Film in Focus

Film in Focus opens its doors to film professionals, art cinema lovers and debut artists alike who want to showcase themselves in the industry along with their unique and individual ideas.

We strive to curate an inclusive film line-up. A space where experienced professionals and first time filmmakers share their artistic ideas and learn something from one another.

Film in Focus, as an international film competition, has the objective of raising awareness towards screening independent cinema. We welcome submissions from a wide range of genres including drama & comedy films, documentaries, animations, experimental projects, music videos or movie trailers.

Film screenings showcasing our competition winners take place in the heart of Bucharest.

❗We will always ask for permission from you prior to any film screening

Our past events were held at the Unteatru Theatre, one of the most effervescent art hubs of the city. Unteatru is the place where creatives meet the audience through theatre shows, film screenings and artistic workshops. Other screenings were also held at Deschis Gastrobar, the one and only rooftop cinema overlooking the capital.

By establishing a network with filmmakers, producers and marketing professionals, we share one common goal: to forge productive and lasting relationships between independent filmmakers and audiences. How?

➤ Online Coverage - Our Website & Social Media
➤ Film Screenings
➤ Access to worldwide audiences through our partner Shortlist.film

The competition takes place monthly, having a total of 12 selections by the end of every competitional year.

All films submitted to Film in Focus go through a meticulous rating process, done by our programmers, who later publish their selection on our website and social media channels during the next month.

You can find the season deadline, as well as the notification date and specific category details in the right-grid competition timeline.

The film selections are classified in two main sections as follows:

➤ Official Selection - Off-Competition film section containing projects thoroughly selected by our programmers
➤ Official Competition - Winners & Nominees

The perks of Official Selection & Competition

Let’s face it, not all films submitted will be winners. But hey, good films still deserve recognition, right?

Titles selected which will not make it to the Official Competition will receive our Official Selection Pack, containing discounts & services from our partners. So you can make every bit of your submission count.

All Films accepted in the Official Selection will be given a benefits pack worth 250$:

➤ Cloud19 Full DCP Service Pack worth 125$
➤ Filmstro Pro Licence discount worth 125$

The publication of the Official Selection, as well as Competition Results will correspond to each season's notification information, available in your submission details.

✪ Best Short Film

➤ Live Screening
➤ Shortlist.film Screening (only with prior permission from the filmmaker)
➤ Special Filmmaker Pack from Shortlist.film - worth 1200$
➤ Cloud19 Full DCP Service Pack worth 125$
➤ Filmstro Pro Licence discount worth 125$
➤ Award Certificate signed by the Festival Director
➤ Official Laurels from the festival

A major paradigm has changed in 2020. A year that caught everyone off-guard, including the film industry. We quickly learned that changes had to be made in order to move forward. The connection between filmmakers and the audiences had to be reimagined because giving up was never an option.

Physical event planning has become even more challenging, therefore at this moment only competition-awarded films will be eligible for live screenings.

This means that, at least for a while, the number of annual physical events will be limited to 1 or 2, in order to make sure that we can showcase all winning films safely & responsibly.

But challenge leads to transformation and new ways of showcasing films are available.

Starting with 2021 we look into the future when it comes to cinema experiences. Therefore, we commit to helping filmmakers feature their work in a hybrid environment.

So how does this work?

Live screenings often gather a limited amount of people, so we commit to offer a better, faster, safer & easier online solution. It will be a major benefit both for films that didn’t get a screening slot and for the people who couldn’t make it to the live screening.

❗Online screenings will be available with the prior approval of the filmmaker ONLY.

We believe it makes Film in Focus even more attractive, as there are many benefits of joining our community.

Starting with 2021 we offer all the films qualified for Official Competition the opportunity of having online screenings.

❗It is important to mention 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

Join us on Shortlist.film for a Special Filmmaker Pack consisting of up to 10 1-year fully paid subscription accounts with a total worth of 1200$.