The Capital Filmmakers Festival is dedicated to showcasing independent filmmakers from around the world to a global audience. We will visit numerous Capitals around the globe.

The Capital Filmmakers Film Festival is all about bringing together different cultures, different cities and different point of views.

Known for its beautiful architecture and rich culture we felt that this was the perfect starting place for our travelling film festival, and we will be back for a sixth edition in Madrid in 2023.

Part of your submission goes toward planting trees! This is done in collaboration with Grow My Tree. While only our award winners receive certificates of the trees planted, we want you to know that each and every submission contributes. Thank you for helping us plant a greener world!

Awards & Prizes

Varying awards are given each edition. Each award winner receives:

- Digital laurel
- Digital certificate of their award
- Digital certificate of the trees that were planted on behalf of that edition

Official selection and semifinalists also receive digital laurels.

Rules & Terms

We accept films of any year of production and films that are already distributed online.

Films that use third-party material must have the necessary rights and permissions to use this material.

We open submission for five categories each year:
- “Feature”: films of more than 40 minutes
- “Shorts”: films of up to 40 minutes
- “Short Shorts”: films of under 10 minutes
- "Spanish Films": films of any length by Spanish or Spain-based filmmakers
- "Screenplays": screenplays of up to ~120 pages (in English only)

Films which are not in English must be submitted with English subtitles. Films in English may be submitted with Spanish subtitles but that is not required.

The decisions of the programmers and jury are final and irrevocable.

If your submission is officially selected, the festival may screen your film as part of their activities for up to 12 months after the festival date. By sending us your submission, you agree with this unless this is specifically stated to us by email. For all these screenings between festivals, a special permission will be requested stating a time frame and the city.

We do not pay screening fees.

We do not provide invitation letters for visa purposes.

By submitting to us, you consent to receive occasional emails with tips and discount codes for this and partner festivals (approximately four times a year). You can reach out to us on madrid@capitalfilmmakersfestival.com if you do not wish to be on this list or, alternatively, unsubscribe when you receive the first email. We will never spam and we will only send you information that we believe is valuable to you!
10 Reviews
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  • Pedro Morata Rigueras

    A nice & pleasant festival with very interesting selections. A blast our short film "Blue" won the Jury Special Award on this last edition. Was very nice attending and meeting some fellow filmmakers and some of the organizers.

    December 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Congratulations on your award, Pedro! Thank you for attending and we're glad you enjoyed the experience!

  • Leslie Calvo G

    Honored to have my short film"La Voz" selected in your prestigious Festival. We are thankful to the festival, jury and organizers.

    November 2022
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    Response from festival:

    The honour was ours! Congratulations and thank you!

  • Dans PXL

    It was great attending the festival and presenting our short film “Memory of the Forgotten”. The place where the festival was held was a little lovely and comfy cinema in el Rastro (Madrid). For us it was great the feedback and the q&a time we could have with the public attending the screening

    November 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much for submitting your film and then attending the screening! Congratulations on your award and best of luck for the future!

  • Caroline Felber

    Thank you amazing Capital Filmmakers Festival for selecting REVENGE OF A GRANDMOTHER as a semi-finalist!

    November 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for submitting your film and leaving us a review, Caroline. Congratulations on being a semifinalist and best of luck for the future!

  • Marina Wagner Moll

    Has the festival been held? I just read that the email was hacked ... I sent my movie and nobody replied.

    October 2020
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    Response from festival:

    Dear Marina

    After the notification email (requesting all the needed information) we sent late September a note to all finalist explaining that we decided to postpone the event at Artistic Metropol until it was safe to celebrate events again. As we do not got any reply from your side, we assumed you we also ok with that. for more details you can of course contact any time our team. Sorry communication has been an issue in this case. Regards