Seven Issues Film Festival
An international short-film festival for filmmakers aged 18 to 30. Seven issues, seven categories, one Grand Prix.
Concept
Film as an answer to global issues
The festival was launched in 2025 as an integral part of the International Youth Media Summit to open a space for cinematic reflection and public dialogue about key global challenges. Short films of up to 15 minutes – fiction, documentary, animation and experimental – by filmmakers aged 18 to 30 compete in seven categories.
Nine awards are given: one per category, an Audience Award and the Grand Prix. Eight awards are decided by a jury of young filmmakers and diplomats attending the Summit, and the Grand Prix by an expert jury of film and media professionals. Submissions are received through FilmFreeway; early entry is free.
Submit a film
- Filmmakers aged 18 to 30, from anywhere in the world.
- Up to 15 minutes, on one of the seven issues.
- Non-English films need English subtitles.
- Early entry is free. The 2027 call will be announced here and on FilmFreeway.
3rd edition
Summer 2027
We are preparing the third edition alongside the 22nd Summit, which takes place from 23 July to 5 August 2027 in Gaborone, Botswana. The call for films will be published in early 2027 on FilmFreeway. A selection of media coverage is listed further down this page.
2nd edition
Paris, 29 July 2026
The second edition took place at Pan Piper in Paris, within the 21st International Youth Media Summit in France. A twelve-member international committee of film and diplomacy experts from six countries selected 21 finalists, three per category, by filmmakers from every continent except Antarctica. Some forty young filmmakers and diplomats from more than twelve countries decided the awards, with an expert jury for the Grand Prix.
| Award | Film | Filmmaker |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prix | Sivappu | Arjun As (India) |
| Audience Award | Paris Fox | Sofian Chouaib (France) |
| Discrimination | The Professional Parent | Erik Jasaň (Slovakia) |
| Environment | The Last Ichmas | Helena Perelló Pardo (Peru) |
| Health | Trading Cards | Radheya Jang (Australia/UK) |
| Poverty | Stich | Mallorie Lavalley (France) |
| Violence | Ya Hanouni | Lyna Tadount & Sofian Chouaib (France) |
| Women's rights | Portrait | Farzam Tabibi (France/Iran) |
| Youth empowerment | Milo | Daniele Fabietti (Italy) |
1st edition
Karlovac, 28 July 2025
The first edition took place at Edison Cinema in Karlovac, within the 20th International Youth Media Summit hosted by Kinoklub Karlovac. The public call on FilmFreeway received 2,952 films, and a sixteen-member international committee of film and diplomacy experts from six countries selected four films per category over three months.
Twenty-eight short films from 20 countries were shown in morning and afternoon screenings. Awards went to filmmakers from the United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Iran, South Africa and Serbia. The South African film The Passage won the Violence category and the Audience Award, while Breaking Point by 18-year-old Lazar Jovanović from Serbia won Youth Empowerment and the golden Grand Prix.
Expert jury: Tamara Perković (president of Kinoklub Karlovac), Ana Vine (professor and graphic designer), Ksenija Sanković (Edison Cinema, vice-president of Kinoklub Karlovac) and festival organisers Antonio Britvar and Rebeka Čuljak.
Side programme: documentary and acting workshops, a panel with Croatian NGOs working on global issues, and a guest screening of Catherine Breillat's The Virgin by the Cinehill festival.
Co-funding of the 2025 edition: European Solidarity Corps of the EU, City of Karlovac, Agency for Electronic Media and Europe Direct Karlovac.
In the media
Antonio Britvar and Rebeka Čuljak presented the programme on 24 July 2025 on HRT1's morning show Dobro jutro, Hrvatska. A selection of coverage of the first edition:
- HRT Magazin – Festival Grand Prix goes to “Breaking Point”
- Večernji list – Seven Issues Film Festival at Edison Cinema
- tportal.hr – The Seven Issues Film Festival comes to Karlovac
- tportal.hr – “Breaking Point” wins the festival in Karlovac
- HINA – news-agency report on the festival
- Filmska pismenost (HFS) – the international festival's first edition
- Medijska pismenost (AEM) – first edition of the festival in Karlovac
- Kulturpunkt – call for entries
- Kino Edison – the award ceremony
- Dijalog.hr – 28 films selected for the final
- Trend.com.hr – 28 finalists selected
- IYMS – report from the first edition
- IYMS – 21 finalists of the second edition