Taking place in the heart of Indonesia’s bustling metropolis, the Jakarta Independent Film Festival brings indie shorts from around the world.

Aiming to highlight films of different genres and styles, and from different countries, we are looking for stories that capture the imagination, talent, and diversity of independent filmmakers. The Festival’s first edition, which was held online in 2020 due to the COVID-19 restrictions was a great success attracting filmmakers, an international audience and industry experts. However, the Jakarta Independent Film Festival was created with the aspiration to become a meeting point for cinephiles and industry professionals.

Being loyal to our vision, we work hard to make the annual Jakarta Independent Film Festival a connecting platform that will bring the audience back to the cinema halls.

Jakarta Independent Film Festival is organised by HFP, a pioneer organisation that runs Film Festivals and other events showcasing and championing ideas of diversity. Through our global series of film Festivals that spread over 13 countries, we open the path to voices with a compelling story to share. Our main mission is to honour independent cinema and establish a network of artists eager to join forces and spread their work across all nations. HFP runs 24 film Festivals worldwide.

Awards & Prizes

The Festival's award-winning films are presented at the end of the screenings and are announced on our official website and social media.

All winners receive our official award certificate.

Rules & Terms

✓ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles (if in a different language).

✓ All films must have been made in or after 2024.

✓ Short films must not exceed 45 minutes.

✓ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✓ By submitting to us, you give us consent and right to screen your film in front of a live audience, and, under special circumstances, online screening.

✓ Nominations: These are all the films that have been nominated for an award in a category. Not all nominated films will be screened.

Official Selection: These are all the nominated films selected for screening, which will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.

Award Winners: Chosen from the Nominations (which includes the Official Selection).

✓ Film Critique: With this service, an experienced film professional will review your project and write a 1 to 2 pages critique (depending on the length of the film) of the submitted film. Both films and screenplays can be submitted into this category. Film critiques are sent to filmmakers within 1 to 3 months after the Film Festival event. This service cannot be combined with discount codes and is offered as an add-on option. In order to combine the Add-on Film Critique with a category, write down the Category of your choice on your Cover Letter or Director's Statement.

✓ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✓ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through email and our online platforms.

✓ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✓ We do not accept partial screeners, trailers, or screener links that require access other than password protected links.

✓ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✓ We cannot provide refunds.

✓ If you have submitted your project in the previous year, please do not resubmit the same project to the current edition.

✓ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✓ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.
13 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • A T Beaune 唐博訥

    All of us with the ‘Melodia’ team in Taiwan were delighted with our inclusion in the Jakarta Independent Film Festival. Communication was prompt and understandings were clear. This young festival promises to enrich Indonesia’s art scene, encourage new filmmakers, and—with more publicity—draw larger audiences in the future.

    We are especially honoured to have received an award in our category. Many thanks to cinema lovers in Jakarta for the kind recognition.

    – A T

    A T Beaune, director
    atbeaune@gmail.com
    IMDb.me/atbeaune
    linktr.ee/atbeaune

    December 2024
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you for trusting us with your work A T Beaune and thank you for your lovely words!

  • Arjan Onderdenwijngaard

    A small, well organized and intimate festival: 5 days online screenings and 2 days offline filmscreenings, Q&A sessions and networking. Compliments to the organizers, the jury and all the volunteers.
    Thanks for selecting and nominating my short film OPERA JALANAN.
    I will definitely submit my next film to the festival. Thanks

    November 2022
    Helpful
  • Sergio Kotsovoulos

    Thank you for having “echo” in Jakarta it was an honour to be nominated in your festival!

    November 2022
    Helpful
  • Indira Iman

    Thank you for having Rong! JIFF is only in its 2nd edition, but i think it already is one of the best film festival in Indonesia. There's plenty of programmes, the films are diverse, and most importantly the festival made sure the filmmakers is well-informed and felt included with its QnAs, social media tagging, etc. Keep up the good work!

    November 2021
    Helpful
  • tekun ji

    One of the hidden gem film festival in Indonesia. We won the best International Feature award for This is Not A Love Story, and very happy to be part of the festival. Although the event held online during the pandemic in a short time span, we had great interaction with the viewers and fellow filmmakers. The JIFF team is very professional.

    October 2021
    Helpful