DRACULA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL calls for short international films, short Romanian films, and feature films.
Filmmakers working horror, sci-fi, gore, thrillers, supernatural, dark comedies, animation, experimental films, cult and cutting-edge films within the horror and fantasy genre are invited to submit their work for the festival’s 13th edition.

Dracula International Film Festival 2025 will award the following prizes:

Dracula Trophy - for a feature film
Little Dracula Award – for a short film;

The twelfth edition of the Dracula International Film Festival will take place from October 30 to November 2, 2025, in Brașov, Romania.
In order to be eligible for the 2025 Official Selection, it is necessary that the submitted FEATURED films have not been screened at any other fantasy and horror film festival in Romania. The rule also applies to SHORT films. Romanian short films need not meet this criterion.
In order to be eligible for selection, films must be produced from 2023 to the present.
All submitted films will be eligible to participate in the Official Selection and to compete for the prizes in each section of the festival. A selection committee, whose decisions will be final, chooses featured and short films in the Official Selection.
All selected films may be included in national and international screenings organised online and offline by Dracula International Film Festival in 2025 and 2026.

All submitted films must be subtitled:
– If the film is in Romanian, it must be subtitled in English;
– In the fillm is in any other language, subtitles must be in English;
– Subtitles of each film are the responsibility of its’ producers;
– All films should also provide a dialogue list in English.

Deadline for entries and screenings is September 7, 2025 at 23:59.
A list of selected films to be included in the 2024 Official Selection will be announced on our website on September 22th, 2025.
Films that do not meet the criteria established by this call for entries will be excluded from the competition.
All DVDs of selected works become property of the Festival for archival purposes. These materials will not be used for profit.
Dracula International Film Festival will establish screening dates and times for all selected films.
Once selected, films cannot be withdrawn under any circumstance. Submitting films to Dracula International Film Festival implies full acceptance of the festival’s guidelines.
Please be advised that we do not pay screening fees for the film submitted.
The organizers may include the movies selected in 2025 in 2026 retrospectives of Dracula Film Festival

Running times for the short films sections of the festival are:
- Feature Films: minimum running time, 70 minutes;
- Short Films: maximum running time, 20 minutes.

Entries may be on:
- DCP;
- Region 1, 2 or 0 DVD or Blu-ray;
- Online Streaming Media (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.);
- Dropbox;
- .mpg;
- .mov;
- .avi.

Press kit must include the following materials:
- Stills from the film with a minimum resolution of 350 DPI in either JPG, GIF, TIFF or PSD format (3 minimum);
- Poster of the film with a minimum resolution of 350 DPI in JPG, GIF or TIFF format;
- Trailer of the film and / or YouTube link;
- List of principal cast and crew;
- Entry form and signed authorizations.

The applicants must assume shipping costs of the submitted films. If you are using courier services, you must specify that the contents of the package are “NO COMMERCIAL VALUE: FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY”. The festival will not cover any taxes or duties generated by any submission.
Deadline for reception of films and all related materials is September 30th, 2025. Postmark dates and shipping invoice for works sent by mail or Courier will be respected.
Digital materials must be sent to: subscriptions@draculafilm.ro whereas all documents and screeners should be sent to the following address: subscriptions@draculafilm.ro.

SELECTED WORKS
Once a film has been included in the Official Selection, the applicant will have 15 days to send any missing materials and to confirm all information included in the entry form.
The film information submitted in the entry form will be the same information to be included in the catalogue.
Any information or revisions sent after September 8, 2024 will not be taken into account.
Dracula Film Festival will acknowledge whoever signed the entry form as the sole representative of the selected film. This individual will be responsible regarding all aspects of the films’ participation in the festival.
Confirmation from the film’s representative signifies the full acceptance of all of the festival’s guidelines, with no exceptions.
Screening copies of the films in the Official Selection must adhere to the technical requirements of each section of the festival.
Screening formats in the Official Selection are Blu-Ray, DVD and QuickTime H264.
The festival’s management reserves the right to decline screening copies of a film that are deemed of insufficient technical quality for their presentation to audiences.
All representatives of films selected to the Official Selection must deliver no later than September 30th, 2025:
- An English subtitled copy of the film in any of the aforementioned mentioned formats is required.
- Any situation not included in this text will be considered and resolved by the festival’s management team.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Fokke Baarssen

    The Dracula Film Festival was an absolute joy to attend. Never before have I felt more appreciated during a film festival.
    Everyone, from the festival director to the volunteers, made it their number one task to inform filmmakers and enthousiasts. There are plenty of networking events and visiting Dracula's castle with other filmmakers was an absolute highlight.

    The overall quality of the selected films was very high, which made it even more honourable to have my film screened among such high quality work.

    And Brasov is an enchanting city, especially during the Halloween season. I hope to be back soon with another film...

    January 2025
  • Thank you for selecting "Dead Dreams Falling" and "Woke Up In An Ashtray" ! I had a great time in the beautiful city of Brasov and I received a warm welcome at the festival. Special thanks to Mihaela and Monika. I will definitely look forward to submitting new material in the future.

    November 2024
  • Tom Rutter

    Absolutely gutted I couldn't be there in person, but honoured to have had my feature play this grand festival and also be nominated for an award. Great communication and great philosophy, it was a pleasure to have been included. I hope to make it in person next year.

    November 2024
  • Goran Mihailov

    Even though I couldn't make it in person, having my film featured at this awesome film festival was a thrill. The event had a great vibe, and I really hope to attend in person next year.

    November 2023
  • Excellent festival. Great experience. We congratulate and thank the organization of the Dracula film Festival. We are happy to have participated with our film Los Turistas. A Season in Hell.

    November 2023