The International Crime and Punishment Film Festival (ICAPFF), now in its 16th edition in 2026, is a justice-themed film festival that has been taking place since 2011 in Istanbul-Turkey, and will be held between 27 November-2 December 2026 this year.

The festival aims to utilize the powerful language of art and science to foster social discussions and promote awareness within the context of human rights and freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of belief, gender equality, women's rights, children's rights, migrant rights, labour rights, right to a fair trial, as well as all forms of racism, discrimination, marginalization, hate and honor crimes. Transforming into a platform for justice discussions, the festival unites film screenings and scientific paper presentations, creating a unique perspective that fuses Law and Cinema.

Alongside film screenings, the festival features competitions for feature films and short films. Additionally, the festival includes workshops, sector meetings, and master classes, held during the VisionIST .

This thematic festival might not be the best fitting platform to submit your Action, Adventure, Crime, Heist, Neo-Noir/Film Noir or Thriller feature films and short films. Please consider the details cited above to ensure your film is a really good fit for the theme of Justice.

Awards & Prizes


International Golden Scale Short Film Competition Best Short Film Awarded the “1000 Euro” prize money will be awarded to the director of the film selected for the best short film.

Rules & Terms

(Changes in the judging status after submission period has ended: "Semifinalist" signifies that your film demonstrated thematic adequacy in the preselection phase and was shortlisted. "Finalist" indicates that, following the semifinal round, our festival's relevant pre-jury panel for the year has chosen to include your film as an official selection in the category for which you applied. Subsequently, your film will be screened and will be evaluated by the relevant competition jury panel to nominate the "Winner")

16th INTERNATIONAL GOLDEN SCALE SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Competition aims to select the Best Justice-Themed Short Fiction Film, promote production of justice themed films and create discussions around the theme. It will take place in Istanbul within the scope of the 16th ICAPFF which will be held between 27 November-2 December 2026.

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPETITION
1. Fiction, experimental, animation and documentary short films with the theme of Justice that are released after 1st of January 2026 are eligible to participate in the International Golden Scale Short Film Competition.
2. Films that were previously commercially screened in Turkey, have been shown on television channels, have been screened at festivals held in Istanbul or which have been commercially sold, distributed or broadcast in any format or which can be viewed publicly on the Internet cannot participate in the competition.

3. Being screened or awarded at a festival outside Istanbul does not prevent participation in the competition.

4. Durations of the films submitted for the competition must be at least 5 and at most 25 minutes including the credits.

3. For the eligibility of your submission, please make sure to include minimum two stills from the film, minimum 100 character synopsis, both producer and production company infos of the film. Additionally, if the film is in English, please include the original dialogue list; if it's in a language other than English, please include the English subtitle list of the film.

Please ensure you fully read and understand the Regulations in the link:
https://www.icapff.com/en/national-golden-scales-short-film-project-competition-regulations/

5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • YAKUP TEKİNTANGAÇ

    Harika bir festival. Uluslararası standartta her şeyi yerli yerinde, gösterim ve gösterim sonrası söyleşileri dahil her şey çok profesyoneldi. "Morî" adlı filmimle yer almaktan büyük mutluluk duyduğum festivallerden. Teşekkürler.

    December 2024
    Helpful
  • Sevin YAMAN

    It was the MOST PRECIOUS film festival I attended in my 2 years of festival journey. In 2023, our film was awarded the 'Special Jury Prize', I would like to thank the jury members from here -again !
    Unlike most other festivals, it is a festival that does not discriminate between feature and short film directors, protects the rights of film workers to the fullest and has a 'fair' structure within itself. I definitely recommend everyone to attend.
    Again, I would like to thank the whole festival team.

    November 2024
    Helpful
  • Ali Rıza BAYAZIT

    Bu festivalin bir parçası olmaktan dolayı çok mutlu oldum. Süreç içerisindeki iletişim ve festival organizasyonu başarılıydı. Kaliteli filmler izlemek güzel bir festival deneyimi sağladı. En önemlisi de yeni arkadaşlıklar ve yeni iş birliklerinin oluşturulabilme imkanının sağlanması heyecan vericiydi.

    I was very happy to be a part of this festival. The communication and festival organization during the process was successful. Watching quality films provided a good festival experience. Most importantly, the opportunity to create new friendships and new partnerships was exciting.

    December 2023
    Helpful
  • yalçın çiftçi

    It was the best festival I attended. I would like to thank especially the festival president Adem Bey and the festival director Bengi Semerci. Communication, transportation and accommodation were very good. I hope there will be more such quality festivals... I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the festival.

    November 2023
    Helpful
  • Leonardo António

    Amazing staff and crew; professional and caring. I felt wonderfully welcomed in the festival. Thank you so much.

    December 2020
    Helpful