Bucharest Film Awards is an international film competition designed for professionals and film enthusiasts to foster creativity, expressivity and innovation in the cinematic field.
Our mission is to create a platform where both experienced and emerging filmmakers can share their art, develop their work and connect to diverse audiences.
🌎 Based in Bucharest, an iconic city in Eastern Europe, with an effervescent cultural life.
Over the years, the films we love and promote have been hosted by inspiring venues such as:
Cărturești Verona, The Institute, Unteatru Theatre, Deschis Gastrobar Rooftop Cinema - well known among locals and foreigners for creating a favorable atmosphere for exploring cinema & artistic initiatives.
Our past editions show emphasis on Innovation, integrating new forms of expressivity adapted to the 21st century film world. So, besides film screenings, we arranged a VR Cinema, Chroma Live Wall for Live CGI, Augmented Reality Screenings, Live Streaming shorts exclusively screened on smartphone platforms and many more!
In 2020 our competition also stepped into the ‘new normal’, facing us with a reshaping process that affected the entire film industry. Our theme was ‘Resilience’ - reflected in the selection, communication & screenings.
Being resilient also means adapting to the changing environments. As physical event planning has become a lot more challenging, only competition-awarded films will be eligible for live screenings at this moment.
But the good news is that new ways of promoting films have emerged. In 2021 we screened the Competition Best-Of, driving the focus to the future of cinema interaction, a hybrid one, where physical screenings intertwine with the focus on a better, faster, safer & easier online screening solution.
Bucharest Film Awards promotes both short & feature-length projects.
All submitted films are reviewed by a jury of film professionals who look for creativity, talent, powerful ideas, quality and attention to details. We consider these criterias more important than previous work experience or the film budget.
The Competition has 18 awards in 3 categories. At this moment, only competition-awarded films are eligible for screenings.
However, there are many other benefits of joining our community, beyond the screenings.
There will be two main categories of films selected at Bucharest Film Awards:
✏ The Official Selection (Off - Competition) - A non-competitional selection showcasing a list of films carefully curated by our programmers
✏ The Official Competition - Winners & Nominees
The difference between the two categories
We believe there is room to promote and curate beyond the walls of a competition. This is why we create a space where incredibly talented filmmakers are acknowledged, without having the pressure of competing with other projects.
We focus on the idea of a network where you can find support for your film, thus making your submission worth it.
From 2021 we offer online screening opportunities to all the films qualified for Official Competition .
Keep in mind that this IS NOT A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT for joining the festival and online screenings will only be provided WITH THE PRIOR PERMISSION granted by the filmmaker.
Our Online Catalogue will be offered in partnership with Shortlist.film, a highly secured streaming platform, where you can introduce your content to a worldwide audience.
Shortlist.film
One of the key benefits of joining us on Shortlist.film is a Special Filmmaker Pack consisting in 10 1-year fully paid subscription accounts with a total worth of 1200$.
Your Official Selection comes with benefits
❗All Films accepted in the Official Selection will be given an awesome benefits pack worth 125$, very useful for future projects:
✏ Official Selection Laurel
✏ Filmstro 1-Year Pro Licence Exclusive discount worth up to 125$
By having the 125$ services discounts guaranteed for every film accepted in the Official Selection, we make sure that you get rewarded and your benefits of joining the Bucharest Film Awards Community exceed by far your submission fee.
Join us now! Submit now for the 2022 Film Competition.
More details on: www.bucharest-films.com
3 nominations are granted for each of the ‘Category / Individual’ Awards.
Best Short-Film, Featurette and Feature Film, along with all category / individual winners will each receive:
✏ Live Screening
✏ Shortlist.film Screening (only with prior permission from the filmmaker)
✏ Special Filmmaker Pack from Shortlist.film - worth 1200$
✏ 5 Fee Waivers from our festival partners - worth 115$
✏ Professional Film Review
✏ Award Certificate signed by the Festival Director
✏ Official Laurels from the festival
The Category Awards are:
✏ Best Student Film
✏ Best Experimental
✏ Best Animation
✏ Best Documentary
✏ Best Music Video
✏ Best Trailer
The Individual Awards are:
✏ Best Director
✏ Best Screenplay
✏ Best Actress
✏ Best Actor
✏ Best Editor
✏ Best Cinematography
✏ Best Original Score
* For featurette and feature films, we offer the Best Supporting Actor Award and the Best Supporting Actress Award.
The Screenplay Competition
The Winner will receive the following prize pack:
✏ Special Filmmaker Pack from Shortlist.film - worth 1200$
✏ Award Certificate signed by the Festival Director
✏ Official Laurels from the Bucharest Film Awards
The Finalists of the competition will receive:
✏ Award Certificate signed by the Festival Director
✏ Official Laurels from the Bucharest Film Awards
Soundtrack Award
The Winner will receive the following prize pack:
✏ Special Filmmaker Pack from Shortlist.film - worth 1200$
✏ Award Certificate signed by the Festival Director
✏ Official Laurels from the Bucharest Film Awards
