The Cleveland International Film Festival is now accepting submissions for the 49th festival, to be held March 26 – April 5, 2025.
The Cleveland International Film Festival is now accepting submissions for CIFF49. Films of any runtime, of any genre, and from any country — with a completed production date after June 1, 2023 — are eligible for consideration.
CIFF49 will take place March 26-April 5, 2025 at Playhouse Square — the country’s largest performing arts center outside of New York. The Festival will screen films in the iconic theatres at Playhouse Square, with a handful of other spaces being used for CIFF talkbacks, community events, and patron and filmmaker gathering places.
CIFF49 will showcase hundreds of films, accompanying post-film Q&As, as well as audience and juried awards with more than $135,000 in cash prizes for feature and short films. CIFF is proud to be one of the few festivals in the world that is Academy Award® qualifying for all three categories of short films—live action, animated, and documentary. In 2023 CIFF was once again ranked as one of the top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway, and named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee and one of their 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.
Earlier this year, CIFF48 and CIFF48 Streams — which took place consecutively April 3rd-13th at Playhouse Square and April 14th-21st online — presented 138 feature films and 225 short films from 60 countries. Filmmaker cash prizes for the Festival’s esteemed 34 competitions and other awards totaled $136,500.
IMPORTANT DATES:
- September 6th, 2024 – Earlybird Deadline
- November 1, 2024 – Regular Deadline
- December 20, 2024 – Final Deadline
- January 3, 2025 – Late Deadline
- February 28, 2025 – Notification Date
- March 27 – April 5, 2025 – Festival