Submissions for 2022 are now CLOSED. The festival will take place on 20 Aug-28 Aug.

We are now open for submissions for the 2023 edition.

2023 Festival 19 Aug–27 Aug. New entries 10th of June 2022 (FILM SUBMISSIONS OPEN)
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Västerås Film Festival is an international film festival held in autumn every year since 2015. The festival will be moved to the summer and August month permanently. Västerås film festival shows films in different genres from around the world. We have prizes in different categories. The festival also contains workshops, lectures, debates, film cafés and exhibitions. Västerås Film Festival is one of the most interesting festivals in northern Europe.

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ATTENTION: If you sign up to our newsletter at our website, we will then send you a 20% discount on the submission fee here on FilmFreeway.

Go here to sign up: https://www.vasterasfilmfestival.com/en/newsletter/
Make sure you tick the box that says "Filmmaker".
You will get your discount code in a separate email. Make sure you wait until you get the discount code to your email.

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Winners 2021

NORDIC AWARDS
Best National Short Film
The Man Who Wouldn’t Cry (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Film Screenplay
Björn Boström, The Man Who Wouldn’t Cry (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Film Director
Johanna Ställberg, I’m a pedophile (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Film Cinematography
Anders Jacobsson, Thank You for Patiently Waiting (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Film Female Actor
Annika Hallin, I’m a Pedophile (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Film Male Actor
Olle Sarri, I’m a Pedophile (Sweden)

Best Nordic Short Documentary
Wasteland (Sweden)

Best Nordic Feature Documentary
They call us Greasers! (Sweden)

Best Nordic Feature Film
Oslo — Copenhagen (Norway)

Best Nordic Feature Film Screenplay
Jan Vardøen, Oslo — Copenhagen (Norway)

Best Nordic Feature Film Editing
Lars Bergbom, Christian Johansson, Without Skin (Sweden)

Best Nordic Feature Film Director
Jan Vardøen, Oslo — Copenhagen (Norway)

Best Nordic Feature Film Sound
Peter Seeba, Victim of Love (Denmark)

Best Nordic Feature Film Cinematography
John Christian Rosenlund, Oslo — Copenhagen (Norway)

Best Nordic Feature Film Male Actor
Lars Berge, Oslo — Copenhagen (Norway)

Best Nordic Feature Film Female Actor
Olga Temonen, One Half of Me (Norway)

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

Best International Short Film
The Swing, Samara Sagynbaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

Best International Short Film Screenplay
Adetokumboh M’Cormack, The German King (United States)

Best International Short Film Female Actor
Isabel Ordaz, GABRIEL (Spain)

Best International Short Film Male Actor
Doctor Hayes, The Bare Knuckle Gentlemen (United States)

Best International Short Film Director
The Swing, Samara Sagynbaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

Best International Short Film Cinematography
Lucas Tucknott, GABRIEL (Spain)

Best Animation
Tobi and the Turbobus, Verena Fels (Germany)

Best Music Video
Handsome Johnny — Johnny And The Devil, Matty Jorissen (The Netherlands)

Best International 1-Minute Film
Space Oddity, Seyhmus Altun (Turkey)

Best International Documentary Short (1-40 min)
The Caledonian, Bruce H. Gill (UK)

Best International Documentary Feature length (40 min and above)
Killing the Shepherd, Tom Opre (USA)

Best Web/New Media
Any Creative Form — Series, Daniel Fazio (UK)

Best International Feature Film Female Actor
Jazmin Stuart, The Silent Party (Argentina)

Best International Feature Film Male Actor
Anton Adasinsky, Next Station: Russia (Russia)

Best International Feature Film Cinematography
Anna Rozetskaya, I am free (Russia)

Best International Feature Film Screenplay
Julia Kolesnik, Elsa’s Land (Russia)

Best International Feature Film Director
Julia Kolesnik, Elsa’s Land (Russia)

Best International Feature Film
Elsa’s Land (Russia)

SPECIAL PRIZES
Årets Barnskådespelare: Simon Larson, actor, Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons julafton
Årets Talang: Cecilia Säverman, director, writer & actress
Årets Regionpris: Frida Kempff, director
Årets Stjärnskott: Sofia Kappel, Pleasure
Filmmaker Of The Year: Kenneth Branagh
Årets Hederspris: Christina Schollin

Awards & Prizes

Festival Certificate/ 38 prizes
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Special Award
Miniroom.se children and youth talent prize (under 18 years)

Jury Talent Award:
Swedish Talent Prize (over 18 years old)

The New Star Prize (over 18 years old actor/actress)

Jury Honorary Award:
Swedish Honorary Prize

Filmmaker Of The Year
International Prize

Artistic Award (two prize International and Nordic)

Publikpriset
The best Swedish feature film released during the year 2018

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International Short Film Awards

Best International Director
Best International Cinematography
Best International Actor
Best International Actress
Best International Screenplay (of a produced film)
Best International Short Film
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International Feature Film Awards

Best International Director
Best International Cinematography
Best International Actor
Best International Actress
Best International Screenplay (of a produced film)
Best International Feature Film
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International Various Awards

Best International One-minute film
Best International Short Documentary Film
Best International Feature Documentary Film
Best International Animation Film
Best International Music Video
Best International Web/New Media Production
Best International Artistic Film
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Nordic Short Film Awards

Best Nordic Director
Best Nordic Cinematography
Best Nordic Actor
Best Nordic Actress
Best Nordic Screenplay (of a produced film)
Best Nordic Short Film

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Nordic feature film Awards

Best Nordic Director
Best Nordic Cinematography
Best Nordic Actor
Best Nordic Actress
Best Nordic Screenplay (of a produced film)
Best Nordic Sound
Best Nordic Editing
Best Nordic Feature Film
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Nordic Various Award

Best Nordic Artistic Film
Best Nordic Short Documentary Film
Best Nordic Feature Documentary Film

Rules & Terms

By submitting, you agree to these rules and terms:

Copyrights, screening rights:

- You have the full rights to submit the film to our film festival and to give Västerås Film Festival the rights to screen the film at the festival
- We can use trailers, stills, and other submitted information for marketing purposes on websites, newsletters, social media, flyers, posters, etc.
- If your film is nominated, we can use both trailers and parts from the film to create a nomination trailer, with final permission from you, to be shown at the award ceremony
- We do not pay any screening fees
-The submission fee is non-refundable

Competition

- To be considered for the competition, the film must have been completed between 2020 and 2022.

Subtitles

- If the film is not in English or Swedish, subtitles in one of those two languages are required.
- Films in English are encouraged to have Swedish subtitles.

Formats

- The highest resolution that the film was shot in; HD, 2K, 3K, 4K.
- We accept resolutions from HD to 4K, regardless if it is a short or feature length film.
- For screening on a larger screen, we require at least 2K.

Category range.

- 1-Minute film (1 min.),
- Short film (1 to 59 min.)
- Feature film (60 min. or longer)
- Documentary (National, regional, film school)

53 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Matz Eklund

    It was a very good festival and it was interesting with all other films.

    January 2022
    Helpful
  • Daniel Milton

    Thanks so much for screening my short doc "Wasteland". I was delighted to be selected and so honored to win Best Nordic Short Documentary.

    November 2021
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    Response from festival:

    You are welcome Daniel, it was nice and appreciated to show your film at the festival. It had a feeling and content that created an interest and feeling for the audience and the jury. Then we congratulate you once again to your prize. Sincerely, VFF

  • Joe Chvala

    Thank you so much for selecting our film. We wish we could have been there. The whole event looked great from afar! And thank you for always responding as we were trying to figure out if we could get there or not.

    November 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you very much for the nice point of view Joe. It has been a difficult time with lots of rules from different countries based on the Corona epidemic. We postponed the festival several times and managed to find an opening point for the event implementation in oct. for it to be physical. We were grateful that some filmmakers managed to come here. Nothing is the same and we tried to focus on the support so those who could not come were constantly informed. We hope that we can act as previous years in the next festival 2022 and develop the festival every year. You are welcome in the future with more movies 😉

  • Adam E. Stone

    Very good communication. Proud to be selected for this festival, the lineup of films was extremely impressive!

    October 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Great to hear Adam, we do our best. It has been a difficult time with the corona, but we continue to fight. Thanks for a nice review.

  • Jake Green

    Love this festival! They're so communicative and easy to work with. Would have loved to attended in person. Maybe again in the future...

    October 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much Jake for those words, we are waiting for your next movie and you are always welcome here. With kind regards / VFF