We offer filmmakers that attend the festival great networking opportunities, we have for many year had the support from industry professionals, they are on hand to talk with you about all aspects of the business of film, because we are a small festival you will have access to these people all free of any charge, we screen all in one location all the panels the networking any meetings all is in one location, we have in past years had different locations but found it better to keep everything together, all the festival is free, the screenings, the networking, the meetings the panels all is free to all filmmaker and there guests many filmmakers promote there movie before they arrive, we make one charge that is the awards night, this is a 5 to 6 hour awards night that includes dinner and is a celebration of film, however we do not insist you join us at the awards night all other parts of the festival remain free, we feel the Madrid International Film Festival is one of the greatest and most popular festivals in Europe. This naturally fills our festival with a wealth of talent from around the world.

Our Madrid International Film Festival is all held in one convenient location; All of the screenings, workshops, meetings, networking, industry professionals, Awards Night and even hotel rooms. That means that we will always be there, supporting you and your project from before the Festival starts to the closing ceremony. So we won’t be hard to find, or difficult to locate, we know how important it is for Festival organisers to be on hand and to supply that all important personal touch. How do we know? We know because we already have huge experience in running other Film Festivals and from that we also know how to make it a better experience for you. With us, it will be.

Independent filmmakers and creatives face many challenges; the large competition for viewers’ attention, finding funding and getting a distributor can only be overcome by the industry coming together and creating opportunities for those who need and deserve it. Our Festival’s aim are to create an opportunity for filmmakers to show their work to the right audience at our intimate and relaxing events, and get one step closer to success by receiving recognition for their art.
Film Fest international will launch a new Asian film festival brand in Madrid.

Global in outlook, AFFI is committed to unearthing open-minded filmmakers who cut through conceptual frameworks, paradigms and dichotomies. With a soft spot for Asian filmmakers worldwild, Asian cities, Asian stories, Asian Architecture, sci-fi narratives driven by Asian philosophies, and bringing ancient Asian heritage on to the screen.

AFFI plans to set up teams in some Asian cities where artists gather, such as Dali, Chiang Mai, Kyoto ......Under the “AFFI” umbrella a number of awards are on offer for feature films, short films (ultra-shorts), documentaries, museum film, animation ,music videos and more......

Please keep an eye on our AFFI news.

For over 14 hugely successful years, we have been helping filmmakers find distribution and funding for their next film making venture. Year after year, we are praised by filmmakers for the opportunities that unlock upon entering and participating in our festival.

There is ample opportunity to attend networking events, industry professional talk panels, workshops, guest speaker events, film premieres, financing talks, director Q&A's, film screenings and to socialize with like-minded creatives from all walks of life. All of this is neatly wrapped in a week-long showcasing of films where our strong community supports any and every film, from first-time artists to seasoned creators.

Our prestigious awards ceremony concludes the festival in high fashion with a 5-course gala dinner to celebrate our nominees and winners.

We are a unique festival that provides a real platform for filmmakers to meet, network and do business during the festival week.

We have built a small but exceptional network of industry professionals that will look at all films entered and will give business and commercial advice. We have many success stories where attending distributors have made offers to the filmmakers, launching them and their work into the marketplace. We have the people and skills in our professional team to make this happen. We are introducing for 2023 more opportunities for filmmaker opening more doors across markets.

We can create a ripple for your movie to be seen around the world. It all starts here by entering today.

Awarded for Excellence in Film

At our gala dinner awards ceremony, winners from each of our categories walk away with a prestigious trophy award to mark their talents and achievements in film.

The Madrid International Film Festival, is a great festival for networking, for screening for industry professionals to be on hand, feel free to meet free of charge industry professionals talk about your film, or how to get a script produced, if they can help they will, a international Film Festival that has as its objective the promotion of cinematographic art by presenting films of quality and entertainment. The Madrid International Film Festival is an annual event based in the City of Madrid in Spain; it is possible that each film nominated may be presented more than once.

Feature films, documentaries and short subjects of any genre on video and DVD are selected by invitation from entries to the festival.

Entries must have been produced within the last four years. All films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English, we also welcome but it is not compulsory to have Spanish as well as English subtitles were the film is in neither English or Spanish to increase the possible markets, unless dialogue or commentary is unnecessary for comprehension and appreciation. In the exceptional event that an unsubtitled print is accepted, English and Spanish dialogue lists are required.

The Madrid International Film Festival reserves the right to use excerpts from submitted work for promotional purposes only . If your submission is officially selected, the festival may screen your film as part of their activities to assist in the sale of your movie for up to 12 months after the festival date

The Festival is open to the public as well as attending distribution and sales professionals. We work with a number of accredited national and international press working with the screening venues in Madrid, we have TV buyers and film buyers and distributors also attending, you will if your film is nominated have one to one meetings if you wish to talk business on your movie.

Official or professional national organisations and individuals may submit feature and short films to the Festival. Films submitted for pre-selection should arrive no later than 1st may 2024 and must be shipped as per instructions above. All shipping costs of films must be borne by the sender. Please note: it is not possible for us to return any DVD or tapes, but can be collected by you at the festival... It is the Madrid International Film Festival's policy not to offer comments and reasons for films not selected for the programme.

Please read the entire content of this text carefully before submitting your project to the festival.
The Festival was created to celebrate the art of filmmaking and to honor the filmmakers who make it all possible.
The entire application process is done online through FilmFreeway.

How the Festival works:

In the first round, the jury members choose the films and scripts in a broader way. Selected films and screenplays will receive a link to the official selection Laurel.
In the second round, the jury members re-judge the selected films and scripts, analyzing each project in more detail and more rigorously
They then decide the winners of each category as well as the jury’s special awards.

The Filmmakers will be invited to the awards ceremony, where they will receive a trophy and certificate.

The trophies and certificates of the winners who do not attend the event can be bought and sent by sent by post or other shipping company free of charge.

They will receive a free digital version of the certificate only.

In the event of technical issues beyond our control we will move the Awards Ceremony live stream to the next possible date and time,we are not able to offer refunds if this issue arises.

All non attendant filmmakers and script author winners will receive at there request free of charge a digital winning certificate, the statue is only offered free to winners attending the festival, non attending filmmakers and author can purchase the statue if they wish —

All films entered will automatically be entered in to the competition of the festival, all films entered will be viewed and judged in the competition of the festival, however if time is short during the festival it is our first responsibility to schedule films for screening were the filmmakers attend the screening so as to support there movie

By submitting your film you are agreeing to the Madrid International Film Festival screening your film during the Festival and using your film for promotional purposes, as well as all the above regulations.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Darlene Huynh

    *Updated Review* After posting my initial review, I was immediately called by the head of the festival, Carl Tooney, to chat about my poor review. He apologized and admitted he wasn’t present himself during the festival. He also said we could submit our film to his other festivals if we wanted and wave any fees. That was a nice gesture. My name is Julia Schneider and I’m the producer of Bach Ma and are writing on behalf of our director Darlene Huynh.

    Original Review -
    Sad to have to write this review, however we were not pleased with the Madrid International Film Festival. I'm unsure if they're under staffed but there was a lack of clear communication and large delays in repose time via email. We didn't receive the offical "welcome email" they said they had sent out. We had to follow up with our questions several times and most of the time we received no response.
    We didn't feel supported or celebrated. When the festival choose to communicate with us it seemed like there was more interest in pushing us to purchase their very expensive gala tickets rather than caring about the filmmakers that were trying to make plans in order to attend the festival. Our filmmakers had never been to Spain, so as first timers we hoped the festival could helps us with our basic questions in a timely manner. It was our plan to attend but compared to the other festivals we've attended all over the globe, we didn't have any confidence to spend the money to attend this one. So we didn’t attend. We are still very appreciative to have been accepted to screen our short film.

    September 2023
    Madrid r
    Response from festival:

    This person did not even attend and the picture of the person is not the person who wrote the review, this is fake news why have no idea, look at the great reviews of the filmmaker that did attend., the great city of Madrid.

  • Sylvie Zaidman

    Thank you so much for selecting us and awarded our short movie "tRuth" with the best actor award. Would have loved to be able to attend but could not this time. Kaoru was a joy to deal with, excellent communication overall!

    September 2023
  • Johan Nayar

    It was a fantastic 4 days out in Madrid. Thank you Carl, Kaoru, Liam and Roy for making it so special. Thank you for selecting us as Best Screenplay for a Short Film - very much appreciate it. The week built up towards a grande finale, and the awards ceremony was excellent. Highly recommended!

    September 2023
  • Madeleine Gomez

    This was an outstanding event! I truly can’t say enough about this festival! Everything was done to perfection! The screenings were absolutely wonderful and then the awards night ceremony was star quality! Kaoru and all the Madrid Film Festival Team were so professional, welcoming, and kind! It’s not a wonder that all of the filmmakers were so happy! Having everything in one location was fantastic and the hotel did a super job, including the gourmet food at the awards ceremony! Many of us traveled from places quite a far and I’m sure none of us were disappointed. Simply spectacular!

    September 2023
  • DARKO PUHARIĆ

    A wonderful event in the world of film! It is a great honor and pleasure to be part of this wonderful story, to be surrounded by enthusiasts. Thanks for the prize, thanks to the organizer. Congratulations! Greetings from Croatia!

    September 2022