Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) will be held from 15 – 26 October 2025 and is now calling for entries in feature films, feature documentary, series (single or multiple episodes), and short films made in Australia and internationally. These can be any genre or length, films under 40 minutes are considered short films.
SUBMISSION DATES
Submissions Open: Monday 16 December 2024
Early Bird Deadline: Monday 21 April 2025
Submissions Close: Monday 19 May 2025
Last Chance Deadline: Monday 26 May 2025
All submissions must be in by Monday 26 May
Notification date: Tuesday 9 September 2025
FEES
Entry fees (excluding FilmFreeway fees):
Early bird (deadline 21 April 2025)
Final deadline - General (deadline 19 May 2025)
Last chance deadline 26 May 2025
Features: $80 (early) $110 (general) $130 (last chance)
Shorts: $40 (early) $65 (general) $75 (last chance)
Series: $40 (early) $65 (general) $75 (last chance)
All entries must be submitted via FilmFreeway.
Fees are not refunded if the film is not selected or is ineligible to screen at the festival.
ABOUT AFF
Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) is South Australia’s premier screen event and one of Australia’s leading film festivals. It’s a celebration of courageous cinema where filmmakers and audiences come together for two weeks of local and international film premieres, art, talks and parties in October and November.
AFF is renowned for its warmth and inclusivity, welcoming new audience members and industry guests alike to South Australia and its eclectic cinema theatres. The festival allows all of us to surrender to the screen and be swallowed up by the story.
AFF was the first Australian film festival to establish an Investment Fund, which has seeded and premiered over 150 projects, including some of the most significant Australian films of the last two decades. You can see the full slate of Investment Fund films here: https://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/investment-fund
Alongside the spring festival period, AFF hosts a film club, an educational AFF Youth program, Expand Lab, (a filmmaker and artist development lab), and other experiences that help people see the world in a totally new light.
You can read more about the film festival at: https://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/about

Awards & Prizes

Adelaide Film Festival is proud to recognise excellence in screen storytelling with a host of juried awards and $30k in cash prizes. In previous years these awards have included International Feature Fiction, International Feature Documentary, and The Change Award for a feature, as well as audience awards. AFF is proud that films submitted to the festival have gone onto be competition winners.
In addition, AFF presents Australian only awards for distinguished contributions by practitioners and thinkers, most notably the Don Dunstan Award and the Bettison and James Award.
In 2025 AFF has will have the following awards:
-Best Fiction Feature – for films with idiosyncratic voices, bold storytelling and creative risk taking
-Best Documentary Feature – for distinctive factual storytelling
-The Change Award for Feature Films – for films encouraging positive social and environmental impact and expressing new directions for humanity.
-Short Film Award – for outstanding shorts in any genre
-Feature Fiction Audience Award
-Feature Documentary Audience Award
-Short Film Audience Award
*While AFF was one of the first festivals in the world to award VR work, from 2024 we are no longer accepting VR entries.
To find out more about awards and past winners visit: adelaidefilmfestival.org/awards

Rules & Terms

Adelaide Film Festival Conditions of entry:
The Adelaide Film Festival will take place between 15 – 26 October 2025. By submitting your film (Film) to the Adelaide Film Festival, you agree to the following:
1. All the information provided either through the online entry form or through email correspondence with Adelaide Film Festival is true and accurate. Please also ensure that if your email changes, this is updated on FilmFreeway and in correspondence with the Adelaide Film Festival.
2. You either own the rights to, or have received permission to use, footage, sound, music, images, and all other contributions that are part of the screen work to the extent necessary to submit the Film to the Festival and, if accepted, screen the Film at the Adelaide Film Festival.
Please note: if you have any doubts about any of the rights in the Film, you must notify the festival at the time of submission.
3. The Film must be completed in the past 12 months with completion date after 3rd of November 2024
4. To be eligible for consideration, all submissions must meet the following requirements:
4.1 Works accepted are – feature fiction, feature documentary, series, and short films (drama, documentary, hybrid, experimental and animation) made in Australia or internationally. These can be any length or genre.
4.2 Works not accepted:
- works that are exclusively educational, scientific or for training or promotion
- music videos
- VR works
4.3 Films and series must not have been (or will not be) broadcast on television or a streaming platform or publicly screened, distributed or exhibited (for a targeted cinema release) in a physical location within the state of South Australia, Australia, prior to 26 October 2025. The only exceptions to this requirement are for private screenings held for cast, crew or investors, and film-school graduation screenings. You must notify the Adelaide Film Festival of such screenings.
4.4 Films must not have been (or will not be) available commercially online and accessible in Australia, either for free or via on-demand services prior to 26 October 2025 including at other Australian film festivals’ online platforms. Screenings as part of a digital or online festival are permitted if the festival is for a limited run and geo-blocked such that access by South Australian viewers is prohibited.
4.5 Work-in-progress submissions
Work-in-progress film should only be submitted if the Adelaide Film Festival Head of Programming has agreed to accept the film. You must first send details of the status of the film to info@adelaidefilmfestival.org to have your film approved for submission as a work-in-progress. The film must be at picture lock stage.
4.6 All non-English language films and screen works must be subtitled in English. If selected, the screening version must also be subtitled.
4.7 We do not accept late submissions.
5. Fees:
5.1 All entrants must pay a flat fee per film entered. The fee varies based on the category entered and whether it is submitted in the early bird period or not. Please note that the entry fee is not refundable.
5.2 Selection decisions are final. AFF does not provide feedback on films and is not obligated to enter into any discussion about selection decisions.
5.3 In the event that the Adelaide Film Festival's in-person events are cancelled, restricted or rearranged due to COVID-19 or any other Government regulations, submission fees will not be refunded in the case of restrictions to the festival.
6. Official Selection
In the event of your screen work being officially selected, you will be notified by invitation by 9 September 2025. If selected, you will be requested to provide all necessary press and marketing materials as a matter of urgency (stills, press kit, etc.).
6. Selected Projects
If your film is selected to screen as part of Adelaide Film Festival:
6.1. You grant AFF a royalty-free, non-exclusive, Australian license to screen the Film between 15 and 26 October 2025.
6.2. You agree to provide the following screen work no later than 9 September 2025.
6.2.1 For feature fiction, and feature documentary you will supply the Adelaide Film Festival with a DCP.
6.2.2 For shorts and series, a DCP is preferred but other digital formats are subject to discussion
6.2.3 The Adelaide Film Festival cannot screen from DVD or Blu-ray.
6.3 You must notify the Adelaide Film Festival immediately if any of the rights in the Film become disputed or a claim is made against you in relation to the Film.
6.4 You must indemnify the Adelaide Film Festival from all claims arising from or in connection with the submission of the Film, or any infringement of any intellectual property in connection with the screening of the Film as part of the festival.
6.5 You grant the Adelaide Film Festival a royalty-free, non-exclusive Australian license to use film excerpts, film stills, press kits and other promotional materials from the Film for publicity and promotional purposes in relation to the festival, including on its website.
6.6 The Adelaide Film Festival will only insure DCPs/tapes of films invited to the festival, for the duration of their stay in Australia and during transit to and from the entrant or to and from a following engagement.
7. Unselected Projects:
7.1 Please note the Adelaide Film Festival cannot provide specific feedback and critical analysis on unselected projects
7.2 The Adelaide Film Festival does not offer refunds to films that aren’t selected for the festival.
8. Other Important details:
8.1 Programming decisions are made at the discretion of the Head of Programming and the Creative Director and take into consideration numerous elements and factors for curation of the overall film festival program.
8.2 The Adelaide Film Festival reserves the right to program films that fall outside of the eligibility criteria under special circumstances.
8.3 It is the filmmakers’ responsibility to ensure that the film meets the eligibility criteria. If a film submitted subsequently becomes ineligible (such as screening at another South Australian festival or available online etc.) it will be automatically removed from consideration and submission fees will not be refunded.