Alternativa Film Festival is heading to Africa for the first time in 2027, with submissions now open for its fourth edition and $120,000 in prize money available to filmmakers across the Global South.
The announcement was made in late October at MIP Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, as the festival, founded and supported by global mobility company inDrive, prepares to move to a new region after previous editions in Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Colombia.
For the 2027 edition, the festival is accepting feature-length films from Africa, Asia and Latin America, while short film submissions are reserved exclusively for African filmmakers. Three of its seven awards, worth a combined $40,000, will also be restricted to African entrants.
These comprise the $20,000 Focus Award and two Short Film Awards worth $10,000 each. African filmmakers will additionally be eligible to compete for the four remaining prizes, which are open to films from all three participating regions.
Submissions are free and open until March 1, 2027, with fiction, documentary, animation and hybrid films of all genres eligible. Films must have been completed after January 1, 2026, with features running at least 40 minutes and shorts running under 40 minutes.
The festival also offers support for filmmakers selected for its competition. One representative from each selected film, with priority given to the director, will receive travel and accommodation to attend the festival and awards ceremony.
Beyond the competition, selected films may be considered for Alternativa Distribution, the festival’s non-profit distribution arm launched earlier this year to improve international circulation for films from the Global South.
The distribution label acquires non-theatrical rights, offering filmmakers an upfront minimum guarantee, covering subtitling and dubbing costs, and sharing revenue after recovering direct distribution expenses.
Its catalogue includes Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters, Abinash Bikram Shah’s Elephants in the Fog, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes 2026, and Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men, the opening film of the 2026 Berlinale.
While selection for the festival does not guarantee a distribution agreement, the initiative provides another potential route for filmmakers seeking international audiences beyond festival screenings.
Speaking about the expansion, Liza Surganova, Head of Alternativa, described Africa as a region with an extraordinary diversity of cinematic voices and expressed the festival’s ambition to build new connections across the continent.
“As we prepare to bring the festival to Africa for the first time, we want to build on everything we’ve achieved so far, making this edition our biggest and boldest yet,” Surganova said.
The festival’s expansion follows its third edition in Medellín, Colombia, which received 1,831 film submissions from 55 countries across Asia and Latin America. According to organisers, the event attracted approximately 11,000 attendees, 107 international guests and more than 60 partners.
Alternativa operates as a travelling festival, moving its focus to a different region with each edition. It debuted in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2023, moved to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2024, and subsequently held its Latin American edition in Medellín in 2026.
Alongside film screenings and awards, the 2027 programme will feature Industry Days, bringing filmmakers, producers, industry professionals and social impact organisations together for discussions, networking and potential collaborations.
The host country for the African edition is expected to be announced by December 31, 2026, with the host city and exact festival dates to follow by February 28, 2027. The festival itself is scheduled for the final quarter of 2027.
Filmmakers can review the eligibility requirements and submit their films for free through the official Alternativa Film Festival 2027 open call. The submission deadline is March 1, 2027.
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