VGIK International Student Festival is one of the oldest student film showcases. The first Festival was held in 1961. Young promising filmmakers have a good chance to screen their works and get one of the following prizes: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best School Film Program, Best Film Program according to the Student Jury, International Audience Award and Jury’s Special Mention.

The Video Festival Imperia is the fastest-growing film event in Italy. It takes place every year in spring time in one of the most picturesque towns of Italian Riviera, Imperia. Its main objective is to give to amateurs, professionals and schools the possibility of showing their works to an attentive audience made up of movie lovers and experts.

The festival mirrors the status of Vienna as city of the short film, as place of current film production and especially as focus of cultural diversity und global developments in the art of short film. Being the largest Austrian short film festival, VIS is one big festivity for the audience, for dense encounters and creative discoveries.The independence in its name signifies the ambition of being sovereign in all senses of the word: organized by an independent body, the Independent Cinema Association, and with continuously growing self-confidence for the benefit of the creatives of the short film. Though being keen on a thoughtful and representative selection of international short films, VIS is not an annual show of the accepted best. It is a living forum of trying out and experimenting. The unseen is made visible: through the building of new networks and through the public presentation of films with the rarities' very essence. The festival accepts short films (under 30min) in a range of categories - fiction, documentary, experimental, etc.

In its main programme, Viennale shows a carefully picked selection of new films from all over the globe as well as new films from Austria| some of these are international first screenings. The choice of films offers a cross-section of bold film-making which stands apart from the esthetics of mainstream conventionality and is politically relevant. Aside from its focus on the newest feature films of every genre and structural form imaginable, the festival gives particular attention to documentary films, international short films, as well as experimental works and crossover films.

VILNIUS FILM SHORTS is the only international festival organized in Lithuania, devoted entirely to the films made by young directors. It introduces programme composed not only of school debuts but also artistically challenging films produced independently.The winner will be awarded a major prize – 1km 16mm Color Kodak print. The jury will also select the best films of each cathegory.

Vinokino is the only exclusively lesbian and gay film festival in Finland. It presents fiction, documentary and short films that have some relevance to GLBT culture.

Festival for oldschool format in cinema, entertainment food and tv, which focuses on short film, short doc, pilot TV, music video and commercials entirely or partially shot in super8, 16mm, 35mm, stop-motion. The festival explores the conceptual possibility to match the traditional and innovative films from experimental avant-garde works through to today's forms. As well as craftsmanship towards innovation.

Viscult focuses on ethnographic, anthropological and documentary films, including student productions. The festival is organized in close co-operation with the University of Joensuu and its students. The festival utilizes modern technology to bridge geographical obstacles and streams all content - films and discussions alike - live on the internet. This brings great possibilities for promotion of the filmmakers, producers, distributors, etc.

Established in 1969 and renamed to Visions du Réel in 1995, the festival very quickly made a name for itself as one of the most important rendez-vous of this speciality cinema, both in Switzerland and on the international scene. Each year, the programme covers a broad range of documentary and experimental films from Switzerland and other parts of the world. Film professionals gather in Nyon for the annual Doc Outlook Market. The objective of Visions du Reel is to show the world as it is perceived, to break away from the mainstream. All the players of the brand Visions du Reel are mobilised to ensure a very high level of quality in their work and to contribute to the common good. The festival offers a diversity of committed and inspired points of view whilst making it possible to correlate experiences, reflections and aspirations.

The festival programme is designed as a unique entity dealing with the current topic of violating human rights at local/regional, and global/world level through the medium of documentary, photograph, and applied poster. The Festival shows various views of authors who are active at local/regional, and global/world level. Festival programme is also open for the presentations of experiences and positive practices of transition countries, as well as European Union countries regarding human rights positioning. VIVISECTfest pays special attention to the issues concerning the observation of basic human rights, minority rights, facing the past, the role of media, politicians, and non-governmental organisations in conflicts, wars, and peace initiatives. The organizers of the Festival on Human Rights – VIVISECTfest also organize Travelling festivals visiting various towns in Europe.

The festival was established in 2002 and presents films that reflect gay and lesbian culture. Full-length features, documentaries, shorts and experimental films can apply for the competition.

The festival annualy screens films in three categories: feature film competition, short film competition and documentary film.

Warsaw International Film Festival is the only FIAPF recognized film festival in Poland. It prioritises the screening of Eastern and Central European film but does not exclude a wider programme of European projects. The Festival programme is divided into the following sections: 1 New Films / New Directors International Competition of first and second feature films; 2 Regional Competition for feature length films (fiction and documentary) from Central and Eastern Europe (main production country: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine). 3 Documentary Features Competition; 4 New Polish Films; 5 Discoveries – visions of contemporary world; 6 Free Spirit – films, which are independent, innovative, rebellious; 7 Master’s Touch – new films by established filmmakers; 8 National / regional panoramas; 9 Retrospectives / special presentations.

The Warsaw Jewish Film Festival accepts documentary films and fiction films concerning Jewish issues. The festival screens films in the following categories: 1 Films with the running time up to about 40 minutes - short fiction films / short documentary films; 2 Films with the running time over 40 minutes - fiction feature films / feature documentary films.

Watch Docs Human Rights in Film is one of the oldest and largest human rights film festivals in the world, which annually garners 70 000 viewers in the whole country. Festival's organizers - Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle and Social Institute of Film - combine human rights NGO background with the film art background. Watch Docs is a competition festival devoted mainy to documentaries, and includes also four permanent repertoire sections, retrospectives and special screenings. International festival in Warsaw, held annually in Decembe, provides the programming and organizational platform for the festival's other projects involving socially engaged documentary film, such as travelling festival visiting around 40 Polish cities and towns per year, university video libraries, school film clubs, as well as Watch Docs online where films are accompanied by interviews and articles prepared by the journalists of cooperating media - gazeta.pl and TOK FM radiostation.

The International Film Festival Water, Sea & the Oceans is a competition festival of documentary films. Its objective is to present and award new films about the world of salt and fresh water, to encourage the production of water-related films at the international level, and to inform and raise awareness about the protection of water ecosystems. The films can be submitted by their authors (both professionals as well as amateurs), distributors, film or TV companies, producers or owners and other film festivals. The international jury will decide on the following awards: Best Salt Water Film, Best Fresh Water Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Large Format, Best Diving Film, Best Environmental Film, Best Czech Film, Best Free Production, Best Debut.

The biennial event first took place in 1993. Werkleitz Biennale is an international forum for media art and also the biggest festival of its kind in the New Member States. It is well-known throughout Germany and Europe. The programme is prepared by independent curators, and thus individual entries cannot be submitted. The festival includes not only the film medium but also visual arts, music, performances, infoart.

The Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS) is a charitable, not-for-profit cultural and educational organization committed to celebrating, promoting and developing a strong film industry in Western Canada, and to showcasing the best films from Canada and around the world. WFFS produces one of Canada’s leading film festivals and plays a leadership role in offering professional development programs and opportunities for filmmakers. Under the umbrella of the WFFS, there are two main programs: the Whistler Film Festival - Whistler's annual celebration of film, and the Whistler Filmmaker Forum - Western Canada's premier industry event. WFFS also runs year round activities including Reel Alternatives - Whistler's monthly independent film series, Get Reel Youth Film Workshop and Outreach Program, and the CFC Go West Project Lab, a new intensive program, presented with the Canadian Film Centre, that invites six Western Canadian producers to meet with senior producers, financiers and sales agents in Whistler to help bring their projects from script to screen.

The Way We Live is a festival for films depicting the life of people with disabilities and chronic diseases in our society. The international competition presents recent productions from all over the world, which are assessed and awarded prizes by a jury of experts. The competition is complemented by an information programme with workshops and discussion panels. The festival is intended to promote the production, showing, and distribution of authentic short films dealing with the daily life and the living conditions of disabled persons. The festival has the purpose of creating a forum for the exchange of opinion and discussion of new projects| it is meant to stimulate cooperation between professional film producers and disabled persons and, in particular, to encourage disabled persons to engage themselves through the media of film and television in the realisation of their objectives.

SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival inspires people and unites communities to heal the earth. It’s a festival for activists by activists. The event is organized and hosted by the South Yuba River Citizens League. For 26 years this grassroots environmental organization has been bringing the community together around the protection of the Yuba Watershed.

The Wildscreen Festival was founded by Sir Peter Scott in 1982 and has been organised every other year for the past 25 years. Held in Bristol, the world’s centre for wildlife filmmaking, it attracts hundreds of delegates from around the globe who work in film, television and the press, as well as those actively involved in working to conserve the environment. The main components of the Festival are the innovative key events, the Panda Awards and trade show.

The Winterthur International Short Film Festival was established in 1997 and it is currently the biggest film event in Switzerland dedicated to the presentation and promotion of national and international short films. In 2004 the festival joined the European Coordination of Film Festivals. The festival accepts short films (max. 25 minutes) of all genres.

The festival is a biennial event (odd years) that takes place in Lodz. The festival programme includes an international competiton of films that deal with nature and environmental issues. The festival screens more than 40 films in competition and awards several prizes.

WOMADelaide is a three-day day music, arts and dance festival. The action on six outdoor stages comprises performances and workshop activities and is complemented by a strong visual arts program, a roving artists program, KidZone, over 100 international food, arts, crafts and display stalls and three bars. The evenings are balmy and each artist is an exotic delight| many of them are number one in the charts in their own countries but yet to be discovered here. WOMADelaide is an invitation-only festival with the budget and space to program around 30 international and Australian artists/groups each year, plus roving/visual/KidZone artists.