CAFFE Festivals

Ethnocineca – International Documentary Film Festival Vienna

Ethnocineca celebrates the great variety of contemporary documentary cinema and ethnographic films in particular. Accompanied by a comprehensive side program, the festival strenghtens exchange between the arts and social sciences. Ethnocineca also contributes to a progressive understanding of an Applied Visual Anthropology within the field as well as the public.
Date: annual – May
Submission Deadline: 1st of December
Contact: Ethnocineca – Verein zur Förderung audio-visueller Kultur / Währinger Straße 73 / 9 & 10 / A-1180 Vienna / Austria

E-Mail : office[at]ethnocineca.at
http://www.ethnocineca.at

Antropofest – International Festival of Movies with Social Anthropological Themes

Antropofest is an international festival of movies with social anthropological themes. Festival is held by eponymous NGO, formed by social anthropology graduates. The goal of the festival is to introduce the general audience specific documents. These projects allow us to learn about the life of various human communities, social groups or individuals around the world. During the festival, we hold debates on current projections and topics. Echoes of Antropofest visit regions.
Date: annual – January
Submission Deadline: November

E-Mail : info[at]antropofest.cz
https://www.antropofest.cz

Sjón International Anthropological Film Festival

Sjón is an annual festival for anthropological audiovisual works. It takes the shape of an anthropological playground consisting of two parts:
1. the screening of works related to the theme, made by filmmakers with a formal background in Anthropology, Ethnology, Folklore, Social Sciences, etc. (of any length and at any level), and
2. the accompanying workshops providing an interactive, participatory space for experimentation with form and concepts.

Date: annual – in February
Submission Deadline: November

E-Mail : sjonfilm[at]gmail.com
https://sjonfilm.org

Viscult – International Festival of Visual Culture

Viscult film festival focuses especially on anthropological and ethnographic documentaries. The program consists of film screenings, student-focused workshops and plenary lectures. The events are free for all. Moreover, majority of the program will be streamed in the Internet as a real-time broadcast, so the events can be followed from across the world. Viscult was founded in 2001. Through the years Viscult has seen many great filmmakers, visual anthropologists and lecturers.
Date: annual, September-October
Submission Deadline: end of May

E-Mail : viscultinfo[at]gmail.com
http://www.viscult.net

Jean Rouch Film Festival

Created in 1982 by Jean Rouch, the Jean Rouch Film Festival showcases films that document and explore human societies and cultures in their many facets. Open to all forms and styles of filmmaking, without restriction to theme and length. Open to anthropologists, students, and professional filmmakers. Includes: an international competition, master classes, thematic programmes, special events.
Date: annual – November
Submission Deadline: April
Contact: Comité du Film Ethnographique / Musée de l’Homme / 17 place du Trocadéro / F-75016 Paris / France

E-Mail : festivaljeanrouch[at]gmail.com
https://comitedufilmethnographique.com

Freiburger Filmforum – Festival of Transcultural Cinema

The Freiburger Filmforum can count itself among the most important European film meetings of its kind. Every two years, renowned filmmakers from different continents present their films and discuss their perspectives on a wide range of subject matters with the audience. With its programme the forum sets new and specific accents in the intercultural dialogue.
Date: biennial – uneven years in May
Submission Deadline: “Students Platform”: mid November – even year
Submission Deadline: “Main Section”: end of December- even year
Contact: Freiburger Filmforum / c/o Kommunales Kino / Urachstr. 40 / D-79102 Freiburg / Germany

E-Mail : info[at]freiburger-filmforum.de
https://www.freiburger-filmforum.de

GIEFF – German International Ethnographic Film Festival

The festival promotes documentary cinema in the context of intra- and intercultural communication with a special emphasis on new films, videos or interactive media dealing with anthropology, sociology and cultural studies in a wide sense of the term.
Date: biennial – even years in May
Submission Deadline: mid-December – uneven year
Contact: GIEFF e.V. / Leinefelder Str. 6 / D 37085 Göttingen / Germany

E-Mail : info[at]gieff.de
https://www.gieff.de

The Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival

The Ethnofest – Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, held annually each November, is an international film festival showcasing humane and insightful socially-minded documentary films from around the globe. Alongside the main programme (Student Films, Panorama, Filmic Experiments), the festival includes special screenings, thematic sections, retrospectives, and has a particular orientation towards films that employ and facilitate an ethnographic approach and sensibility. The festival, which was established in 2010 and has grown to be one of the most important and original film festivals in Greece, constitutes every year a significant international meeting place for documentary and ethnographic filmmakers. Each year, through numerous timely and lively parallel events, such as seminars, workshops, masterclasses, Q&A’s and exhibitions, the festival constitutes a major intervention in the city’s cultural and social life, as well as it contributes to international contemporary debates about the present and future of documentary film.
Date: annual, November
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2023 (Early Bird) and July 31, 2023 (Regular Deadline)
Contact: 14, Evrou Str. 11527, Athens, Greece

E-Mail : info[at]ethnofest.gr
https://www.ethnofest.gr/festival

Riga Pasaules Film Festival

The Riga Pasaules Film Festival is an annual documentary film festival that explores the intersections between cinema and ethnography. Held at the art-house cinema “Kino Bize” in the heart of Riga’s Art Nouveau district, the festival is intended as a space where practitioners and the general public can explore various aspects of the film-making process, visualising anthropology, and capabilities of cinema to convey an experience on its own terms.
Date: annual – April
Submission Deadline: December

E-Mail : carlo.cubero[at]gmail.com
http://www.kinobize.lv/rpff

Cineblend

CINEBLEND FESTIVAL is the new name for the Beeld voor Beeld festival, a yearly documentary film festival focusing on issues of cultural diversity. Rooted in visual anthropology, the festival screens documentaries on various (sub)cultures, offering discussions and seminars. The festival serves as a meeting place for filmmakers and audiences from different cultural backgrounds.
Date: annual – June
Contact: Cineblend / Beeld voor Beeld / Tolhuisweg 2 / 1031 CL Amsterdam / The Netherlands

E-Mail : info[at]cineblend.nl and beeldvb[at]gmail.com
https://cineblend.nl/en

NAFA International Ethnographic Film Festival

The NAFA International Ethnographic Film Festival, having taken place since 1979, is the oldest of its kind in Europe. NAFA is organised in a different location every year based on ‘bids’ from local organisers. The festival consists of general screenings of ethnographic and documentary films and is often held in conjunction with a symposium, and the general screenings supplemented by thematic specialized screenings.
Date: annual, different months
Submission Deadline: March
Contact: Intervention Press P.O. Box 5020 DK-8100 Aarhus Denmark

E-Mail : info[at]intervention.dk
https://www.nafanetwork.org
https://www.nafafilm.org

Ethnological Documentary Film Festival Kratovo

The festival is organized by the Macedonian Ethnological Society. The first festival was held in 2012 in the city of Kratovo, Macedonia.  The festival is characterized by a large number of present authors.
Date: annual – October
Submission Deadline: July

E-Mail : kratfest[at]gmail.com
https://www.kratfest.com

Astra Film Fest

The festival promotes the use of documentary film as a means for cultural and cross-cultural understanding, and promotes the study, research and initiatives in the field of visual anthropology. AFF welcomes documentary films without restriction to theme and length, for the four competition sections International, European, Romanian, Sutdent Film and/or the special programs. Films must have cinematographic qualities, artistic commitment and strong presence of the filmmaker’s point of view both in form and content.
Date: annual – October
Submission Deadline: end of May
Contact: Astra Film Sibiu / Piata Huet No. 12 / 50182 – Sibiu / Romania

E-Mail : aff[at]astrafilm.ro
https://www.astrafilm.ro/en

The International Festival of Ethnological Film

The International Festival of Ethnological Film in Belgrade is an event that offers an insight into a wide range of ethnographic film themes and presents the work of filmmakers who explore both the traditional and modern lifestyles of human communities; it offers diverse approaches, methodologies and even film genres in addition to the genuine ethnographic movies.
Date: annual – September – October
Submission Deadline: April / May
Contact: Etnografski muzej u Beogradu / Studentski trg 13 / SEM-11000 Belgrade / Serbia

E-Mail : mfef[at]etnografskimuzej.rs
http://www.etnofilm.org/index.php/en

Days of Ethnographic Film

The festival is dedicated to promoting sensitivities and development of visual ethnographic field, has not competitive nature, and has additional section for student films. During the festival Slovene Ethnological Society is giving Niko Kuret’s awards for the merits in the development of ethnographic film in Slovenia.
Date: biennial – uneven years in the end of February
Submission Deadline: October
Contact: Audio-visual Laboratory / Institute of Ethnology / Scientific Research Centre of Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts / Novi trg 2 / 1000 Ljubljana / Slovenia

E-Mail : manca.filak[at]zrc-sazu.si
http://www.def.si/about-festival

MAAM – Muestra de Antropolgía Audiovisual de Madrid

The objective of the MAAM is to provide a space for exhibition, discussion and reflection on the use of audiovisual language in film, photography, experimental and transmedia realities in the production of works with an anthropological nature.
We project, exhibit and / or execute the best audiovisual pieces that provokes impact, awareness and social change.
Date: annual in November
Submission Deadline: October
Contact: Antonio Cadierno Parodi, Juan Ignacio Robles / address: Museo Nacional de Antropología de Madrid, Calle Alfonos XII Nº68, E-28014 Madrid, Spain

E-Mail : info[at]maamdocs.org, info[at]antropodocs.com
https://www.maamdocs.org

Regard Bleu Ethnographic Film Festival

Regard Bleu Ethnographic Film Festival is held biennially at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zürich. Dedicated exclusively to students’ productions, the festival has since its first edition in 2001 grown into an international and interdisciplinary platform that promotes the exchange on current trends in filmmaking across disciplines and genres.
Date: biennial – even year, October – but please note in 2025 the festival will take place 14th – 16th of March !
Submission Deadline: late May – even year – for the festival in 2025 the deadline is 1st of January 2025 !
Contact: Departement of Visual Anthropology / Pelikanstrasse 40 | 8001 Zürich | Switzerland

E-Mail : info[at]regardbleu.ch
https://regardbleu.ch/

RAI Film Festival – anthropology – ethnography – archaeology

The RAI Film Festival is a biennial event dedicated to the celebration of the best in ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological filmmaking from around the globe. RAI-FF is a leading forum for exploring the multiple relationships between documentary filmmaking, anthropology, visual culture, and the advocacy of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue through film.
Date: biennial – uneven years, month March
Submission Deadline: September – even years
Contact: Royal Anthropological Institute / 50 Fitzroy Street / London W1T 5BT / United Kingdom

E-Mail : film[at]therai.org.uk
http://www.raifilmfest.org.uk

Last update: 21.11.24