LIVE IN VIENNA! Our festival is an IMDB Qualified Event.

Welcome to VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival!

We invite filmmakers from all over the world to submit their films to our international film festival which will take place in Vienna. Our judges appreciate the auteur cinema - films made with a unique artistic vision.

The goal of our festival is to find new talented filmmakers who will be able to approach the heights of cinematography created by geniuses like Antonioni, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Bergman, Visconti, Godard.

Now, when the whole world has a tendency towards commercialization, we appreciate free spirit, new ideas an independent point of view and new approaches. Not the budget of the film but solely talent should be the criteria for the film's success.

We appreciate films made without the benefits of large budgets and unnecessary technological sophistication. The festival encourages individuality and experimentation. With the rapid development of film equipment, cinematography becomes more and more affordable for independent filmmakers. Now all we need are new ideas and exposure for these ideas. Our film festival will provide this exposure for new outstanding films.

The Vienna Independent Film Festival is an important event and it consists of the film screening, meeting with participants , social events and Awards Ceremony. Our program is unique and most of the films cannot be seen in the mainstream theaters.

Vienna is a perfect spot for an event like this. It is from this place that cinematographers such as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Josef von Sternberg, Fred Zinnemann, Otto Preminger and actors like Romy Schneider, Hedy Lamarr, Helmut Berger, Maximilian Schell, and Arnold Schwarzenegger came to conquer the world.

It is still an important center of cinematography. The great traditions of Austrian cinema have been continued by the Oscar and Palme d'Or winning director Michael Haneke.

Our aim is to present the most outstanding films produced in every part of the world to reach international success.

All the films should be in English or have English subtitles.

Grand Prix of the festival - The Golden Sphinx is a symbol of mystery and wisdom, as we believe that there is an element of mystery in any real piece of art. There will also be awards for the Best Film, Best Director, Best Short Film, Best Documentary and Best Music Video.

Certificates and prizes will be presented on the final night to producers attending the festival or sent by email or post.

We guarantee that your film will be viewed by our international community and will be judged by a jury of film professionals. The Festival will host numerous opportunities to connect with enthusiastic new audiences and fellow filmmakers, in the beautiful city of Vienna.

Golden Statuettes and certificates

We encourage the submission of international film or video entries, but all entries must be in English or have English dubbing or subtitles.

All entries must be available for screening during the festival. We welcome Feature Films, Short Films, Documentaries and Music Videos.

You may submit as many entries as you like. Each entry requires its own entry fee. Fees are not refundable.

We accept online submissions. Please submit a film using FilmFreeway.

In order to select the films for screenings we watch the online screeners. We select films for a number of reasons and we watch all films which are submitted (however we are not obliged to watch all films to the very end).

If your film is chosen to show at the Vienna Independent Film Festival, you must send a full quality DCP file no later than 2 weeks prior to the festival screening for screening in the cinema or we have the option to screen the film in the meeting room from MOV or MP4 files.

All films should have been completed within these past three years.

All awards are based on the overall merit of the entry. Decisions by the judges are final.

Festival does not deal with any copyright issues. All copyright issues should be resolved by the film authors before festival.

Filmmakers and screenwriters retain 100% all of the rights to their projects and materials that they submit to the Vienna Independent Film Festival.

Festival organizers have the right to use extracts of the film for promotional purposes.

All nationalities, minorities, genders and members of the LGBT community are welcome at our festival. Our festival supports women's voices in cinema.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless us, our officers, affiliates, employees, and partners from any and all claims and liability arising out of entering or transmitting your film to the Vienna Independent Film Festival. If the participant harasses film festival officials, spreads lies or malicious slander with the intent to damage the reputation of the festival, we can cancel the film screening by such filmmaker, disqualify his film and withdraw their film from the selection.

We usually screen feature films if someone from the crew presents the film at the festival. In case no-one is present from the film it is up to the organizers whether to screen the film or not.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thank you to the entire team at VIFF. Had an absolutely amazing time in an amazing city and met some fantastic people. The films on display showed true talent and passion for film. To be amongst those people is truly an honor. Every film addresses different issues in the world making them truly profound. The sheer number of international films allowed me to learn about new cultures, languages, and stunning locations around the world. Once again thank you to the programmers at VIFF for selecting the film '8 BALL' as a winner for best screenplay. I hope to have even just a small part in your future festivals and projects.

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Dear Adrien, thank you for your creative energy, positive attitude and great film 8 BALL, I hope to see you and more of your films at our festival!

  • West Clendinning

    This is a clout chasing scam, not a festival. They expect the filmmakers to pay for everything, even interviews. There are so many faults and flaws it cannot be attributed to ineptitude.

    The shorts were shown in meeting room in the basement of a hotel. The only guests to attend were the ones the filmmakers themselves invited since there is zero marketing or promotion. The sound for the entire screening was supplied by a small JBL flip bluetooth speaker sitting on a table at the front, and the video was played via a beamer one would use for powerpoint presentations, not films.
    There was no testing prior to screening which resulted in several issues for which the organizers quickly and completely blamed the filmamkers in front of everybody.

    Before the last short screened, the organizer said we could all leave, so we all thought the block had finished. Only later we found out there was still another film to play. I believe it was because the film makers were not present so they didn't think it was worth staying.

    There is no judging panel to speak of, when the "award ceremony" happened the organizer simply said, "we have judges" and proceeded to delegate the the awards. Which makes it suspicious when certain film makers win an award every year they submit an entry.

    While my own interactions with the organizer remained cordial,
    in the span of only a couple hours I witnessed her get aggressive with two different people, which made the atmosphere unpleasant.

    Respect yourself and your craft.
    Avoid this "Festival"

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    This review is complete SLANDER. West Clendinning. Did you pay a cent to VIFF? NO. Your film was screened at exactly when you wanted, at 17:00, as you wished. You visited only your screening! You keep bragging about participation in our festival on social media - Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/0nionface/ ), Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/onionface ) .
    You wrote disgusting comments and want to continue capitalizing on participation in our festival! Why continue bragging if the festival was so bad?
    You did not wish to attend any other screening except yours, you only wanted to watch your own film - and yet you did not like the networking? Ridiculous. Were the organizers rude to you? How? She was friendly and said nice words about your film. We informed you before you came, that your screening will be in conference room, 4-star hotel, not a cinema. Every year we screen some short films in a conference hall - most filmmakers do not provide DCPs which are required by cinemas. Why did you want to come then? What did you want? The hall was full, there were no any empty seats. It is a lie that only filmmakers attended the screenings. We had a long guest-list and can provide that you are lying. The festival does not have government support, we do not have money as Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, Venice Film festival. You can submit your film there or organize yourself a festival. To say that someone from festival workers is aggressive is a lie. If you are negative it is your problem. But expecting festivals do buy you food - is also unrealistic even at the biggest festivals. For you it is suspicious that we have filmmakers who like our festival? Most of the filmmakers were new at our festival, but of course we also encourage talents we do discover, as do Cannes, Berlinale and other festivals. We promote diversity and do not discriminate anyone. Our filmmakers come from all parts of the world, the LGBT community and we support women's voices in film. But maybe this is specifically why you did not enjoy our festival. The reason of this disgusting comment is that you did not receive the prize.

  • Janos Wiedermann

    Many thanks for the organisations for the wonderfull time in Vienna!
    Quality movies, inspriring filmmakers, and a great dinner!
    I'll be back next year!

    September 2023
  • Dien Vo

    Many appreciations and celebrations for the VIFF Team. They are kind and among the most communicative and professional festival organizers I've interacted with. Importantly, I respect how they elevate thoughtful films that aren't necessarily commercial -- something hard to find these days. One of the organizers even maintains a website on Tarkovsky! I'm so glad there are still people out there who know classic cinema. I am thankful for the selection and look forward to working with them again in the future.

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Dien, it was a pleasure to have you at our festival. Your film is an impressive work of art. We will be glad to receive more films from you at our future editions.

  • Great festival: Amazing selected projects, Friendly and professional communication. We sincerely thank the Festival Jury for selecting our project - AVE GRADIVA. All our warm love and regards from TEL AVIV to Vienna! Yuri Riklis & BELLA DORA CINECREATIONS Team

    September 2023
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    Response from festival:

    We are glad to have had you at our festival Yuri! We wish to see more work from you in the future.