It’s been a long one and a half years since the start of the pandemic. Between quarantining and getting vaccinated, everyone’s doing their best to stop the spread. We’ve all been looking for ways to manage these difficult times, with many things suddenly going online. Many festivals have also been doing their best to cope, some even taking inspiration from it. But in recent times, many places have begun to reopen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy film festivals from all over the world from the comfort of your home. Here are some of the film festivals happening through September, go show all the amazing filmmakers and festival directors some socially-distanced love!
1. Oniros Film Festival
First off is the Oniros Film Awards, an international competition held every month designed to celebrate filmmakers from all over the world. With a plethora of amazing films from all kinds of different genres, it’s all you could ever ask for. Their mission is to “discover high quality and ambitious films, to promote filmmakers’ works and to be the next step in their career.”
Date: September 6th, 2021
Check them out: https://onirosfilmawards.com/
2. Elba Film Festival
Held in Elba, a lovely island in Tuscan Archipelago off the coast of Italy, the Elba Film Festival is coming to you this September with tons of amazing films to watch. With the desire of connecting and supporting filmmakers, the Elba Film Festival brings to you films from all corner of the globe. With films from Italy to Egypt to the Philippines, it’s clear that they’re doing a good job!
Date: September 14th-18th, 2021
Check them out: https://www.elbafilmfestival.com/newhome
3. Mosaic World Film Festival
Just can’t get enough of all these amazing international films? Just wait until I tell you about the Mosaic World Film Festival. Founded in 2008, the festival aims to bring people together and promote filmmakers from all over the world. With all sorts of genres, there’s never a dull moment here!
Date: September 17th-19th, 2021
Check them out: http://mosaicfilmfest.com/
4. Online Suffering Short Videos Festival
Quarantine’s been hard on all of us, and being online and away from most of our friends and family can get really rough. The Online Suffering Short Videos Festival wants to address that, with films dedicated to all kinds of difficulties and loneliness that we’ve experienced over this quarantine. The goal of the festival is to offer some support to everyone out there who’s going through those hard times.
Date: September 16th – 21th, 2021
Check them out: http://kaplyakino.ru/suffering/
5. Diversity in Cannes
The Diversity in Cannes Short Film & Web Series Showcase was created to encourage filmmakers from all sorts of unique backgrounds to share their stories during the Cannes Film Festival. Their goal is to “expand the international network of globally diverse filmmakers… and to share filmmaking trends in an effort to change diverse filmmakers’ status from mere festival attendees to power players in the global film industry.”
Date: September 15th, 2021
Check them out: https://diversityincannes.com/
6. StudioFest
Technology has allowed us to see and interact with others all over the globe, but you know what would be even more exciting? VR. Coming this fall, StudioFest is hosting a StudioFest VR Experience for their upcoming filmmakers. Over the weekend, filmmakers will get to talk to industry professionals and the StudioFest team. At the end, StudioFest will partner with one of the filmmakers to help finance and produce an original feature film.
Date: September 17th-19th, 2021
Check them out: https://studiofest.com/
7. Gotham Week
The Gotham Week is a film festival designed to help emerging and established filmmakers alike by providing all sorts of creative and business opportunities in film, TV, and audio. Their goal is to help filmmakers meet and establish all sorts of useful connections with distributors, production companies, and so much more.
Date: September 19th-24th, 2021
Check them out: https://thegotham.org/attend/filmmaker-conference/
8. One Minute Story Film Festival
Short and sweet, One Minute Story Film Festival asks the question “What story can you tell in 60 seconds?”. Founded 9 years ago and open to all kinds of genres, who knows just what kind of stories you’ll find.
Date: September 11th, 2021
Check them out: http://oneminutestoryfilmfestival.com/
9. Oil Valley Film Festival
Founded six years ago, the Oil Valley Film Festival was designed with the mission of giving a voice to the filmmakers of Venango County, Pennsylvania. The Oil Valley Film Festival, located in Oil City, Pennsylvania, has lots of unique and engaging films to offer.
Date: September 10th-13th, 2021
Check them out: http://oilvalleyfilmfestival.weebly.com/
10. Five Continents International Film Festival
Last but not least, the Five Continents International Film Festival, is coming live to you with all kinds of films from all over the world. From short films to webseries, there’s plenty of content for you to enjoy throughout the rest of the pandemic and quarantine.
Date: September 3rd, 2021
Check them out: https://www.ficocc.com/