Here at the Japan International Film Festival, we celebrate and highlight various experiments and experiences in the worlds of cinema, media, and visual arts, and we are trying to provide a platform for artists of all backgrounds to come together and share their narratives. We sincerely hope that by gathering the greatest talents in independent cinema/media, we can provide our audience (and fans) a chance to have a sublime experience.

Submit your work and be a part of our community and share your story with the world!

Awards & Prizes

We offer awards for the following categories (you can look at the right side of the page to see the categories individually and submit for 1 or more of them):

Best Short Film
Best Feature Film
Short Documentary
Feature Documentary
Best Animation
Student Film
Best Director
Best Female Director
First Time Filmmaker
Best Cinematography
Best Comedy
Best Horror
Best Music Video
Best Script
Best Actor/Actress
Experimental Main Competition
Best Editing
Best Poster
Best Soundtrack

Rules & Terms

For the time being, we hold 'Online Screenings' for each edition of our festival. However, this screening is not mandatory and we can make an exception for filmmakers who do not wish their films to be screened.
Our online screening will be held on our website in a secure manner (with exclusive passwords).

Rules:

To be a part of the festival, you must submit to the categories found on the right side of the page. We can only process the submissions that are submitted via FilmFreeway.

Please carefully review the categories you're interested in, because the submission fee is non-refundable.

All non-English films must have an 'English' subtitle, as we are an international festival and have an international audience.

Submitters can update their films/shows (to update links or information) until the event date.

By entering your film/show/music video for consideration to our festival, you authorize that your work is cleared for festival exhibition and accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property. We won't hold the rights to films and we won't be responsible for any problem with the intellectual property of your works.
124 Reviews
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  • Jose Montalvo

    What an honor it was just to participate in the Japan International Film Festival let alone receive any accolade for it. This festival is extremely professional, has great communication, and is a path for wonderful exposure for your project. I have recommended this festival to my fellow filmmakers and writers. Great Festival!

    October 2024
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  • Ryan Kim

    Incredibly honored to be accepted into this festival let alone win an award! Truly grateful and hope to submit to Japan Intl Film Fest again!

    October 2024
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  • Harriet Brennan

    We were thrilled and honoured that ‘A Shoreditch Tale’ was selected by Japan International Film Festival. We had a great experience being part of the festival and recommended it highly to all filmmakers. All aspects of the festival were excellent.
    Having this accolade is spurring us on in our future projects.
    Thank you so much!

    March 2024
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  • Jayde Fairley

    A great festival to be a part of. Wonderful communication. We were so thrilled to be awarded best student film. Thank you Japan International FF!

    March 2024
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  • Nikos Kourou

    Great honor for us to be a part of your festival! Hope to see you again with our next films.

    February 2024
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