***We're now accepting submissions for our 2023 event!***

Welcome to Annual Aarhus Film Festival, an event dedicated to showcasing independent filmmaking.

From the same team behind the hugely successful Annual Copenhagen Film Festival, AAFF aims to recreate the familiar cozy atmosphere and rigorous programming in Denmark’s City of Smiles.

Annual Aarhus Film Festival provides not only a diverse cinematic experience for audiences, but also an enriching festival event for independent filmmakers. Our main goal is to increase your audience reach and engagement, as well as to further support your development beyond the festival circuit.

In addition to live screenings, we organize:
✓ Networking events
✓ Audience Awards
✓ Filmmaker roundtables and workshops

At Annual Aarhus Film Festival we believe that independent cinema is a state of mind. It is ambitious, radical, thought-provoking filmmaking and it is, sadly, hard to come by. In an age of instant media gratification, we aim to re-create a nostalgic space for that state of mind. We bring quality independent cinema from all around the world to the city’s unique art cinema, Øst for Paradis.

We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to honor the latest and the best in international cinema in such a wonderfully cozy venue. Described as “a rather unconventional cinema”, Øst for Paradis specialises in handpicked films from all over the world, presented in auditoria steeped in atmosphere. We look forward to welcoming filmmakers to our "hyggelig", cinephile venue.

Annual Aarhus Film Festival is organized by HF Productions, 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

There are three stages to the process:

» ​Nominations – Films nominated for each category will be contacted on the notification date, and listed on our website and social media pages. Nominated filmmakers are invited to join the event, although only the films in the Official Selection (below) will be screened.

» Official Selection – Films selected for screening will be notified if they have been considered to be part of AAFF’s Official Selection on the notification date. Screening materials will be requested and more information about the event will be provided.

» Winners – Award winners will be selected from the Nominations & Official Selection and announced at our festival, after the screenings, and online the following day.

Awards will include Certificates, Treats, and exclusive online Distribution deals, and will be given in the following categories:

Best Feature Film
Best Feature Documentary
Best Short Film
Best Short Documentary
Best Experimental
Best Animated Short
Best Danish Production (free entry for films made by local filmmakers, please email the festival to provide you with a password)

... as well as an Audience Award, voted on the evening of the event!

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 2021.

✓ Short films must not exceed 30 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.
5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • tekun ji

    We are grateful that our film This is Not a Love Story selected as nominee for Best International Feature in Aarhus Film Festival.

    December 2021
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  • Christopher Swider

    These people were terrific. Communicated very well. I'm grateful to them. Hope things work out and I can go to Denmark to attend the festival. Thank you all!

    December 2021
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  • Rudy PINCEEL

    Proud that our documentary 'SERVAIS' @AAFF has won! Amazing experience. Communication before, during and after the festival was very pleasant and correct. Cozy film festival with an enthusiastic audience.

    October 2019
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  • Jesper Isaksen

    My short film THE VISITOR attended the festival and also won for "Best Comedy", great! The venue "Øst For Paradis" is a famous and legendary cinema in Aarhus, so I had lovely evening with a bunch of great and awesome people! :-) Great first year. Looking forward to next year!

    October 2019
    Helpful
  • Jacob Thomas Pilgaard

    Great new Danish festival. Very kind communication with the team.

    October 2019
    Helpful