The International Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival (KLEFF) is Malaysia’s homegrown environmental film festival for the past 13 years. Conceptualised and organised by a not-for-profit environmental organisation, EcoKnights, the Festival is a platform to facilitate the building of a nation of ecologically conscious businesses, individuals, and communities through on-ground activities and film screenings focused on critical environmental issues and stories.

2020 marks a new start for KLEFF as the world came to face the COVID-19 pandemic together. In order to address the physical limitations, KLEFF embarked on a new journey as the first digital environmental film festival in Malaysia last year. With new aspiration as a digital festival, KLEFF will once again be organized digitally to ensure its role as a media platform for filmmaking, story-telling and knowledge-sharing in the global transformational journey towards sustainability - in society, economy and environment.

Returning from 2020 to continue its advocacy in climate change with a call-to-action theme: Climate Change (Yourself), KLEFF seeks for thought-provoking films that inspire and empower people not only in climate change but also on a myriad of worldwide environmental topics.

Climate Change (Yourself) boils down to self-initiated changes that we can make on different levels and capacities. It's all about changing mindsets and habits, starting from ourselves. The theme encompasses films that cover the ecosystem of climate change, hence inter-related with other environmental, social and economic topics. With that, we welcome all sorts of film submissions that fall within the category of the theme this year.

The festival committee will be curating a selection of films of different genres with strong audience appeal - Documentaries, narratives, shorts, children’s films, experimental films, animations and public service announcement.

Awards & Prizes

1. Best Feature Film/Full length Documentary Award

2. Best Short Documentary/TV Documentary Award

3. Best Short Film Award

4. Best Animation Award

5. Best Public Service Announcement (PSA) Award

6. Special Jury Award

Rules & Terms

Clause 1: Thematic
THEME: Climate Change (Yourself)

SUB-TOPICS: Climate change, climate mitigation, science and technology, science and research, resource management, waste management, sustainability, alternative energies, green architecture, green finance, agriculture, wildlife conservation, indigenous or local community and issues, youth in environmentalism.

*Films should cover climate change and environmental topics, but can certainly overlap with social, economic, spiritual, or other themes. We do not limit the films chosen to ones that, to us, have the right answers. It is more important that the films are thought-provoking. This is an open forum designed to inspire awareness and action on a myriad of worldwide environmental topics. The quality of the film production will also be considered and weighed.

Clause 2: Competitions
At present, the festival’s official competition involves FIVE (5) sections:

• FEATURE or FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY:
- Non-fictional motion picture intended to document and reflect reality
- Film run-time: 45 -60 minutes

• SHORT DOCUMENTARY:
- Non-fictional motion picture intended to document and reflect reality
- Film run-time: 5 - 44 minutes

• SHORT FILM:
- Original motion picture of any genre: drama, action, comedy, thriller, etc.
- Film run-time: 5 - 44 minutes

• ANIMATION:
- Includes: traditional animation, 2D animation, 3D animation, motion graphics, and stop motion
- Film run-time: 3 - 60 minutes

• PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS (PSAs):
- A commercial/advertisement that is able to disseminate information quickly, clearly and efficiently
- Film run-time: 1 - 4 minutes

Clause 4:- Rights
By submitting films to KLEFF, candidates thereby grant KLEFF to obtain full access permission to the film and make sure the film does not contravene the rights, including copyright of any third party.

Clause 5:- Promo Use
Filmmakers who submitted films grant KLEFF the right to use up to 30 seconds of the film for media promotion purposes.

Clause 6:- Subtitles
All films submitted MUST have English subtitles.

Clause 7:- Unfinished Films
Please contact us before the deadline to request permission to submit an incomplete film, or have an extension granted. We will need to see a rough cut of whatever you have ready before our submission deadline closes. If your film is accepted, we will need the final version by 30th June. Please make sure you contact us before the entry deadline to discuss this with us.

25 Reviews
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  • Elliott LOUCIF

    Thank you for selecting our film to be part of your festival.

    November 2021
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  • Karen Coates Jerry Redfern

    What an opportunity to see so many important environmental films from around the world! We're honored that ours was among such a great list. I hope this festival continues to grow and gain more attention in future years.

    November 2021
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  • Anna Girbau

    Very good festival with fantastic films

    November 2021
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  • Peter Bosman

    Very well organized festival well done!

    October 2020
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  • Jessica George

    So honoured to have our film VAKA featured in the festival this year. The KLEFF team has done an amazing job organising everything despite the pandemic, and it's inspiring to be screened alongside other stellar films.

    October 2020
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