Next International Film Festival of Houston (NiffHouston), presented by Next Actor Studio, will hold its 12th edition on October 28st- October 30th 2026
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In the past eleven
years, Niff Houston was able to put together a great lineup of independent and foreign films and brought together actors, directors and producers from different parts of the world, who stayed back in Houston to enjoy the awards show at the end of the festival.

Award winners who could not make it to Houston, sent in their acceptance speech by video. The videos by best actor Dominique Pinon (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement) and best actress Laya Lewis (Skins) are online for viewing.

After entertaining the audience at Niff2015's opening night short film 'Narcissist', lead actor Brionne Davis went on to excel at Cannes, Sundance and other major venues with his starring role in the 2016 Oscar-nominated Colombian film Embrace of the Serpent.

Last year, NiffHouston was thrilled to present the audience award to a documentary on Sikhism, starring Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and the cinematography award to Academy Award winner Claudio Miranda for the beautiful short film "The Circle" which was completely shot on drone.

This goes to show that Niff Houston is a festival of substance, that thrives to showcase ingenious talent and celebrate original content through a phenomenal line-up of Independent American Cinema and diverse foreign films in both competitive and non-competitive sections.

Submission for 2026 is now open.

Complete information and screening schedule will be available at www.niffhouston.org.

For media Inquiries, please contact : info@niffhouston.org

Thank you.

Awards & Prizes

Best Actor
Best Actress
Audience Award
Best Short
Best Feature
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Director
Best Screenplay

Rules & Terms

Your submission must be postmarked by the appropriate deadline listed above and include the correct entry fee.

The Exhibition Format is .mov only. We will not present any other format.

All films with dialogue in a language other than English must be subtitled in English for Festival presentation.

Films may be of any length, and of any genres, including features, documentaries, shorts, student films, music videos and experimental films. The Festival will consider works-in-progress, films with temporary sound tracks, digital outputs, and work that did not originate from film.

7 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Linda Broocks

    I really appreciated being part of this wonderful festival, and was honored that my film received an honorable mention. I will definitely enter again in the future.

    November 2025
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  • Eric Sollars

    NIFF HOUSTON was a very professional film festival with quality feedback. Thank you. I will enter again.

    November 2024
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  • Kevin J. Howard

    I'm truly honored to have my drama/fantasy feature "The Seedling" as an Official Selection in 2020! Thank you so much!

    October 2021
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  • Kim Polo

    We had a wonderful time at the NIFF film festival. Thank you so much for awarding our documentary "Don't Forget Them" the Best Film of the Festival. They were able to safely create a welcoming and fun live event with great films. Thank you NIFF!

    October 2020
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  • Lightning N Mitchell

    Thank you for selecting our film THE VISION as one of your selections for your film festival. It was a great film festival put on by a great staff and I encourage all film makers if you ever get a chance this is the one. You don't want to miss out on it.

    November 2018
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