Submissions now open for The Calvert Journal Film Festival 2021

The Calvert Journal is calling on filmmakers to submit their work to the 2021 edition of The Calvert Journal Film Festival.

The Calvert Journal Film Festival, now in its second year, is a journey across Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia through the lens of the region’s independent filmmakers. The festival’s overall mission is to build a platform that celebrates the diversity of the region’s cinematic perspectives.

Filmmakers from across the 29 countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia will be able to submit films to seven categories.

Launched in 2020, the first edition of the festival brought together more than 5,000 people to watch films from Poland, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Slovenia and Georgia. In 2021, The Calvert Journal Film Festival will screen more than 30 films online on our website across the seven categories of the official festival competition: documentaries, animations, minority language films, features, student films, experimental films, and shorts.

Films in each category will compete for a single prize, awarded by a jury featuring international filmmakers, critics and industry representatives, including Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov, and Serbian actress and film professor Selma Alispahić.

The festival is open to professional and non-professional filmmakers alike, and the final selection will be made based on the artistic merit of each film. Shortlisted films for the official competition will be chosen by external selectors after initial review by The Calvert Journal curatorial team. A special series of features and online events will also run alongside the screenings, focusing on the region’s wider challenges, opportunities, and contemporary identity. You can find more information about the festival, and how to apply, here.