One of the few festival's entirely dedicated to comedy in all its different colours and flavours. The festival was founded by Mario Monicelli and Ezio Greggio in 2001, in order to highlight a genre that is often forgotten in other film events.

Previous editions Jury Presidents include Giuseppe Tornatore, Mira Sorvino, Emir Kusturica, Claude Lelouch, John Landis, Michael Radford, Gabriele Muccino, Ettore Scola, Vittorio Storaro, Giancarlo Giannini. Monte-Carlo Film Festival delivered " Comedy Awards" to Filmmakers, Actors and Films in competition as well as "Career Awards" and "Legend Awards" that in the past years have been handed out to Mira Sorvino, John Landis, Costa Gavras, Chazz Palminteri, Monica Bellucci, Emir Kusturica, Trevis Fimmel, Rachael Taylor, Peter Bogdanovich, Checco Zalone, Salvatore Esposito, Michael Madsen, Edoardo Leo, Paolo Genovese, Sandra Milo, Gabriele Muccino, Michael Radford, Gabriele Salvatores, Billy Zane, Claude Brasseur, Leslie Nielsen, Lina Wertmuller, Robert Hossein, Paul Belmondo, Dante Ferretti e Francesca Lo Schiavo, Michel Legrand, Ursula Andress, Louis Bacalov, Mylene Demongeot, Cécile Cassel, Vittorio Storaro, Omar Sharif, Gigi Proietti, Christopher Bucholz, Claude Zidi, Michelle Mercier, Pierre Richard, Carlo Verdone, Evelyne Bouix, Bud Spencer, Jean Claude Brialy, Jean Loup Hubert, Ettore Scola, Florinda Bolkan, Pupi Avati, Arthur Joffé, Micheline Presle, Alberto Sordi, Edourd Molinaro, Nino Manfredi, Gina Lollobrigida, Jean Sorel, Delphine Chaneac, Catherine Jacobe, Mario Monicelli, Robert Davi and hundreds more.

All our editions present a main feature-lenght competition, out of competition premieres, master classes, press conferences, round tables and Award Ceremony Gala Event which is held in front of 2.000 guests at the most prestigious location of the Monaco Principality with live tv shooting: the Grimaldi Forum.

In 2020 we introduced a new competiton: "The Monte-Carlo Short Comedy Award", assigned by the public.

Awards & Prizes

Best Film
Best Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Audience Award
Best Short Film

Rules & Terms

We accept comedies in all forms and genres.

REGULATIONS 2026

Art. 1 – The 23rd edition of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival de la Comédie will be held from November 11st to November 14th, 2026.

Art. 2 – The Festival’s main aim is the promotion and diffusion of the various Comedy genres by presenting films, holding meetings and events, presenting studies, etc.

Art. 3 – The Festival is composed of:

Official Selection screenings. It is the main section of the festival with a showcase of 5 to 10 films competing for the main award

Gala Screenings. A section dedicated to films out of competition selected from the best comedies of the year.

A Short Film Competition.

Art. 4 – All selected films shall not have been theatrically released, nor made available on streaming platforms, before November 14th 2026, in either in France or Italy.

Eligible films should be produced after August 2025.

Films which have already been presented in other festivals can be selected for the competition or out of the competition.

Art. 5 – Films are invited by the Selection Committee on behalf of the Direction of the Festival.

Producers and Distributors wishing to submit their films for consideration can address their films to the Direction through the official website and send an online screener. The Direction will also decide, with the agreement of the producers, in which section of the Festival (see art. 3) films shall be presented.

Art. 6 – The Festival will also organize meetings, forums, exhibitions, special events.

Art. 7 – An international jury will decide the official awards to the films which have entered the Official Selection in Competition and the short film competition.

The jury will consist of at least three renowned International personalities in the field of cinema and the arts.

Art. 8 - All films will be shown in original version with English and/or French subtitles.

Art. 9 - Selected films must be provided with the dialogue list and a copy of the film (digital file or online screener) together with the promotional material.

Art. 10 - To be able to participate in the Festival it is necessary to send the entry form duly filled in and signed via fax or PDF. This document is an official agreement between the parties. The producer or agent will also agree to send all relevant information and materials (synopsis, cast, credits, stills, photos of directors and actors, posters, promotional videos etc.).

Art. 11 - Transportation, brokers and insurance costs for the shipping of the films (regardless of the format) to and from the Festival shall be taken care of by the Festival. The Festival will also assume insurance costs once the carrier has delivered the film to festival and until the film is returned to him. In the case of loss or damage of a film, the Festival will reimburse an amount not exceeding the value of the lab print.

This rule applies only to the films selected and invited by the Direction.

Art. 12 - In order to promote films on the various TV networks, the Festival invites the Producer or Sales Agent to provide extracts of the films as foreseen by the international regulations. These extracts only will be given to the televisions by the Festival.

Art. 13 – The producer of each film awarded at the Monte-Carlo Film Festival engages to publish the award in all promotional materials accompanying the commercial release of his film.

Art. 14 - The general program and screening schedule are the exclusive responsibility of the Direction of the Festival. Films accepted and included in the program cannot be withdrawn from competition once the entry form (see art.8) has been signed and sent into the Festival.

Art. 15 - In case of disagreement and for any condition not included in these regulations, the final decision lies with the Festival’s Direction.

Art. 16 - Participation in the Festival implies acceptance of these regulations.

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  • James Hughes

    Received notification I had been accepted. Booked flights. Then received notification it was a mistake and I had not been selected. So cancelled flights. Then saw my film on the website of the festival. 1 of 5 selected. Emailed and ignored by them. Then saw the other fimmmakers in attendance. After the festival was over received a laurel to say I had been accepted. Awful experience.

    December 2024
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Dear James,

    as we told you in our email with apologies (it's incorrect to say that we ignored you), we made a mistake with notifications. Your film was selected and it was on the official selection of the final five, but didn't win.

    That's the reason why we have changed erroneously the status of the film on Filmfreeway, but only there. Then we understood that even if you didn't win, the status must remain the same and we changed it again.

    The festival invited only the winners (director and actor) so it's impossible that you have see pictures of other filmmakers.

    We understand that you were upset for the inconvenience but saying something that is not completely true it's not the good way to solve the problem. You sent the email on the 1st of December and we responded the 5th of December (the Festival was in November). You never told us that you have planned to come to the Festival before. If our organization had known that you had booked to come to the Festival (due to our mistake), they would certainly have made amends to apologize for the inconvenience and they would have find a nice solution for you.

    We are human, we can make mistakes. But please don't ruin the job of lot of people (sometimes young people that can make more mistakes than other, due to experience), telling something in an awful and incorrect way.

    Jame keep smile (like comedians always do)!