Finding your way

As a filmmaker, some things are very important: making films, obtaining funding and showing the film to the rest of the world out there! Around the globe there are so many great festivals and events that it is easy to lose track of what is happening. Among everything that is going on, it can be difficult to realistically assess which festival is the right one for your film.

Because of that CineSud Magazine started publishing monthly articles with the most interesting and promising international film festivals that you can submit to the following months. Next to that we give an overview of interesting funding options in the heart of the Netherlands, Belgium as well as Germany.

Film Festivals

Torino Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 4
Festival dates: November 20 - November 28

"Tomorrow marks the debut of the young people’s festival", was the headline in the daily La Stampa on September 24, 1982. It was the birth of the Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani, which later became the Torino Film Festival. So, edition after edition, what has been defined as the main metropolitan Italian film festival, dedicated to young, independent cinema, the emerging directors and experimental movies, has grown up and become an adult. [Read more]

Stockholm International Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 7
Festival dates: November 11 - November 22

Stockholm International Film Festival started in 1990 and is one of the largest cultural events in the Nordic region. The festival presents 150 premieres from more than 60 countries. All together several hundred program items including screenings, seminars , Face2Face, Red Carpet-screenings and parties are organised. Since its inception celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Susan Sarandon, Luc Besson, Lauren Bacall, Ang Lee, Gena Rowlands, Roman Polanski and Quentin Tarantino have visited the festival and met the audience at the cinemas. [Read more]

Milan International Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 14 
Festival dates: November 18 - December 16

MIFF (Milan International Film Festival), nicknamed by the press as the "Milanese Sundance", has been recognized and distinguished as the official International Cinema exhibition festival of Milan. MIFF existed as a conventional film festival for 10 years, until 2010, it reinvented itself as the MIFF Awards, a brand new genre in the sphere of film events that featured an avant-garde format developed through an unwavering commitment to support Cinema culture: the Leonardo Da Vinci's Horse or MIFF Awards. [Read more]

Sundance Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 14 (Shorts)
Festival dates: January 21 - January 31

Every winter in Utah, the Sundance Film Festival becomes the ultimate gathering of original storytellers and audiences seeking new voices and fresh perspectives. The annual program includes dramatic and documentary features and short films; series and episodic content; and New Frontier, showcasing emerging media in the form of multimedia installations, performances, and films. On top of that daily filmmaker conversations, panel discussions, and live music events are being hosted. [Read more]

Dublin International Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 18
Festival dates: March 3 - March 14

The Festival curates and presents the best in emerging international and Irish film and moving image culture for a wide audience through its flagship annual festival, along with a range of year-round events. Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival aims to offer memorable experiences through audience interaction and engagement with filmmakers, actors and industry professionals, along with informed debate about the future of film as an art form. [Read more]

International Film Festival Rotterdam

Submission deadline: September 21 (Shorts)
Festival dates: January 27 - February 7

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's focus is on recent work by talented new filmmakers. However, within the four sections the Festival presents, there is also room for retrospectives and themed programmes. IFFR actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through its co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam Lab and other industry activities. [Read more]

Trieste Film Festival

Submission deadline: September 30
Festival dates: January 21 - January28

The Trieste Film Festival is a yearly event of cinema culture organised by the Alpe Adria Cinema Association. The main purpose of the Trieste Film Festival is to promote information, debate and mutual cooperation among the operators of the audiovisual production industry and in particular of films in Central and Eastern Europe. [Read more]

Funding

Dutch Deadlines

Nederlands Film Fonds:
- Ontwikkeling mainstream speelfilm en lange animatiefilm (September 1)
- Realisering Screen NL (speelfilm, documentaire, animatie) (September 1)
- Realisering mainstream speelfilm en lange animatie (September 1)
- New Screen Low Budget (September 15)
- Filmfonds Wildcards (September 22) 

Belgian Deadlines

Flemish Audiovisual Fund:
- Mediafonds: Fictiereeksen (September 1)
- Mediafonds: Animatiereeksen (September 1)
- Filmfonds Fictie korte film (September 3)
- Filmfonds Fictie 1 (September 24)
- Filmfonds Fictie 2: Ontwikkeling (September 24)
- Filmfonds Fictie 2: Productiesteun (September 24)
- Filmfonds Fictie 2: Productiesteun na start opnames (September 24)
- Internationale promotiesteun Filmfonds (September 25)
- Scenarioatelier (fictie/animatie) (September 28)
- Filmfonds: Innovatielab (September 29)

German Deadlines

Medienstiftung NRW:
- Vereinfachte Förderung Production (September 10)
- Production Distribution / Sales (September 17)

Are you up-to-date?

You don't want to miss any deadlines or activities from the region? Then check agenda & deadlines.