๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ-๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐‘๐ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ž๐๐จ๐ง๐ข๐š.
The editions of our ASTERFEST Film Festival (established 2005) are dedicated to the professional short film culture and emphasise its affirmation, popularization and valorization towards the international audience.
We present the festival programme in few selected categories: Global Fiction, AsterDocs, Animotion, Merry-Diones, and Tributes.
๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž: ๐™๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ซ ๐™๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐ข๐ค, ๐‹๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐š ๐๐š๐ค๐š๐ฅ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐š, ๐‘๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฅ ๐•๐ฎ๐ฅ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐จ๐ฏ, ๐Š๐ข๐ฆ ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐จ, ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐†๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐•๐ž๐ข๐ญ ๐‡๐ž๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ, ๐‹๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ค๐š ๐ƒ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ฏ๐š, ๐Œ๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฅ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐จ, ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ค๐ข๐ž ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ฉ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐, ๐Š๐ข๐ซ๐จ ๐”๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง, ๐Š๐š๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐‹๐š๐๐ข๐ค, ๐€๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐จ ๐Œ๐ข๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ค๐ž๐ฌ๐ค๐ข, ๐‘๐ž๐›๐ž๐œ๐œ๐š ๐Ž'๐๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง, ๐Œ๐ข๐ฅ๐œ๐ก๐จ ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข, ๐„๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐‘๐ฎ๐›๐ž๐ง...
In the previous 20 years we have chosen around 1000 films from over 60 countries in the competitive categories.
AsterFest is an annual festival event with physical screenings in the city of Strumica.

Awards & Prizes

The main awards for the best AsterFest short film competition are: GRAND PRIX, GOLDEN HORSESHOE, SILVER HORSESHOE, BRONZE HORSESHOE, "Aco Aleksov" Award for Best Auteur, "Gjorgi Abadziev" Award for Best Screenplay, Special Jury Mention(s), Audience Choice Award etc.

๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ. ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ
โ–ช๏ธ๐๐„๐’๐“ ๐’๐‡๐Ž๐‘๐“ ๐…๐ˆ๐‹๐Œ:
๐ˆโ€™๐Œ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐€ ๐‘๐Ž๐๐Ž๐“ ๐›๐ฒ ๐•๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐š ๐–๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐๐š๐ฆ (๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ)
โ–ช๏ธ๐†๐Ž๐‹๐ƒ๐„๐ ๐‡๐Ž๐‘๐’๐„๐’๐‡๐Ž๐„:
๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐›๐ฒ ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ค๐จ ๐‚๐ซ๐ง๐จ๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข (๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐ)
โ–ช๏ธ๐’๐ˆ๐‹๐•๐„๐‘ ๐‡๐Ž๐‘๐’๐„๐’๐‡๐Ž๐„:
๐Ž๐‘๐€๐๐†๐„ ๐‰๐”๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ๐š๐ง๐๐ซ๐ž ๐€๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐žฬ (๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท/๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ)
โ–ช๏ธ๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐™๐„ ๐‡๐Ž๐‘๐’๐„๐’๐‡๐Ž๐„:
๐˜๐€ ๐‡๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐๐ˆ ๐›๐ฒ ๐‹๐ฒ๐ง๐š ๐“๐š๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ & ๐’๐จ๐Ÿ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐‚๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐š๐ข๐› (๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท)
โ–ช๏ธ๐๐„๐’๐“ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐„๐„๐๐๐‹๐€๐˜ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ "๐†๐‰๐Ž๐‘๐†๐ˆ ๐€๐๐€๐ƒ๐™ฬŒ๐ˆ๐„๐•":
๐‹๐Ž๐๐„๐‹๐˜ ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐›๐›๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ค๐จ ๐†๐ซ๐ฎ๐›๐ข๐œ (๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ท)
โ–ช๏ธ๐๐„๐’๐“ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐‘๐„๐‚๐“๐Ž๐‘ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ "๐€๐‚๐Ž ๐€๐‹๐„๐Š๐’๐Ž๐•":
๐“๐”๐‘๐๐Ž-๐๐„๐“ ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐š๐๐ž๐ณ๐ก๐๐š ๐๐š๐ง๐จ๐ฏ (๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐ/๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ)
โ–ช๏ธ๐‰๐”๐‘๐˜ ๐Œ๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐:
๐…๐‘๐€๐Œ๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐ƒ ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ค๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐๐ซ๐š ๐Š๐š๐ซ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ค๐š (๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐ)
โ–ช๏ธ๐‰๐”๐‘๐˜ ๐Œ๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐:
๐Œ๐Ž๐“๐‡๐„๐‘๐‹๐˜ ๐ˆ๐๐’๐“๐ˆ๐๐‚๐“๐’ ๐›๐ฒ ๐„๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š ๐™๐š๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ค๐š (๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง)
โ–ช๏ธ๐€๐”๐ƒ๐ˆ๐„๐๐‚๐„ ๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ:
๐€ ๐๐„๐€๐‘ ๐๐€๐Œ๐„๐ƒ ๐–๐Ž๐‰๐“๐„๐Š ๐›๐ฒ ๐ˆ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐†๐š๐ซ๐๐ง๐ž๐ซ (๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง/๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ)

We've also screened short films from directors such as Adrian McDowall, Adrian Sitary, Ali Asgari, Anastasia Kouzyakova, Anders Walter, Andrew Chesworth, Andrey Paounov, Anne-Marieke Graafmans, Antonio Mitrikeski, Arsim Fazlia, Baloji, Bartosz Kruhlik, Benjamin Cleary, Bernard Dichek, Biljana Garvanlieva, Bill Plympton, Birgitte Staermose, Bobby Pontillas, Christoph Schwartz, Corinna Giesen, Dawn Westlake, Dimitar Anakiev, Elizabeth Hobbs, Eno Milkani, Evgeny Solomin, Finlay Pretsell, Guy Nattiv, Helena Trestikova, Ilja Kok, Ingrid Kamerling, James Lucas, John Last, Jonnie Hurn, Joรฃo Gonzalez, Juanita Wilson, Juliana Neuhuber, Kahane Cooperman, Kamil Polak, Konstantin Bronzit, Lanre Malaolu, Levon Minasian, Liam Saint-Pierre, Loic Gaillard, Marija Dzidzeva, Martin Strange-Hansen, Martina Carlstedt, Mat Kirkby, Miha Knific, Mike Rymer, Milcho Manchevski, Mira Erdeviฤki, Mitko Panov, Nebojsa Slijepฤeviฤ‡, Nicolas Neuhold, Olga Lucovnicova, Panayotis Kravvaris, Paula Onet, Payal Kapadia, Pjotr Sapegin, Pooya Badkoobeh, Rainer Ludwigs, Riz Ahmed, Ross White, Runar Runarsson, Samir Karahoda, Sasha Damjanovski, Stephanie Assimacopoulo, Stephen Keep Mills, Tibor Kocsis, Tom Berkeley, Tom Van Avermaet, Uri & Michelle Kranot, Vijay S. Jodha, Vladimir Peroviฤ‡, Willem Timmers, ลฝarko Ivanov, Zvonimir Juriฤ‡ etc.

Rules & Terms

๐€๐’๐“๐„๐‘๐…๐„๐’๐“ ๐‘๐„๐†๐”๐‹๐€๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’
(๐‘ถ๐’‡๐’‡๐’Š๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’‚๐’ ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’ˆ๐’“๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’†)
๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐…๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ, ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ž๐๐ ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ก๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐Š๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ˆ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐, ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฌ, ๐‚๐š๐ง๐š๐๐š, ๐’๐œ๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐š, ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š, ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š, ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐ข๐š, ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ง๐š, ๐€๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐š, ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐™๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐, ๐‰๐š๐ฉ๐š๐ง, ๐‘๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐š, ๐๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐œ, ๐’๐„๐„ & ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐š๐ง ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐.
AsterFest is a unique platform specializing in short and documentary form, established in 2005. The festival has a tendency to exchange audiovisual ideas and messages between world/European/domestic filmmakers and the festival public. AsterFest continuously promotes independent auteur film subjects.
To submit a film to the AsterFest Film Festival, follow these organized guidelines based on the regulations:

Eligibility Criteria

1. Film Type & Categories:
-Competitive Programs: Submit short films (fiction, documentary, animation) produced in 2025/2026.
-Special Programs: Feature-length films may qualify for non-competitive categories (e.g., tributes, student films), but shorts are preferred.
-Premiere Status: Films must be Macedonian premieres (no prior screenings in Macedonia before AsterFest!).

2. Content Restrictions:
-Exclude content promoting racism or pornography.

Submission Requirements

3. Technical Specifications:
-Format: HD H264 encoded QuickTime movie (confirm resolution/frame rate).
-Subtitles:
a) For Selection: English subtitles recommended (required for non-English films).
b) If Selected: Provide an SRT file with English subtitles.

4. Materials:
-Synopsis (short, in English).
-Film stills, poster, and trailer.
-Digital submission via email/Vimeo/WeTransfer.

5. Fees:
-Non-waivable submission fee (check for amount and deadlines).
-For Macedonian-born authors only, the submissions are free.

Selection & Screening

6. Selection Criteria:
-Evaluated on artistic merit and content expression.
-Festival Director has final say on competition entries.

7. Screenings:
-Competition films screened 2โ€“3 times in Strumica and other North Macedonia locations.
-Additional screenings require producer/author permission.

Post-Selection

8. If Selected:
-Provide HD film copy, SRT subtitles, and promotional materials.
-The festival may use a 10-second clip for promotional purposes.
-A digital copy is archived for research/education.

9. Awards:
-Prizes include Grand Prix, Golden/Silver/Bronze Horseshoe, and specialty awards (directing, screenplay).
-Honorary awards for lifetime achievements in film.

10. Attendance:
-Filmmakers may be invited as guests for the screening event of their film (travel costs likely self-funded).

Key Deadlines & Notes
-Check the AsterFest Film Festival 2026 listed on the FilmFreeway for submission deadlines and technical details.
-Ensure compliance with premiere status, production year, and content rules.
-Prepare materials in advance to avoid delays.
By adhering to these points, your submission will align with AsterFestโ€™s requirements, maximizing your chances of selection.
10 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Melle Windig

    Thank you Asterfest for selecting our student stop motion animation for this fantastic film festival. It is surely a pity we could not attend.

    August 2025
    Helpful
  • Katja Friedrich

    Many thanks for the organisation and the family atmosphere at the festival. It was a great experience, thanks to everyone who was there, to the main organiser Goran and the jury. We had a great time exchanging ideas and watching the films together in the amphitheatre. Thank you for letting me be part of the unique AsterFest film festival.

    August 2024
    Helpful
  • Nicolas Neuhold

    ASTERFEST treats films and filmmakers with great appreciation and a warm welcome. Our film THATCH TO THE FUTURE was embraced by an attentive audience in a wonderful screening. The generous hospitality surrounding the festival is fun and was a great experience. Thank you for having us!

    August 2024
    Helpful
  • Nasti Tzatch

    Thanks to the organizers for the wonderful time! Everything was perfect! We watched interesting films, met many new colleagues! I hope to see you again. Good luck at the festival!

    August 2024
    Helpful
  • Benjamin Hackman

    This was a lovely experience. Though I was not able to attend in person, Goran and his team were extremely helpful, supportive, and enthusiastic. Their communication was flawless, and they did a terrific job helping me to bring my film, Out of the Hands of the Wicked, to Macedonian audiences. I would not hesitate to recommend this festival to any filmmaker, and I look forward to participating again with my next film. Thank you AsterFest for your terrific work and dedication to independent cinema!

    August 2024
    Helpful