Committed to supporting and promoting student films and emerging voices in ethnographic cinema, Ethnofest returns to support both international and national student documentary productions. Τhis year, we are delighted to launch a new chapter with the establishment of the INITIATIONS section as an autonomous International Student Documentary Festival, taking the form of a three-day screening event in December.
The ETHNOFEST INITIATIONS – International Student Documentary Festival will take place from December 11th to 13th, 2026.
Maintaining its vision of fostering dialogue and promoting both the films and their creators, the festival continues its screenings with a focus on student documentaries and the ways young filmmakers from around the world approach field research through collective and creative methods. At the same time, it seeks to open up the classroom to the wider public by introducing these works to the audience and the cultural scene of Athens.
With its exclusive focus on the filmmakers of tomorrow, the section Initiations: International Student Films remains one of Ethnofest’s most beloved programs throughout the years. The competitive section, Initiations: Student Films in Greece, also returns, with participating films eligible to compete for an award which includes a cash prize of €1,000.
Eligible films must have been completed in 2025 or later. Submissions can be made in one of the two open sections:
INITIATIONS: INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FILMS
Student and academic documentaries can be innovative, bold, and uncompromising, offering a glimpse into the future. This section showcases a selection of the best documentaries produced as part of educational programs worldwide. We are interested in films with a maximum duration of 30 minutes, created in social science departments (such as visual anthropology and visual sociology), but we also wish to highlight films from film and media studies departments that employ ethnographic methodology.
Eligible are films with a maximum duration of 30 minutes that have not previously been publicly screened (commercially or at festivals) in Greece.
Note: Films longer than 30 and up to 50 minutes, produced as part of doctoral dissertations may exceptionally be submitted to this section.
Submission Fee: 5 EUR
INITIATIONS: STUDENT FILMS IN GREECE
This section presents the best and most recent student documentaries produced across various film and social science departments in Greece, with a focus on ethnographic approaches and socially oriented documentaries.
With the aim of supporting the voices of the future, the films in the section will be eligible for an award, which includes a cash prize of 1,000 EUR.
Eligible are films with a maximum duration of 30 minutes that have not previously been publicly screened (commercially or at festivals) in Athens.
Note: Films longer than 30 and up to 50 minutes, produced as part of doctoral dissertations, may exceptionally be submitted to this section.
Submission Fee: 5 EUR
Submission Deadline: August 31, 2026 (regular deadline) and September 20, 2026 (extended deadline). Submissions can be made through Film Free Way.