Founded in 2022 and organized yearly by the American International University in Kuwait to support the flourishing art scene in Kuwait and MENA region, the AIU Film festival provides a critical platform for emerging and established filmmakers, producers, critics and students alike. The festival has two main components: a curated film program and awards; a public programme of talks and workshops. Screenings take place in the state of the art AIU university premises in Jahra, Kuwait.

Email Film@aiu.edu.kw for more information.

Awards & Prizes

All films directed by a Kuwaiti, GCC, or Arab filmmaker accepted through this open call will be automatically considered for various awards in the Documentary and Narrative categories for short and feature-length films.

AIU, offers an Audience Choice Award and Honorable Mentions for both feature and short films category.

Rules & Terms

Submission is free and open to filmmakers worldwide.

Only Vimeo submission screeners are considered.

Only one submission per director is considered; multiple submissions will not be accepted.

All films must be original and must have been produced no earlier than 2020. 

Short Films between 4 to 30mins only.
Feature Length 60 to 120 mins only.
Without exception, film entries must be submitted before 11:59 pm Kuwait time (GMT+4), 27th May 2023.


Submissions will be rejected if they do not follow the technical specifications mentioned below.

Film Rights and Copyright
With the submission of their film, applicants grant American International University the right to do the following:

The AIU Film Festival may screen any submitted films publicly in the AIU festival programme or in participating venues. AIU Film Festival reserves the right to use segments of the film for marketing purposes, such as publicizing and promoting the film in any media, without time or territorial restrictions. No Screening fee is offered, and the festival does not cover travel or accommodation expenses for participating filmmakers. The AIU Film Festival may use trailers, names, photographs, screenshots and/or biographies submitted or available on the Film Freeway platform for marketing purposes such as publicizing and promoting the film in any media, without time or territorial restrictions. The Festival reserves the right to change and alter the screening plan.

Technical specifications for selected films:

• The file name must be in the following format:

SFP5_Film Title_First Name_Last Name

• Video specifications:

Encoding: H.264 or MP4

Aspect ratio: 16:9 Full Frame

Resolution: 1080p (1920×1080 pixels)

Bitrate: 15.0 Mbps CBR

Color sampling: 4:2:0

• Audio specifications:

Stereo audio: LC-AAC 2.0 @ 192 kbps
o Surround: Dolby Digital AC-3 @ 384 kbps
o
Audio Channel: Assignment 2.0 + 5.1

Sampling rate: 48 kHz

Audi levels: Reference -18 dBFS; Peak <-10 dBFS (EBU R68)

• English and Arabic subtitles must be embedded in the film copy.

If your film is in English, please provide the Arabic subtitles, and vice versa.

If your film is in another language, please provide both English and Arabic subtitles.