THANKS TO ALL FILMMAKERS !
THE AWARD CEREMONY'S HELD ON 28th DECEMBER AT DOGUS UNIVERSITY, ISTANBUL WITH A WONDERFUL AUDIENCE.
Check our web site for the winners of 2023 !

Digital Film Festival Istanbul (DFFI) is an international short film festival powered by the Digital Film Academy Istanbul.
DFFI aims to honor and make visible the work of creative and talented independent filmmakers with an entrepreneurial spirit. The focus of the festival is digitally shot films with a strong story. DFII supports digital film production and viewing forms in the digitalizing cinema sector with an innovative perspective, and supports and encourages all short filmmakers who have succeeded in creating strong stories and original works shot with any equipment having a digital camera.

DFFI accepts short films of all kinds, whether small or large-scale productions, independent short films, made by students, professionals, individuals, collectives or institutions from all over the world, and is proud to celebrate the sustainability and authenticity of cinema.

The submissons will be evaluated on yearly basis and the selections will be screened physically in Istanbul. The winners will be honored with a annual ceremony in Istanbul.

MAIN AWARDS
Category Winner : The Best Fiction
Category Winner : The Best Documentary
Category Winner : The Best Experimental
Category Winner : The Best Video Art
Category Winner : The Best Animation
Category Winner : The Best Fashion Film

SUB AWARDS
The Best Director
The Best Screenplay
The Best Cinematography
The Best Editing
The Best Actor
The Best Actress
The Best Art Direction
The Best Music Soundtrack

SPECIAL PRIZES
The UN Goals Theme Award
(The Best film reflecting UN Sustainable Development Goals)

Istanbul Theme Award
(The Best Film reflecting Istanbul)

DFA Special Award
(Selected by Digital Film Academy)

SUBMISSION:
* DFFI accepts submissions on yearly basis.
* Submissions should be done via FilmFreeway.
* You must own or have all the rights to the submitted film.
* Maximum length allowed is 15 minutes including credits.
* The Festival accepts films completed after the January 1st,2022. Please note, the films produced before this date will be automatically disqualified.
* We accept all short films shot with any equipment/device having a digital camera including mobile phones or tablets.
* We do not require premiere status.
* Entry fees are non-refundable.

COPYRIGHTS
* It is the sole responsibility of the Applicant to secure authorization and permission from copyright owner(s) of any and all copyrighted content or materials included within the submitted Project. The Company and Festival expressly disavows any responsibility for, and will not be held responsible for, any unauthorized inclusion of any copyrighted content or materials within or relating to submitted Project, including any content materials that are or may become the basis for any third party claims for copyright infringement. The Company reserves the right to disqualify, without refund of any or all submission fees previously collected from the Applicant, any Project with any unauthorized inclusion of copyrighted content or materials. In the event that any claim, dispute, action or proceeding shall be brought or asserted by any person or entity that alleges the Project makes unauthorized or unlawful use of any copyrighted content or material, Applicant shall fully indemnify and hold harmless the Company, the Festival, and each of their representatives and affiliates from any liability in connection therewith and from any fees and expenses, including but not limited to attorneys’ fees, that any of them may incur in connection therewith.
* By submitting, the filmmaker allows the DFFI to use, distribute and share the film poster, trailer, synopsis and movie stills in our social media accounts and to create a web page for their film without infringing copyright of any kind of form.

SELECTION CRITERIA & WINNERS
* The DFFI seeks creativity and innovation in cinematic language.
* The preliminary jury evaluates all the films in terms of the festival rules and determines the festival selection for the contest and the screenings
* Not all the submissions are selected for the official competition.
* The main jury votes on all the selected films using the multiple scoring method.
* The DFFI also informs the winning applicants individually by email.
* All winners will receive the DFFI certificate (digital file ready to print) in their emails.
* All winners will be eligible to use the DFFI Laurel on their promotional materials.

RESTRICTIONS
* The DFFI can consider any film to be disqualified if the festival considers the content inappropriate. If you have any question regarding this decision you might contact us at our email address info@digitalfilmfestival.org
* Not acceptable: Extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organisations.
* Not acceptable: Pornography of any kind.
* Not acceptable: Torture/Snuff/Mutilation material
* Not acceptable: Films with a poor production standard (bad sound, lack of subtitles/captions for non-English films, video resolution less than 720p HD).
* Not acceptable: Any films submitted before.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Amazing communication, team and hospitality

    January 2024
  • Thanks for awarding my film "echo" for best animation.

    January 2024
  • Robert Haufrecht

    DFFI, for a first year festival, was simply a wonderful festival. I had the pleasure of meeting the founder over a year ago, so I knew the quality of this festival would not disappoint. Istanbul is a fabulous city with a wonderful network of filmmakers, writers and producers. Not to be missed.

    January 2024
  • Marcia Haufrecht

    I was not able to attend, but was treated as if I were there. 3 MUSES screened and won an award. Yay! Excellent festival. You’ll see me again next year with my new short.

    January 2024
  • Fantastic festival. We were honoured to be selected, and won the Acting Awards. Thank you for everything. We enjoyed the festival a lot. It is trully a high quality event worth the submission fee!

    January 2024