10 Documentary Film Festivals Accepting Submissions Right Now
Get your documentaries ready to go because submissions for documentary film festivals are opening up around the world. We’ve created a list of festivals that may not come to mind right away, but deserve to be on your radar this season. With locations from North Carolina to Malaysia, here are the festivals accepting documentary submissions right now.
USA-based Festivals
1. Boulder International Film Festival
Located in Boulder, Colorado, BIFF is accepting submissions now until October 20. Submit your documentary short or feature to BIFF where filmmakers enjoy galas, industry events, and complimentary skiing.
2. Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Located in Durham, North Carolina, Full Frame is accepting submissions now until November 15. Full Frame dedicates its festival to emerging filmmakers in nonfiction cinema. Submit your documentary short or feature and enjoy a weekend of discussions, panels, and Southern hospitality.
3. SF Documentary Fest
Located in San Francisco, California, SF DocFest is accepting submissions for documentary shorts now until March 3, 2018. As stated on their site, “This two week-long event has brought the most weird and wonderful aspects of real life to the big screen.”
4. Seattle International Film Festival
Located in Seattle Washington, SIFF is now accepting submissions for documentary shorts and features until January 5, 2018. They are one of the largest and most highly-attended film festivals in the United States, now in their 43rd year.
5. Cinema at the Edge Festival
Located in Santa Monica, California, CATE is accepting submissions for documentary shorts and features now until February 28, 2018. With four days of screenings, parties, and artist programs, CATE is designed to showcase innovative films with a commitment to quality, which push industry boundaries and explore cutting-edge cinema.
International Festivals
1. Taiwan International Documentary Festival
Located in Taiwan, TIDF calls their festival “one of the major professional platforms for documentaries in Asia, looking for documentaries that are creative, relevant to social and human interests, and have unique points of view.” They are accepting documentary shorts and features now until December 8. They offer a series of competitions, awards, and certificates.
2. Hot Docs
Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Hot Docs is accepting documentary shorts and features until January 8, 2018. As stated on their website, “North America’s largest documentary festival, Hot Docs offers a selection of over 200 films from Canada and around the world to Toronto audiences of over 200,000.”
3. Docaviv
Located in Tel Aviv, Israel, Docaviv will begin accepting submissions from October 22, 2017 to January 5, 2018. They provide a wide variety of unique stages in Israel for documentary filmmakers and their work, exposing new audiences to the field, and supporting the creation of doc films that expand the boundaries of the genre.
4. Freedom Film Festival
Located in Malaysia, Freedom Film Fest is accepting documentary shorts and feature submissions now until May 1, 2018. As stated on their site, “Freedom Film Fest is interested in supporting and developing social documentary filmmaking within the context of freedom of expression and values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Malaysia.”
5. One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival
Located in Prague, Czech Republic, One World is accepting documentary shorts and feature submissions now until November 15. Organized by People in Need, the festival features films about human rights as well as political causes, development themes, social issues, the environment, and lifestyles.
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By Lena Drake, Storyhunter Writer
