Check terms and conditions for rights grabs (http://www.dailyfilm.tv/festivals/dailyfilmtv-dslr-short-film-contest).

Festival Mondial de l'image sous-marine
Antibes
Last weekend of October
Deadline 15 September
Format: miniDV, HDV, PAL better, NTSC accepted
Length: unlimited and 20-minute-max categories
Prizes: none mentioned
http://www.underwater-festival.com/
Note controversy in 2007 over captive orca show

Our World Underwater
Chicago
Feb15-17
Deadline Jan 13
Categories: General, conservation 5 mins each
Prizes: holidays, Amphibico and Mares gear
http://www.underwatercompetition.com/

Capture The World - Underwater video challenge
Deadline: 31 Dec
http://www.underwatervideography.com/capture-the-world/

British Underwater Film Festival
Birmingham, UK
14-16 March
Deadline 31 January 2008
Length: 30 mins max documentary, 10-minute max liveaboard, 10-minute amateur
Format: DVD PAL
Prizes: cash?
http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/BUIF2008

Celebrate the Sea Festival
South-East Asia (Philippines 2007)
21 - 23 September 2007
Deadline: 25 August 2007
Categories: unlimited length (broadcast) and short (10 mins max)
Formats: mini-DV, DVD
Prizes: US$2000 cash, Amphibico/Seacam gear
http://www.celebratethesea.oneocean.com/

Moscow International Diving Festival "Golden Dolphin"
Moscow
14-17 February 2008
Deadline 1 December 2007
Format: DVD, miniDV, DVCAM, PAL
Length: 3 videos, max 60 minutes
Prizes: liveaboards, Sony gear
http://www.goldendolphin.ru/News_of_the_Festival.shtml

San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition (UFEX)
San Diego
October 12 & 13
Deadline 15 August
2 films max, no more than 5 mins each
Prizes: none
http://sdufex.com/

International Underwater Film Festival
Belgrade
12-16 December
Deadline registration 5 Nov, despatch 15 Nov, receipt 20 Nov
DVCAM or miniDV cassette
Any length
Prize: Indonesia cruise
http://www.kpa.co.yu

Blue Ocean Flim Festival
Savanah, Georgia, Florida
June 11-14 2009
Categories: See PDF I downloaded in the underwater video courses folder
Includes big-budget productions from BBC, Nat Geo etc.
http://www.bluefilmfest.com/
http://www.blueoceanfilmfestival.org/
SHARE ON YOUTUBE WITHOUT EVEN A CREDIT IN THE DESCRIPTION (they did it with mine ref Greek lot)

Under The Blue
Scuba Show, Long Beach, California
June 21/22 2007
Prizes: holidays, gear
http://www.underwatercompetition.com/

Beneath the Sea
New York, USA
March 28-30 2008
Deadline 31 Dec 2007
Length: upto 6 minutes and snapshot 10-30 secs
Format: DVD
http://www.beneaththesea.org/

Eastern Mediterranean Underwater Photo & Film Festival
Northern Cyprus (Turkey)
22-24 March 2007
Deadline 10 March 2007
Format DVD, minDV, DV
Length Various categories
Prize: none mentioned
http://emu.edu.tr/underwaterfestival/eng/index.htm

North Sea Film Festival
The Hague
30 Nov - 2 December
Deadline: October 15
Length: pro up to 60 mins, independent up to 20 mins
Format: MiniDV, HDV, DVCAM (PAL)
Prize: Red Sea liveaboard plus flight
http://www.northseafilmfestival.com/

IFF Water, Sea & the Oceans
Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
20/21 November 2007
Deadline 20 October 2007
Format: DVD, MiniDV or DVCAM, PAL
Length ?
Prizes: none mentioned
http://www.vodamoreoceany.cz/eng/

SanDisk Red Sea World of Underwater Images
Eilat, Israel
Nov 12-17
Deadline: register by 1 Nov
Shoot-out 3 days
Length: 90 secs max
$7500 cash + diving trip + flight
http://www.sandiskredsea.com/

Digital Shootout
Bonaire
June 16-23 2007
Shoot-out
Length: 3 minutes
Format: Any
Prizes: yes
http://www.thedigitalshootout.com

Kona Classic
Hawaii
May 5-12 2007
Prizes: dive trips, dive gear
Shoot-out
Length: 3 minutes (2 mins underwater)
http://www.konahonudivers.com/konaclassic.shtml

Byron Underwater Festival
Byron Bay, Australia
2010: Christmas Island
24th - 30th April 2010
Prizes: video/photo/dive gear
Shoot-out
http://www.underwaterfestival.com.au/activities-events/underwater-photographic-shootout/

Subios
Sychelles
6-12 October 2008
Deadline ?
Ticket and holiday in Seychelles
http://www.subios.com/en/competitions/compvideo.htm

Seestern (Unterwasser.de)
Germany
Deadline up to 2 mins: 15 of previous month
Deadline up to 20 mins: 11 Dec 2007
Length: up to 2 mins and up to 20 mins
http://www.unterwasser.de/videowettbewerb/videowettbewerb/

PAF Tachov International Diving Festival
Tachov, Czech Republic
25-27 May 2007
Deadline 4 May 2007
Categories: Amateur video salt water, amateur video fresh water, pro video salt water, pro video fresh water
Format: MiniDV, DVD
Prize: 128 pounds. Danny Van Belle won cruise on SMY Ondina
Fee: 25 EUR
http://www.paftachov.cz/en/www.html

Emra Omur Underwater Nature Video Competition (International Kemer Underwater Days)
Kemer, Turkey
17-20 May
Shootout I think
Deadline ?
Format ?
Length ?
Prize ?
http://www.ketav.org/eng/index.htm

International Festival of Diving Films
High Tatras, Slovakia
18-20 October
Deadline 6 October
Formats: DVD, miniDV, DVCAM etc..
Fee 15 Euros per category
Prizes: ?
http://www.mfpf.eu/?lang=en

Marmara International Photo/Video Festival
Istanbul, Turkey
3-9 September 2007
Deadline 30 August
Shoot-out on 8th September
Categories: Professional, Amateur
Format: DVD, miniDV, DV
Length: 20 mins max, more than one film allowed
Prizes:
http://www.marmarafestival.org/english/festival_default.htm

Festival de l'Image Sous-Marine "Festisub"
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
15/16 Feb 2007
http://www.festisub.ch

Biennale Internazionale dell'Immagine Subacquea
Svizzera, Italy
Next Feb 2009
http://www.biennale-lugano.ch

La Fete de l'Image Sous-Marine
Strasbourg, France
March
http://fete.image.s.marine.free.fr/

Centro Sub Faenza
Faenza, Italy
http://www.subfaenza.it/
http://www.ameba.org/csf/en_index.asp

Silver Shark
Kiev, Ukraine
2008. all info in Russian
http://silvershark.org.ua/

Ciclo International de Cine Submarino
March-May
San Sebastian, Spain
No website

Scuba Show
http://www.scubashow.com/filmguide.html
(http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-videography/214889-quality-underwater-films-wanted-film-festival.html)

Underwater Images Photo/Video competition
March
http://www.uwimages.org/

Wild Screen Festival
Bristol, England
October 2008
Not open to public submissions???
http://www.wildscreenfestival.org/

Jackson Hole Wildlife Filim Festival
Jackson, Wyoming, USA
October 5-7 2007
Not open to public submissions???
http://www.jhfestival.org/

Santa Barbara Octean Film Festival
Santa Barbara, California
19-21 October 2007
Deadline ?
Formats ?
Prizes ?
http://www.sboceanfilmfestival.com/

Xarifa
Germany
Last one in 2006 - discontinued?
http://www.uwfv.de/xarifa/index.htm

Nelos International Underwater Photo & Video Festival
Edegem, Belgium
Bi-annual, next in December 2008
http://www.nelosfilmfestival.be

Pinnan Alla
Helsinki, Finland
Last one in 2006 - discontinued?
http://www.suunto.com/suunto/Worlds/diving/main/world_news.jsp?JSESSIONID=Gw1XaKabNJY61Wf54Dv4hCFANtVdU1LChUbRGFCmXfaMD5b7WqxO!22839978!168075285!7005!8005!224002692!168075286!7005!8005&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10135298185565362&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9853823208850708&bmUID=1185986007410&PREV_CONTENT=/media/suunto/NewWorlds/Diving/content/News/News_index

Göteborgs festival för undervattensfilm
Gothenburg, Sweden
Last on in Nov 2004 - discontinued?
http://www.uvfilmfestival.net/

World Festival of Underwater Images
Kobe, Japan
No longer?
http://www.suichu-eizo.com/

European Underwater Images Festival Association
http://www.euifa.org/

http://venturafilmfestival.org/

http://www.pelagosarea.eu/site/en-GB/

Blue Planet Filmfest
http://www.blueplanetfilmfest.com
and facebook

idivesharks image festival
www.idivesharks.com

Beaneath The Waves film festival
http://www.beneaththewavesfilmfest.org/
https://www.facebook.com/beneaththewavesfilmfestival

SEA NUCPS
http://sea.ncups.org/

Dive Photo Guide competition deadline calender
http://www.divephotoguide.com/competitions/

http://www.underwaterjournal.com/subscribe/video-contest.php

http://www.cairnsunderwaterfilmfestival.com/

http://www.indonesiaunderwatercontest.com/

http://www.eilatredsea.com/

CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year http://www.parkerharris.co.uk/competition/EPOTY-2012

http://laups.org

http://www.miamisci.org/events/miami-underwater-festival-december-1-2-2012/

SHORT UNDERWATER MOVIE FESTIVAL "Silently" in "Dom Omladine Beograda", Belgrade, Serbia. (See Sandri DK message to me in Facebook)

ADEX Voice of the Ocean http://www.uw3some.com/index.php?voo-2014 - Videos are shared on their YouTube channel

http://digitalay.com/2014/04/thailand-underwater-film-fest/ at TDEX

https://www.facebook.com/silently.belgrade

http://www.hugycup.com Van Belle posts the winners, including other people's on his personal YouTube channel. WTF

http://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/socal-shootout

http://www.turquoisebayfilmfestival.com/

ADEX Voice of the Ocean Competition http://www.adex.asia/photo-competition/voice-of-the-ocean-2016

Ocean Geographic Pictures of the year http://ogpicoty.ogsociety.org/ - "Vision of the Sea" category - short movie < 15 mins and feature length movie > 20 mins. The tone is conservation. It's a load of self-serving luvvies led by Michael Aw but the prizes aren't bad. They do post the videos on their YouTube.

http://oceanfilmfestival.co.uk

https://filmfreeway.com/houstonunderwaterfilmfestival (they emailed me in 2019 to invite me to enter for 2020)

https://www.madeiraunderwater.com/ CMAS competition. They invited me to the jury in 2021 but I declined. Also in 2022 but I didn't reply. Maybe I'll do it next time. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNrLkvCieHI

https://intloceanfilmfest.org Howard Hall won something or other in 2022 for his 'Soul of the Ocean' film.

https://underwatercompetition.com/Competitions

Other Lists of Underwater Video Competitions:

European Underwater Images Festivals Association

Danny Van Belle's list of underwater film festivals

Dive Global's Film festivals around the globe

British Society of Underwater Photographers list of filim festivals

PAF Tachov Festival (emailed me)

Withoutabox.com

Mysuru International Water Film Festival

general film festivals (not underwater)

New York Cinematorgrapy Awards has a Best Underwater Cinematography award.

Please contact me to have your underwater film festival added to this page

< back to destinations | competitions & festivals | forward to underwater video courses >

Nick Hope

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