Hamburg Indie Fest is an international online film institution and competition, celebrating the language of cinema, indie filmmaking and film projects of all genres from all over the world.

The committee consists of filmmakers and authors based from all over the world.

Our monthly festival seeks to promote and award filmmakers and create online networking and events for filmmakers and screenwriters in order to promote film projects.

The festival stands with independent filmmaking and believes in the power of cinema. It is our pleasure to consider film and script projects of all genres for various categories of the festival. Our festival will also award acting, writing, cinematography, editing and composing for film music in each monthly edition of the festival as well.

Categories
The Festival accept narrative and short films in all genres and categories.

Awards & Prizes
Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary short
Best Short Experimental
Best Short Animation
Best Short Science Fiction
Best Short Horror
Best Short Director
Best Short Producer
Best Short Cinematography
Best Short Editor
Best Short Actress
Best Short Actor
Best Short Script
Best Short Unproduced script
Best TV Series/Pilot/Web
Best Short Comedy
Best Short Student Film
Best Music Video
Best Short Thriller
Best Trailer
Best Composer
Best Short First Time Filmmaker
Best Short Female Filmmaker
Best Short Independent Film
Best Feature Director
Best Feature Producer
Best Feature Actress
Best Feature Actor
Best Feature Script
Best Unproduced script
Best First Time Filmmaker
Best Female Feature Filmmaker

Terms & Rules
✓ Films must have been completed after 2017 in order to be eligible for the online festival.
✓ Any Foreign film must have English or German subtitles.

✓ All genres and all countries are eligible.

✓ You must own the rights or have permission from the owner in order to submit.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • The Sanguine is grateful to have been selected as an award winner by this festival. The team was wonderful to work with throughout the process—well organized, professional, and communicative. We were kept apprised at each stage of the selection process, which made for a smooth and positive experience overall. Thank you for supporting independent filmmakers and for the recognition.

    April 2026
  • Mark Keil

    Aloha! I am so grateful to get BOTH of my projects recognized & admitted to the HIFF! ‘The Journeymen,’ a 1 hour documentary is my first film & is really close to my heart. It’s a documentary on life on the tennis tour in the late ‘90’s, as we make our way on the doubles tour @ the end of our careers. I hope the film gets picked up & bought by some channels or outlets. My produced screenplay titled ‘Suicide Brunette’ was admitted & is a biopic script on the life of Michael Hutchence, former lead song of IN S. I hope it is bought & made by an established production company. Mucho mahalo for the exposure HIFF!

    April 2026
  • MJ McGalliard

    Thanks for making 'The Angel's Toe' a semi-finalist.

    April 2026
  • I want to thank you for your support. We were selected Semi-Finalist: Best Short Experimental category for our Hamburg Premiere. See you in the future.

    April 2026
  • Joshua Meszaros

    We are truly grateful to the festival and the jury for selecting "Tango with the Wolf" and “DISORDER” as a Semi-Finalist documentaries. They were created to give voice to people living with addiction or impulse control disorder, and we deeply appreciate the opportunity to help bring awareness to this important topic. Thank you for helping it reach a wider audience.

    April 2026