KAIA means Pure; Life; The sea. The name Kaia is often associated with strength, stability, and connection to the earth. It is a name that evokes feelings of grounding and rootedness. It is also a name that is associated with the sea and water, which can symbolize emotion and intuition. The name Kaia is also primarily of Scandinavian origin that also has Estonian, Greek, Japanese, Hawaiian, Hebrew as well as Sanskrit roots .

Serving as one of the Premier Film Festivals, the Kaia International Film Festival (KAIFF) is founded to present quality films from around the world as well as support, recognize and honor budding and talented film makers from across the globe. With an aim and focus to to connect the audiences and acclaim them with world cinema, this platform is also created to bring about greater understanding of the art of film making.

With film festivals now becoming a paid ticket affair and caters only to a selected range of audiences, KAIFF's mission is to bring world cinematic content in a “Free for All” film festival to enjoy films from various countries including Germany, Italy, UK, USA, Russia, Bangladesh, Iran, Poland in English and India. With an aim to exhibit the most captivating and innovative content, the KAIFF 2026 festival is slated to inspire many talented film makers.

Awards & Prizes

The following Awards are constituted for Feature Films / Short Films / Documentary / Animation & Music Videos
BEST FEATURE FILM
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
BEST SHORT FILM
BEST CHILDREN FILM
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
BEST FILM ON SOCIAL ISSUES
BEST ENVIRONMENTAL FILM
BEST DEBUTANTE DIRECTOR
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST ACTOR
BEST SOUND
BEST EDITOR
BEST MUSIC
BEST STORY
BEST SCREENPLAY
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
BEST TURKISH FILM
BEST VFX FILM
SPECIAL JURY AWARD
HON'BLE MENTION AWARD

Rules & Terms

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SUBMISSION & PARTICIPATION
The festival will not interact with anyone except the submitter and/ or the producer of the film. If any person - be it the actor, writer, director or anyone from the production crew tries to forcibly extract information about the status of the film from the festival authorities, the festival will have absolute rights to >>DISQUALIFY THE FILM<< from competition and/ or screening which you may kindly note. At the same time, the festival may take the decision to ban the production house completely from sending entries to the future editions of the festival.

Open to filmmakers worldwide, all genres and lengths depending on the categories mentioned.

- Filmmakers can submit more than one entry to the festival in any category.
- All films that are not in English must have English language subtitles.
- Each entry must be a separate submission which includes form and payment for each submission.
- To apply for special categories including Best Film / Best Director / Best Experimental film and the like, Filmmakers have to submit in the main category and only then you will be eligible for the special categories.
- Any entry that comes only in the Special categories will not be eligible unless you have sent your entry in the main category - Shorts / Features / Documentary
- The Festival reserves the right to determine eligibility of any work submitted.
- Entry fees are payable through FilmFreeway payment systems and are non-refundable.
- The decision of the Festival committee will be final and binding.

29 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Claudio Colombo

    grazie per l'esperienza. E' stato un onore poter partecipare e inaspettatamente vincere!

    March 2026
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  • 정호 김

    Thank you very much. See you again in the next movie. It was a very good film festival.

    March 2026
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  • Anıl Rona

    Kısa filmim Best Director - Runner Up kategorisinde ödüle layık görüldü, çok teşekkür ederim.

    March 2026
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  • Buket Demirel

    Thank you very much. Our film is chosen as Best Turkish Film - Runner Up Winner. We are so happy. Best Regards,

    March 2026
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  • Amanda Abizaid

    I'm honored to have my music video "Dangerous and Young Arabic Remix" be the winner of Kaia Film Festival. This is the second award of my musical works. I'm grateful to have this family feeling with everyone and be able to have an opportunity to share my music all the way across the world in such a great light! Thank you so much.

    March 2026
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