Around October 2026, the 18th „New Generations – Independent Indian Film Festival” will bring highlights of the New Indian Cinema to Frankfurt, Germany, for one weekend.

The New Generations Short Film Wallah Award is in its 12th year now. We are looking forward to show casting a snapshot of the current global dynamics and present new perspectives for a cinematic future. Thus, we are again interested in submissions for our New Generations Short Film Wallah competition. The reel should be a production of Independent South Asian Cinema or with focus South Asia. A German premiere is desired but not strictly necessary. We are seeking works with their own visual language, new angles and innovative forms.

Please also visit our website https://newgenerations.de, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NewGenerationsIndependentIndianFilmfestival and follow us on Instagram/Threads @newgenerationsffm.

***Please note that the timeframe indicated is tentative, as we are currently fixing the venue cum dates for our festival***

Awards & Prizes

Along with the short film reel we will also award the New Generations Short Film Wallah Award. The winner will only be announced at the festival itself but contacted beforehand for an online interview with the audience. Furthermore, this includes a cash award of about €100-150.

Winners so far:

2025: Don’t be late, Myra (Afia Nathaniel)
2024: Phool Dei (Kartik Mahajan)
2023: Solitude (Mahinder Chana)
2022: KISS (Varun Grover)
2021: The Wait (Prarthana Goswami)
2020: 51 States (Cass Virdee)
2019: Passage (Asavari Kumar)
2018: Sisak (Faraz Arif Ansari)
2017: Sanyog (Aly Rana)
2016: To my dreams (Anjana Premchand, Khalid Shah, Ankit Jain)
2015: No Love Lost (Shekar Bassi)

Application:
We call for applications that meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for the competition:
- Genres: Fiction, Documentary, Narrative, Animation, Comedy and Experimental from independent productions
- Suggested topics: Anything related to topics with a link to South Asia.
- Production: from South Asia or from abroad, explicitly having a link to South Asian society, i.e. dealing with a South Asian topic, or with “Desis’ lives abroad”
- Production Date: preferably at most two years old
- Duration: max. 20 minutes (very short sumbissions welcome!)
- Format: Digital File
- Deadline: 30th April 2026

Rules & Terms

Please submit your film, along at least a short synopsis, two stills, director’s bio and all information that is helpful for evaluating, through FilmFreeway. English subtitles are required, should your submission be in any other language. Should you not be able to submit a digital submission, please contact us at shortfilmwallah@newgenerations.de.
Every film submitted is evaluated by the New Generations Short Film Wallah Jury. Applicants will be informed by latest end of August 2025 about the outcome. Accepted filmmakers agree to submit the screening copy and provide high resolution stills (300 dpi) and permit use for PR instantly after acceptance and permit that short clips for promotional purposes are shown, e.g., on Instagram (we will link your account, if wanted, for increasing your reach).

10 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kartik Mahajan

    I am happy to share that my 2D animated short film titled “Phool Dei” won the Wallah Award 2024 in the New Generations Independent Indian Film festival in Frankfurt.

    I extend my heartfelt thanks to the amazing jury panel and entire NGIFF 2024 team for this wonderful opportunity and honor!

    Looking forward to attending the future editions!

    January 2025
    Helpful
  • Sambit Dattachaudhuri

    So happy that our film 'The Taste of Summer' was screened at your Festival. Although I couldn't attend it personally quite a few of my friends attended it and said that they had a wonderful time. I hope to attend it myself sometime as well. Thanks for the selection!

    October 2024
    Helpful
  • Vijaykumar Mirchandani

    Thank you to the jury at New Generations for selecting our films ‘Dos Bros Force' and 'Raj-lost found' for ShortFilmWallah 2023. Thanks to festival team for their continuous communication and follow ups. Great job and looking forward to being a part of the festival in the future. Cheerz!

    October 2023
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    It was and will be our pleasure! :)

  • Ebba Jahn

    It felt like a well organised festival in Germany with focus on Indian films, and I appreaciate that my film "Stick No Bills" was selected.

    October 2023
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Thanks Ebba for your kind review!

  • Prarthana Goswami

    Thank you New Gen for selecting our film ‘The Wait’ for the ShortFilmWallah Award 2021. Such an honour and a huge motivation for the entire team and me. Thanks to Subin and Petra for the timely, friendly and crisp communications. Looking forward to be a part of the festival in the future. Thank you once again!

    November 2021
    Helpful
    Response from festival:

    Our pleasure indeed!