenous people.
In the construction of the profile of the FesticineKids 27, the screen is problematized as a point of confluence of girls, boys and adolescents. By postulating cinema as that scenario in which feelings, emotions and beliefs are expressed, it is intended that girls, boys and adolescents, understanding what the cinema evokes them, what they extract from it and its meanings, wonder about the place that cinema has in their lives, in their environment, in parallel to the place they want and dream of.
It is also an opportunity for adults, parents, teachers, cultural and cinematographic authorities, to think about the need to strengthen their capacities to be trainers in tension and interaction with the audiovisual media, especially the cinema.
We proudly announce 12th edition of PCISFF in September, 2025.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Before submitting your entry/entries please be informed that your film(s) will be screened in various Colleges, schools and Universities of Rajasthan, for free. The audience will watch and rate your film on the spot. On the basis of their ratings, best films will be short listed. These films will then be judged by our jury.
No compensation is admissible for the screening of your film(s). Your film(s) can also be shown on local or national TV channels. No royalty will be paid for such screening.
People expecting any payment for the screening of their films are requested not to send any entry to PCISFF.
It have been already Sixteen years of this festival, which year after year, with firm step, has expanded its proposals for good cinema. Lies far away 1999, when sponsored by the humoristic duo Gomaespuma and M-80 Radio began the first edition of the festival with the slogan “the Indians are coming! ”. Eventually Imagineindia has internationalized, showing films from all over the world while those from Asia are still assuming the bulk of the festival.
The eleventh La Serena International Film Festival (FECILS) is a competitive audiovisual event that will take place from October 22 to 25, 2025, in the Coquimbo region. It seeks to support the production and dissemination of regional, national, and Latin American audiovisual activities, thus contributing to decentralization by promoting the exchange and training of regional filmmakers and producers. Through these actions, FECILS seeks to establish itself as a cultural event that, in addition to generating film exhibition spaces in the Coquimbo region, focuses on generating new audiences. FECILS 2025 features an audiovisual outreach program that will reach various venues in the region's communes.
The 24th Almería International Film Festival will be held in Almería (Spain), in order to promote the province of Almeria through the strengthening the historical links of the province with the audiovisual industry and culture, from Friday 14th November to Sunday 23st November 2025. The Festival is organized by Almería Provincial Council.
OFFICIAL CALL FOR ENTRIES – NOCTAMBULANTE 2025
Noctambulante is a horror and fantasy film showcase with 16 years of experience in Mexico City. What began as a film club has become a landmark event for fans of fantastic cinema, building a passionate community and promoting a love for the genre through all-night screenings in diverse venues across the city.
Over the years, Noctambulante has taken cinema beyond traditional theaters, creating immersive experiences in unique settings — from parks and plazas to historical sites and open-air locations. Its mission is to bring horror and fantasy films to new audiences, providing a platform for the exhibition of national and international productions that rarely find space in commercial theaters.
Beyond exhibition, Noctambulante is committed to fostering film production in Mexico. Through calls for entries divided into various categories, the project opens up opportunities for the creation of genre cinema, with special focus on the proposals of university students and emerging talents.
The 35mm Film Festival was born in Milan from the desire to share the love of cinema and to give voice to talent. The main goal is to create an opportunity for artists and film enthusiasts to meet.
The first edition of the festival was held on 19 and 20 October 2024 at ‘Il Cinemino’ and ‘Area Zelig’. This will be possible thanks to the event, which will be held for two consecutive days: on the first day, there will be screenings of the projects selected to participate at the festival; on the second day, there will be TALKS with the directors in competition and the jury, and finally THE AWARD EVENING.
We accept short films from all over the world, fiction or documentary, of any genre and shot on all types of support, both digital and analog. The second edition of the 35mm Film Festival will be held in MILAN on September 27 and 28, 2025.
