Prague Independent Film Festival is an annual event focusing on international independent cinema. Its purpose is to show outstanding independent films, recognize and support new filmmakers and to enhance awareness and understanding of cinematography as art among diverse audiences.

The film festival takes place in Prague, which is a center of Europe and one of the most beautiful and charming places on earth. Screenings will culminate with an award ceremony. The festival host a closing parties and other events for networking.

Our latest festival was a great success, there were great films, interesting communication and lots of press coverage! It was really great celebration and we are looking forward to our next edition!

We guarantee that film professionals will view all submitted films. We encourage filmmakers who created their films with a low budget to enter their film to PIFF. The judgment criteria of the submitted films are new ideas, experimental cinematography, talented work of actors and an independent point of view.

We genuinely are Independent!

Awards & Prizes

Grand Prix
Grand Prix of the Festival – The Golden Eagle

Feature Film
Golden Star and certificate is awarded to the Best Feature Film

Short Film
Golden Star and certificate is awarded to the Best Short Film

Documentary
Golden Star and certificate is awarded to the Best Documentary.

Animated Film
Golden Star and certificate is awarded to the Best Animated Film

Music Video
Golden Star and certificate is awarded to the Best Music Video

There will also be the following awards for:
Best Actor – Golden Star and certificate.
Best Actress – Golden Star and certificate.
Best Director – Golden Star and certificate.
Best Screenplay – Golden Star and certificate.
Best Cinematography – Golden Star and certificate.
Best Original Music Score – Golden Star and certificate.

Rules & Terms

We encourage the submission of international film or video entries, but all entries must be in English or have English dubbing or subtitles. For films in English, we recommend to have Czech subtitles but it is not obligatory.
All entries must be available for screening during the festival. We welcome Feature Films, Short Films, Documentaries and Music Videos.
You may submit as many entries as you like. Each entry requires its own entry fee. Fees are not refundable.
We accept film submissions with FilmFreeway.
If your film is chosen to show at the Prague Independent Film Festival, the DCP must be delivered to the cinema 1 week prior to the festival screening. The DCP's are not returned by post. Participants can pick up their DCP's after the screening. PIFF is not responsible for the safety of the DCP's. Short films are screened from MOV or MP4 files which must be sent electronically or brought to the venue on USB stick by participants. In case we do not receive a USB stick or file transfer we can use the provided screeners.

Prague Independent Film Festival is not responsible for any post expenses for DCPs and other materials, which participants send to Prague Independent Film Festival. The sender pays postage fees and any additional shipment costs, such as customs fee, taxes or others costs and Prague Independent Film Festival is not responsible for them.
Acceptable ratios: 1:1,37; 1:1,66; 1.1,85; CinemaScope; 16:9 (1:1.77)
Acceptable sound: Dolby A/SR/SR.D/DTS
All films should have been completed within 2023-2025.
All awards are based on the overall merit of the entry. Decisions by the judges are final.
Festival does not deal with any copyright issues. All copyright issues should be resolved by the film authors.
Filmmakers and screenwriters retain 100% all of the rights to their projects and materials that they submit to the Prague Independent Film Festival but the film festival organizers have the right to use excerpts from the submitted films for promotional purposes
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless us, our officers, affiliates, employees, and partners from any and all claims and liability arising out of entering or transmitting your film to the Prague Independent Film Festival.
Filmmakers are not paid for screening at the Festival and Prague Independent Film Festival does not provide submission fee waivers, accommodation or any other financial assistance.
At least one representative of the team should be present at the award ceremony.
If a feature film exceeds 120 minutes, filmmakers might be asked to pay an extra fee if their film is selected for screening.
We do not write reviews or provide written feedback on film submissions. Selection of films is a collective decision.
The festival reserves the right to ban filmmakers or their team members who behave aggressively, harass staff or other participants, or deliberately spread false information about the festival. Such actions may result in disqualification from current and future events, as well as the withdrawal of awards, at the discretion of the festival organizers.
The Golden Eagle Award is not guaranteed to be presented annually. Its timing and the choice of recipient depend on certain criteria, meaning there may be years when the award is not granted.
50 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • michael weaver

    This festival does very little advertising to the public so the screenings are only attended.by the filmmakers. Screening room is fine but files are played from a computer so several fimmakers had technical problems (glitching picture, sound etc). When our producer (a 30 year industry veteran.of everything from indie film to huge budget TV) asked the festival director to increase the sound volume she was kicked out and told we would lose our awards. Yes you read that right. Never had such an unprofessional experience in my 25 years in the business.

    October 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Screenings are run from professional DCPs or, if a DCP isn’t provided, from video files at the cinema. In your case, a brief technical issue occurred but was fixed by the projectionist within two minutes. Filmmakers are always welcome to come to the venue to test their files in advance; however, in this case, your team barely made it to the screening on time.

    The claim that your wife, producer Jen Roskind, was “kicked out” is obviously untrue. What actually happened is that she behaved aggressively and bullied the festival director, despite the projection issue already being resolved, and she was asked to leave as she disrupted preparations for the awards ceremony. Later, she apologized for her behavior, explaining that she had an “anxiety attack”—kneeling before the festival organizers in public, in front of witnesses—and then remained for the screening, participated in the Q&A with a smile, and attended the awards ceremony (as documented on video). She was never removed. Your whole team, including Jen, even stayed for the afterparty, where you socialized, enjoyed yourselves, and took pictures together with the festival organizers.

    Our festival promotes widely in four languages, and your claim that the screenings are attended “only by filmmakers” is false. Your film was shown in prime time at 18:00 in the best cinema in Prague, and we cannot force people to attend if they are not interested. Tickets were free of charge. Awards are decided solely on merit; however, we reserve the right to withdraw them in cases of aggressive behavior or gross misrepresentation of our festival, including malicious slander.

    We stand by our professionalism and the respectful environment we provide to filmmakers. We welcome filmmakers of all levels of experience and have built lasting friendships with many participants, including well-known industry professionals from around the world. We have friends at the highest level—true classics—who, despite their fame, always behave graciously and treat others, as well as themselves, with respect. However, we do not tolerate bullying. In such cases, as clearly stated in our rules, we reserve the right to ban individuals from the festival and withdraw awards. In the ten years of our festival, we have never encountered a case like yours.

  • Yakiv Antypenko

    Thank you for bringing together such wonderful and talented people. The chance to connect with authors and performers from different genres is truly priceless for every participant. It was my first time in Prague, and at the festival I had the pleasure of meeting amazing creators.

    September 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Yakiv for sharing your film with us, we look forward to seeing you again at our festival!

  • Russell De Rozario

    What a truely wonderful festival this was. I was blown away by the location, and quality of the films selected. I made some great connections and can't thank Diana and Elina enough for their hospitally.

    September 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Russell, it was wonderful to meet you! We look forward to having you at our future festivals!

  • Yevgeniy K'banchik

    Great festival. Amazing people, great communication. Thank you for award.

    September 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Yevgeniy! Artur was an amazing guest, he is a great, talented actor. We look forward to seeing your future films at our festival!

  • Todd Gordon

    Highly recommend this festival!! It was extremely well-organized by Diana and Elena, who clearly love film and filmmakers. We had a wonderful time meeting all the dedicated and interesting filmmakers from around the world, seeing creative and thoughtful films and, of course, exploring Prague’s food, culture and history. I can't say enough good things about this festival!

    September 2025
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Todd, it was a pleasure to have you at our event!