The Annual Aarhus Film Festival showcases international independent cinema. Taking place since 2019, the vibrant and groundbreaking film festival has brought dozens of upcoming and established filmmakers to the spotlight. Our screening programmes include feature fiction films and documentaries and cover a wide range of themes, aesthetics and genres.

Since the festival's foundation, we have stayed loyal to our vision to support local cinemas with a long history. Therefore we always set our screens to the city’s unique art cinema, Øst for Paradis inviting the audience to explore and support the historic cinema halls.

The Annual Aarhus Film Festival is organized by the team behind the Annual Copenhagen Film Festival. Fueled with the same vibe, love for cinema and an appetite to bring indie films to Aarhus' cinephile community, the people behind AAFF make sure to always create a unique event.

The annual Aarhus Film Festival is organized by HFP, an international production company that runs several film festivals around the world. A collective of filmmakers, producers and marketing professionals with a common goal: to forge productive and lasting relationships between independent filmmakers and audiences.

Awards & Prizes

The Festival's award-winning films are presented at the end of the screenings and are announced on our official website and social media.

All winners receive our official award certificate.

Rules & Terms

✓ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language).

✓ All films must have been made in or after 2025.

✓ Short films must not exceed 45 minutes.

✓ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✓ By submitting to us, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience, and, under special circumstances, online screening.

✓ Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official Selection: These are all the nominated films selected for screening, which will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.

Award Winners: Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

✓ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✓ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.

✓ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✓ We do not accept partial screeners, trailers, or screener links that require access other than password protected links.

✓ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✓ We cannot provide refunds.

✓ If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to the current edition.

✓ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✓ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.
10 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Andrea Hackl

    First, Thank you for awarding THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TIME with BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM!
    i feel, you are creating a festival really out of the love for cinema and that's wonderful. I hope, for another edition I will be able to be there in person!

    May 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kind words Andrea! We hope we can meet in person next year.

  • Alexe Landgren

    A small festival, not able to screen all of the films in competition. Our film did not screen, but still won Best Feature Film. Great communication and I wish we could have attended.

    May 2026
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your feedback Alexe! As a growing festival, we are working on expanding our festival days so all selected films can be screened in future editions. We were honored to have your film in competition and hope to welcome you in person next time!

  • Selina Wilken

    Great experience to participate in this festival! Loved the film selections and the warm vibe from the staff of the festival

    May 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you for trusting us with your work Selina! It was a pleasure screening your film!

  • Christoph Hahner

    Fantastic communication and a very welcoming film festival whose films are carefully curated!!! Great work by everyone!!!

    May 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you very much Chistoph! We are glad you had a wonderful experience!

  • Sara Bonaventura

    The festival seems very well organized, superb communication about selection process, screenings and nominations, and we're very happy since we won the best experimental!

    December 2023
    Helpful