Festival start: 17 October 2025
Festival end: 18 October 2025
International film festival of entertaining, fantastic and arthouse free genre films.
The Obscura Filmfest was founded by David Ghane in 2016 and has been run by him alone ever since. He is a passionate genre film fan since 1996, attends several film festivals per year since 2004, sometimes helps out there, acts as an extra in horror films and is an extreme film collector.
The Obscura Filmfest specialises in entertaining and fantastic B-movies, films that are rarely shown in cinemas. They show mostly big blockbusters or arthouse films that can be found at most other ordinary film festivals. Even comparable festivals are expanding their programmes to include more and more arthouse. Those who instead like entertaining, smaller and special independent films, but can also imagine bigger productions from far away countries, will find what they are looking for at the Obscura Filmfest: Films that are fun with rough edges, raw and uncompromising; from nasty little horror films to Asian battle epics, there is something for every fan, just no boredom.
It started with small, offbeat, trashy and depraved underground grindhouse films, meanwhile the Obscura also screens commercial, mid-sized films that are traded on the big film markets.
Highlights of the previous festival editions included the German premieres of the Argentinian fantasy sci fi cyberpunk action film "Daemonium", the Ukrainian thriller "Egregor", the Filipino zombie shocker "Day Zero", the Danish horror film "Finale", the ghost comedy "Deadtectives" and the two Backwoods films "What the Waters Left Behind" and its sequel "Scars" 5 years later.
The European premieres of the Indonesian comic superhero film "Valentine" and the Backwoods film "Drifter" were also screened.
Another highlight was the crazy Japanese splatterfest "Kodoku - Meatball Machine" which can look back on a long festival history including the biggest festivals of its kind, as well as the Universal/Blumhouse production "The Hunt".
With "Redbad" and "The Great Battle", two big battle epics were also screened at the Obscura.
The German premiere of the hard-hitting exploitation film "Trauma" in Hanover was even attended by visitors from the Ruhr area.
After its international premiere at the Obscura, the cowboy backwoods film "Lasso" was shown a few months later at the famous british Frightfest.
In 2022, the Obscura had its first two feature-length film world premieres with "All through the Hall" and "Hidden in the Woods II".
At every Obscura filmfest there were film guests who introduced their film in person and were available for a Q&A. They came from Ireland, UK, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, USA, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and of course Germany.
More information incl. an archive on the new and old websites:
The following are NOT accepted and may be disqualified:
Arthouse, documentaries/mockumentaries, experimental, music videos, dramas, films aimed at children.
ONLY fictional feature and short films with the genres above in CAPITALS are accepted.
Short films with a running time of 15 minutes or less are preferred. Short films with a running time greater than 15 minutes have a very slim chance of getting selected.
Movies that are neither in German nor english language must have english subtitles. All films should be from the years 2024 & 2025 and should not yet have been shown in Germany.
An interest in a film before it has been watched does not mean that it is selected. Films need to be watched in a finished or work-in-progress version before a decision can be made. If the festival is interested in showing your movie based on a trailer or past merit, do not rush to get it completely finished by the submission deadline which is 7 weeks before the festival, a decision can be made on an unfinished version. There are 6 weeks left to finish the movie after the selection has been made.
Submission
Movies can be submitted offline as a DVD / Blu-Ray (region free), online as a video file on PC or as a Vimeo / Youtube link until the 28.08.2025. The submission fee is 5, 10, 15, 19 € per film, the festival does not pay any screening or KDM fees. The submission fee is not refundable.
The address for offline movie submissions is:
David Ghane
Obscura Filmfest
Manteuffelstr. 11
12103 Berlin
Germany
online submissions via email to obscura (at) gmx.net.
If the film is not listed on the IMDB page, please provide the following details when submitting: Film title, genre, running length, language, production country, production year, production company, previous festival participations.
Movie selection
The filmmakers will be informed about the participation of their films by the 05.09.2025. Once a film has been accepted into the official festival program from both sides it can no longer be withdrawn. This also holds if the rights have been sold to a German label or a (different) World Sales in the meantime.
In addition, the author agrees that the festival can use up to 10 seconds from the film or filmtrailer, as well as up to 5 pictures / screenshots for promotional purposes for print material, website, social media channels, festival trailers, TV reports and press. The use extends to the period between the announcement of the film in the festival program until one week after the festival date.
All selected films are mentioned on the website and in the flyer with the following information: language, genre, running length, production year, production country, production company, one or more film stills, a self-written short description as well as excerpts from reviews. Afterwards the data migrates to the archive.
If a film is accepted then an exhibition copy must be provided until the 14.09.2025 in case the submitted screening copy is not suitable for cinema exhibition. Only films that have been positively tested in the cinema until that date will find their way into the program and the program brochure, which will be printed directly afterwards.
Should shipping costs arise, the submitter accepts the shipping charges to the festival and the filmfest the return shipping. Customs charges or any other costs incurred due to false declarations will not be accepted and will be billed to the sender.
Due to the amount of good short films, not all of them can be screened at the film festival, so a pure short film night is planned on the 21.12.2025 https://kurzfilmtag.com. Short films that do not make it into the festival program can be shown there instead and receive the status "Finalist"; films that make it into the festival program become "Selected". All filmmakers with the status "Finalist" will be contacted and asked if they want to participate in the short film night.
Exhibition formats
The following formats are accepted:
DCP
mp4/mov (H.264, Pro Res; Full HD) files, these will be converted to DCP.
Movies that are neither in German nor in english language must have english subtitles, burned directly into the picture is preferred, and not in the black bars of Cinemascope titles.
Screenings
The films selected for the festival program will be shown exactly one time at the Obscura Filmfestival.
The participants assure that they have all necessary rights for the exhibition of their films and that they are transferred to the filmfest for the time being. They assure that the screenings of their films do not infringe on any copyright or performance rights of third parties.
The audience votes for the best long and short film and the winner receives a trophy.
The festival runner reserves the right to allow exceptions in special and justified cases.
Official Selection
Feature Films >1' 150'<
Fee-8%
PRO 23%
Early5€4.6€
3.85€
23 Jun 25
Standard10€9.2€
7.7€
15 Jul 25
Late15€13.8€
11.55€
06 Aug 25
Extended19€17.48€
14.63€
28 Aug 25
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Submissions deadline
28 Aug 25
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Festhome holds accountable fees festivals by holding the payment of the fees of most newer festivals until they have viewed the submissions, held their festivals and other methods. 