The Aegean Film Festival 2024 will take place from the 18th to the 26th of July on the islands of Patmos and in September (dates TBC) in Serifos.

The festival has the mission to explore, discover and promote films, ideas and stories that further our kindness, tolerance, understanding and sensitivity towards each other and towards the environments that surround us. For this reason we focus on presenting bold new voices from all over the globe, to educate and support the young filmmakers and to host a unique celebration of cinema. The Festival team is honoured to invite filmmakers to the islands of Patmos, Serifos and more in order to present their work.

2022 Jury:
CLAIRE DENIS - Filmmaker | Chocolat (1988), Beau Travail (1999), Stars at Noon (2022)
PETER VAN HOOF - Film Programmer | Cinema de Balie, Into The Great Wide Open
THANASIS NEOFOTISTOS - Film director, Writer, Head Programmer | DISFF
NIHAN SIVRIDAG - Selection Committee Member | Berlinale Shorts

2023 Jury:
DIANE BECKER - Oscar winning producer of documentaries Navalny, Tina, Sid & Judy
LAUMA KAUZDITE - Managing director Short Film Conference, project
coordinator European Short Film Pitch
GEORGE GRIGORAKIS - Awarded Film director of fiction films Digger, 45 Degrees

2024 Jury will be announced 2 months before the festival.

Programming:
The selection of the AegeanFF programmes is carried out by three 3 independent teams.

A. The Pre-Selection team, consisting of a diverse group of 20 people from more than 10
countries including experienced and emerging filmmakers, artists, film critics, past festival team members as well as cinema students.

B. The advisory board, contributing with suggestions and ideas for invited shorts and
features:
Alexander Payne (Film Director, Producer, Script Writer)
Alin Tasciyan (Deputy General Secretary, FIPRESCI)
Elizabeth Woodward (Film Producer, Willa Productions )
Frederic Boyer (Artistic Director, Tribeca Film Festival, Les Arcs Film Festival)
Jesper Jack (Documentary Producer, House of Real)
Marco Frazier (Industry Executive)
Nicolas Brown (Documentary Director)
Nicole Guillemet (Festival Development, Programmer)
Poppy Mason-Watts (Chief Growth and Impact Officer Waterbear Network)
Robert Dick (Festival Development, Sundance Film Festival)
Thanassis Karathanos (Film Producer, Twenty Twenty Vision )

C. The Programming Team, curating the official programmes from the top rated submitted or invited films.

History:

In 2010 the Aegean Film Festival was founded on the island of Patmos as a way of bringing together filmmaking communities while introducing a meeting point and celebrating independent cinema in the heart of the Greek summer.

Since 2010, the festival has grown from 6 to 12 days, has taken place on three islands and hosted more than 1600 special guests. We screened our programmes to more than 80.000 spectators, in 14 custom built cinemas, presenting more than 1000 films, documentaries and shorts many of which in Greek or European premieres. Following the screenings, we organised numerous events including seminars, panel talks, art exhibitions, galas, Pop-Up screenings and parties.

Furthermore, we created 3 innovative storytelling workshops and introduced the environmental programme “Echoes”.
Since 2016, “Echoes” has been fostering a dialogue about environmental protection, sustainability, and the role of cinema. It brings together filmmakers, experts, activists, policymakers, and audience members to amplify the voices of those working towards solutions on both global and local levels.

Following the success of this programme, we have established the “ReScript the Future Competition” with the goal of featuring the projects to come. We invite young storytellers to share their ideas for a short film documentary looking into a sustainable future. In partnership with WaterBear Network we have awarded 10 prizes to young filmmakers worth 85.000 euros.

Since 2017 we introduced juried competitions and in total 8 AegeanFF awards

AegeanFF Winter Editions have also been running since 2017, providing free access to schools and residents of the islands to watch documentaries and shorts focusing on pressing issues, diversity and human rights.

As the festival kept growing, we decided to join forces with international film festivals, introducing the “Festival Alliance for the Climate” in 2022, with the goal to make our industry more sustainable and amplify the impact of environmental films.

We are looking forward to meeting you on the islands and celebrate together storytelling and cinema at its best.

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Awards:

1. Best Aegean Short Film:
-- Jury Award - € 3000,00

2. Best Greek Short Film:
-- Jury Award - € 1000,00

3. Jury Special Mention

4. Short Film Sustainability Award
-- Distribution Option from WaterBear Network and a seat at the Rescript The Future Competition Jury

5. ReScript the Future Short Script Awards:
-- Grand Award: € 25.000
-- Impact Award: Internship programmes with the Aegean FF and WaterBear.
-- Runner Ups: Perks including AegeanFF Guest Passes to attend the festival.

6. Audience Award for Best Feature Fiction Film

7. Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary

Selected Filmmaker Perks:

All Selected filmmakers in the competition programmes also receive:

1. Accommodation for three nights (single occupancy).

2. Festival Guest Pass providing access to all screenings, seminars and events.

3. Access to dedicated industry seminars and the “Filmmaker’s Brunch” – a series of networking events presented by industry experts.

4. Promotion for the films and press focus covered by the Festival’s Media Sponsors.

5. The option for their films to travel and get screened as part of curated programmes with affiliated festivals.

6. Discounts up to 30% on ferry tickets, restaurants, bars, rentals.

7. 40% discounted Festival Passes for plus ones to accompany the filmmakers to the islands.

The Aegean Film Festival is a non-profit organisation supporting artists and filmmakers from around the world.

Eligibility:

1. The submissions of the Aegean Film Festival are open to films of different genres, techniques, production types and budgets as long as they are completed (premiere) after the 1st of January 2023 ( 18 months before the event date).

2. The accepted running times of the films differ according to the category submitted:

Feature Documentaries & Fiction Films – minimum 50 minutes
Short Films – maximum 30 minutes

3. The Aegean Film Festival has a Greek Premiere Status Rule for all films in competition.
All other programmes do not require a Greek Premiere (including the Echoes Environmental programme, the Nomads films, the Pop Ups, the Tributes and Special Screenings as well as all features programmes.) The festival reserves the right to reject works that are available online, have screened in more than one other Greek festival or they are widely distributed.

4. The primary contact submitting the film to the festival must have full authorisation to do so, including permission from the film’s distributor, sales agent and representing body.

Data Protection:

5. Film and personal details are available to Aegean Film Festival and will not be shared with other organisations outside the festival.

6. The Festival reserves the right to keep the submitter's data in order to communicate and share information on film related events and news. The participants can always opt out by sending an email to submission@aegeanff.com

7. The Festival accepts full responsibility for protecting the copyrights for the period of time that the films are in the Festival’ s possession, and will act to ensure that no theft or breach of copyright will occur.

Notification Date:

8. All applicants will be notified about the selection or rejection of their film on the 10th of June 2024.

Digital Submissions:

9. Aegean Film Festival accepts submission via FilmFreeway only. FFW will then ask for an external online link such as Vimeo in order for the pre-selection team to review the film. The applicant is responsible that the submission file is in full working order.

10. The Festival may, but is not required to, permit certain selected films to be screened in alternative formats. The cost of shipping prints/hard drives to the festival must be met by the applicant. The Festival will pay for one-way shipping of all prints/hard drives, by forwarding them to their next destination, within two weeks of the conclusion of the festival. Any customs or duties charges will be the responsibility of the producer / distributor.

11. The festival does NOT pay screening fees for films submitted through FilmFreeWay.

12. If the original language of any dialogue or text featured in the film is not English, the preview and screening copy must be subtitled in English, unless this is in accordance with the filmmaker’s intention.

Selection Process:

13. Each film submitted will be reviewed by at least three members of the selection team. Based on their average score, the top shortlisted films are reviewed again by the whole programming team and the programmes are curated after this second selection stage.

14. The festival will not provide comments on the films prior to the submission deadline. However if workload allows, we are happy to provide applicants with feedback after the completion of the festival.

Screening Formats:

15. An exhibition quality screening version of the film (Quicktime ProRes 422 HQ and/or DCP-24) should be available once the film is selected.

Further Screenings:

16. The applicant authorises Aegean Film Festival to file their film in the festival archive, where it may be made available for further screenings or events promoted by the festival itself, solely for cultural and not for commercial purposes. The festival will always request permission and give reasonable notice before proceeding with any further screening. The festival will never allow any third-party access to the film without the submitter's permission.

17. The Festival, as part of its year-round initiatives, reserves the right to include submitted films, regardless of their selection status, to screen at the AegeanFF Winter Editions, for the benefit of the local population of the islands, the volunteers and team of the festival and the promotion of independent cinema.

Publicity:

18. Information provided including film details, stills and contact information for all selected films, will be published in the Festival Catalogue, which will be made available to the Festival delegates, the AegeanFF website and other online platforms for the promotion of the Festival and its program as well as it may be reprinted in future editions of the catalogue and/or newsletters.

19. The applicant of a selected film agrees that up to three minutes of their film may be used by the Festival in promotional activities including screening a clip on television and/or on the festival website, and/or on the screens at the Festival venues (trailers included).

20. All films chosen to be part of the Aegean Film Festival are encouraged to use the “Official Selection” laurels of the Aegean Film Festival on their publicity. Only the winning film are allowed to use the "Winning Film" Laurels of the festival.

Agreement:

21. In the event of disagreement concerning the interpretation of the regulations, the interpretation of the festival will take precedence.

22. The festival reserves the right to alter the above regulations without prior notice.

23. The applicant agrees that they have secured all necessary rights for both picture and sound, and exhibition will not violate or infringe upon any rights including but not limited to music, images, and content.

24. Submissions may not be withdrawn from the Festival once they have been selected and after the notification date of the applicants, except at the sole discretion of the Festival.

25. By agreeing to proceed with your submission you are agreeing to the above regulations and your application can then be processed. Entry of a film is binding and failure to comply with the above regulations may result in the submission being disqualified.

Attending the Festival:

27. The Aegean Film Festival encourages all selected filmmakers to attend the festival, and offers accompanying guest passes for the crew members of the selected films.

Contact:

28. For all other inquires please contact: submission@aegeanff.com

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Nayef Hammoud

    Great Festival that takes place in a great location with cool vibes and a unique artistic venue!

    September 2023
  • Marina-Evelina Cracana

    We had a great experience participating in the festival! The communication was smooth, the screenings very well organised and the jury composed of respected names in the film industry. Totally recommend it!

    August 2023
  • Aleksandr Vinogradov

    Was happy to discover the festival with my short queer film in the summer 2021. It was great to go to the Greek island in the middle of July and to present the movie, also to meet different film directors and cinephiles. The wonderful and professional team of the festival was doing their best, and of course was a pleasure to meet them for drinks at the afterparty.

    February 2022
  • Had a wonderful time in the festival! Beautifully curated short film programme, nice vibes and cool people that love cinema ❤️Glad we got the special mention !

    February 2022
  • Thanasis Tsimpinis

    Thank you for having me in the 2021 edition! It was a great experience overall, with meetings and screenings on some extraordinary sets (aka Bouboulina's Mansion), along with an amazing program with carefully handpicked films. Until next time, cheers!

    February 2022