inDrive Advances Global South Cinema as Alternativa Festival Opens 2027 Call with $120,000 in Prizes

Alternativa Film Festival (AFF), a non-profit film initiative supported by inDrive, has opened submissions for its fourth edition, with filmmakers invited to submit entries free of charge from October 29, 2026, to March 1, 2027.

The festival will offer a total prize fund of $120,000 across seven award categories.

According to the festival’s organiser, the 2027 edition marks the festival’s first outing in Africa, reflecting its continued commitment to discovering emerging cinematic voices, expanding opportunities for filmmakers, and strengthening connections across the Global South.

The festival will be open to all genres, including fiction, documentary, animation and hybrid films, provided they were completed after January 1, 2026.

Feature-length films with a runtime of 40 minutes or longer are eligible from Africa, Asia and Latin America, while short films of up to 40 minutes are exclusively open to African filmmakers.

The $120,000 prize fund will be distributed across seven awards, including the Focus Award for a feature film and two Shorts Awards reserved for African filmmakers.

Detailed eligibility criteria, participating countries and award categories are available in the Rules & Regulations on the official festival website.

Commenting on the opening of submissions, Head of Alternativa Liza Surganova stated that the festival’s expansion into Africa presents an opportunity to discover new perspectives and build stronger connections among filmmaking communities.

“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 while introducing new initiatives for our community. Africa is home to an extraordinary diversity of cultures, perspectives, and cinematic voices, and we believe this new chapter will deepen our understanding of what transformative cinema can be and help us forge valuable new connections. We invite filmmakers from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to join us on this journey and share their visions with us,” she said.

According to Arsen Tomsky, the Founder of the Alternativa Film Festival and CEO of inDrive, the distribution initiative was established to address inequalities in access to international audiences and to help filmmakers bring their work to a wider public.

“Exceptional filmmaking can come from anywhere, but access to international audiences remains a process hindered by a deeply unequal system. Alternativa Distribution was created to challenge that imbalance. This slate has been carefully curated and showcases the high quality and transformative power of filmmaking from the Global South, and the positive impact these films can have when they reach wider audiences,” Tomsky said.

The festival has continued to expand its presence across the Global South, with previous editions held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2023; Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2024; and Medellín, Colombia, in 2026.

The Medellín edition received 1,831 submissions from 55 countries, demonstrating the initiative’s growing international reach.

Beyond the festival, its non-profit distribution label, Alternativa Distribution, launched in 2026, is extending the reach of impact-driven films to international audiences, with six films from previous editions currently in its catalogue.

The 2027 programme will feature public screenings, discussions and other events designed to encourage conversations around the social issues explored in selected films.

It will also include Industry Days, a free professional programme connecting filmmakers, producers, industry experts and social impact leaders.

The programme is designed to facilitate knowledge sharing, strengthen professional networks, and encourage collaborations that support the development and wider distribution of films.

Further information on the open call, submission requirements and award categories is available at www.alternativa.film.