How to Festival
Short films have a permanent place at festivals around the world—but every festival is different.
If you want to submit your film, you’ll find everything you need here: a guide to festival submissions, information on applying for travel grants, a selection of relevant festival dates, and testimonials from filmmakers.
Whether it's your first submission or you're heading into another festival season—you'll find all the key information at a glance.
Quick access:
➤ Festival submission guide
➤ Festival reports
➤ Support for attending festivals
➤ Festival Dates
Festival submission guide
There are thousands of film festivals around the world. Each festival has its own charm and character. Some specialize in certain themes or techniques. There are festivals for short films, for animated films, for feature films, for documentaries, for certain genres or all of them together.
Filmmakers often seek our advice on how to submit their films. Every short film needs its own submission strategy. Developing one is not easy, especially if you are submitting a film to a festival for the first time. We have put together some guidelines to give you an idea on what to look out for when submitting. This is not intended to be exhaustive, but hopefully it will make it easier to get started.
We are always happy to receive tips and additions.
DOWNLOAD: Festival submission guide
Festival reports
Anyone invited to an international festival can benefit from the experiences of others: Filmmakers who have attended film festivals with support from AG Kurzfilm and German Films share their insights here about the process, organization, and atmosphere on site. Their reflections offer valuable tips for planning and preparing your own trip.
Click here for the > Festival Reports.
Support for attending festivals
With financial means of German Films the AG Kurzfilm subsidizes the travel expenses of filmmakers, the short film of whom has been invited in the competition section of a festival abroad. If a festival requires an additional DCP or subtitles, it is also possible to apply for support. The guidelines explain all details regarding conditions and required documents. Please complete the PDF application (save as writeable!).
Unfortunately, the support does only extend to short films with a German production majority. It is mandatory to send in your application before you make any bookings or place any orders.
If you need further information or have any questions do not hestiate to contact Anne Turek in our office:
phone: 0351-404 55 75
email: turek@ag-kurzfilm.de
DOWNLOAD: application form (PDF)
Festival Dates
Current national and international dates/deadlines can be found in the service area of our short film magazine shortfilm.de.
In addition, our festival calendar offers a selection of important international and German short film festivals, festivals with short film competitions, our member festivals and specific industry events at a glance. The calendar is published in December of the previous year.
Editorial deadline for the printed Festival Calendar 2026: November 28, 2025
Editorial deadline for the ical 2026: January 6, 2026
If any errors have crept in, important dates are missing, or were only scheduled after the editorial deadline, we welcome any information so we can correct or update the online version accordingly (subject to space availability).
Contact for orders: service@ag-kurzfilm.de