Various Cities – Europe
October 14 to November 17, 2012

The 8th Annual EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL (EFF), is a crowd-pleasing multi-city showcase of more than 60 feature films and 200 shorts. With events held in dozens of locations across Europe for more than a month, EFF ignites the continent with the joys of storytelling, creativity, and professional networking. With the operating philosophy that cinema is a language everyone can speak, EFF creates a common emotional bond that demolishes barriers and promotes cultural connections.

The festival places particular emphasis on the discovery and celebration of new filmmakers, with special attention paid to first- and second-time directors who have overcome budgetary restrictions in bold and innovative ways. Selected filmmakers are not only rewarded with the opportunity to screen their work at venues including Berlin’s Westphailia University and Athens’s Afaia New Star Art Cinema, they also benefit from networking events with critics, scholars, film masters, and the movie-going public. What’s more, Toronto-based distributor CinemaVault will consider all EFF official selections for distribution.

EFF’s categories of competition span all storytelling genres and include narrative feature, documentary feature, short documentary, gay and lesbian film, experimental film, animated short, music video, feature screenplay, and short screenplay, as well as screenplay pitch – for film concepts expressed in a maximum of three pages. The festival truly offers something for everyone, regardless of home country, style, or area of interest. Winners of last year’s festival included filmmakers and films from Denmark, France, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Peru, and the United States, to name just a few.

UPCOMING DEADLINE
July 27, 2012 – Regular Deadline

MISSION AND OBJECTIVE
The mission of EFF is to bring quality international independent film to the widest possible audience in Europe and beyond. The festival aims to provide a cultural alternative to the commercial film experience, to support independent filmmakers, and to utilize the power of film to further the goal of inter-cultural understanding among nations, ultimately assisting in the building of a shared artistic experience.

MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Academy Award-nominated PERSEPOLIS, the French animated film that charted the story of a precocious Iranian girl, won EFF’s Best Film prize in 2007. Many more EFF films have gone on to theatrical release after the festival, including I AM FROM TITOV VELES, SEVEN SISTERS, URBAN COWBOYS, and THE DAY AFTER PEACE.

Time Out Magazine hails the Festival’s unique approach: “Representing a revolution in the concept of the film festival bringing the festival to the viewers rather than the other way around, the European Film Festival, with its focus on low-budget wonders, is fast becoming a standard-bearer of quality indie can-do filmmaking all over the continent.” Join the revolution…submit your film, script, or pitch to the European Film Festival today!