The Louth International Film Festival is proudly presented by the Louth Filmmakers Society in association with Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT). The Louth International Film Festival was established in 2019 and Patrons include Hollywood director, John Moore, and acclaimed cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey (ASC, BSC). Founded to support emerging filmmakers and celebrate creative, challenging and evocative cinema from around the globe.

Located on the East Coast of Ireland, the County of Louth is imbued with a long and rich history of arts and music, culture and folklore. This festival is a celebration of that heritage, where contemporary visual storytelling is shared through the medium of film.

Investigative, challenging and creative documentary, film drama and animation in both long and short form continue that celebration of the sharing of stories, culture and ideas. The Louth International Film Festival enjoys a diverse patronage with guests from the local community, film industry representatives, visiting filmmakers, students and film enthusiasts from all walks of life. We acknowledge the diverse, inquiring and critical audience that is our community, brought together through the arts.

The festival is made possible in part by support from Create Louth, Dundalk Credit Union and donations from the local community.

Dundalk native and Hollywood director, John Moore, had this to say about the fourth edition,

“Everyone is from somewhere: but we like to reach out to everywhere - local film festivals do this, they bring the wide world to us all and add their own special local magic. Louth is a small county with a huge sense of magic, of history of story: I wish them continued success with their world-class festival and continue to support them and cheer them to the rafters”.

Awards & Prizes

Best Short Fiction
Best Short Documentary
Seamus McGarvey Award for Best Cinematography
Best Student Film
Audience Choice
Best in Louth
Best Feature Documentary
Best Feature Fiction
Best Actor (gender-neutral)
Best Director
Best International Short
Best International Feature

Louth International Film Festival awards are unique handcrafted artworks created by local artists and craftspeople.

Rules & Terms

SUBMISSION CRITERIA:

Films being submitted must have been completed from the 1st of January 2020 anything earlier will not be accepted.

We welcome international submissions but require that foreign-language films are hardcoded with English subtitles to a professional standard.

No premiere status is required. However, if your project falls under the category of a national, continental, or International premier, please inform us. As we will use this information to promote the film if selected.

The submission cannot be a published work that is available online (For example publicly searchable/viewable on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).

SUBMISSION PLATFORMS and FORMAT:

Please link submission via a password-protected online screener (Example Vimeo).

EXHIBITION FORMATS:

If selected by the Festival, you will be required to submit a screening copy in Apple ProRes stereo at a minimum of 1080p via digital cloud transfer (Example: WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive, Filemail). Failure to do so will result in the removal of the film from 'Final-Selection'.

COPYRIGHT ©
It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to ensure that full copyrights and clearances have been obtained. The Louth International Film Festival will not be held accountable or bear any responsibility for any additional costs or fees incurred.

By submitting you declare that information provided is true.

SUBMISSION FEES
Please take care not to create duplicate submissions or exceed the maximum number of submissions allowed in a given category as the festival will not take responsibility for any fees incurred. (maximum number of submissions is only in reference to the short script competition).

PROMOTIONAL USAGE
If you consent to the use of clips from your submitted film to help promote the festival, no action is required, but please don't hesitate to contact us if there is an issue.
28 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
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Networking
  • Joseph McLean

    We were delighted to have our short film CAR SICK screen at Louth International Film Festival. It's a great film festival and all the team were excelent at keeping us informed about our screening and with promotion of the fetsival.

    October 2023
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  • Riccardo Bagnato Bulgarelli (RSI)

    It www a plaisure to participate and a very nice surprise the high level of works I could watch!

    October 2023
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  • Christian Craughwell

    A wonderful festival, with an incredible variety and standard of entrants.

    October 2023
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  • David Begley

    Delighted The keepers was selected for this festival and screened at IMC Dundalk. Great festival with strong selection of films and excellent communication and promotion throughout.

    October 2023
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  • Carbonated Comet

    Fantastic festival run by really great people.

    October 2023
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