Filmmaker Solidarity Fund

Help us support independent storytellers!

During this year of unprecedented uncertainty and change, we are committed to examining how power and resources are distributed in the documentary film world and how festivals like CIFF can stand in solidarity with filmmakers to create more equitable, sustainable conditions for independent filmmaking — particularly for filmmakers that have been marginalized or excluded by the industry.

This year, 50% of net proceeds from our virtual festival box office will be added to our Filmmaker Solidarity Fund, a funding pool that will be divided evenly into honoraria for every participating filmmaker (or filmmaking team) in our 2020 program. If you’re able to consider a Patron or Producer pass, your purchase includes a tax deductible contribution and will help us direct even more resources to filmmakers, building more equitable and sustainable documentary field.

CIFF XVII 

CINEMA IS A BEACON

And the show will go on.  The 17th edition of the Camden International Film Festival will be held in person (and online) throughout venues in Camden, Rockport, and Rockland, Maine from September 16 – 26, 2021. 

The 2021 CIFF will be one our most unique and intimate festivals to date. We have spent the past six months designing a safe, accessible and immersive in-person festival experience with one guiding principle in mind: to share cinema as it was intended, on the big screen and surrounded by community. 

CIFF will announce its slate of feature and short documentary films the week of August 16th.

Please note: We’re only selling 300 All Access Passes, so get yours before they sell out! 

Press Credentialing Details

Press interested in covering the festival, email us here. 

ABOUT CIFF 2021

CIFF’s Opening Weekend will take place September 16 – 19, and will include in-person screenings at four venues – our recently launched Shotwell Drive-In, the Camden Opera House, Strand Theatre, and a special new pop-up cinema-lounge housed inside a 12,000 square foot boat barn on the edge of the Atlantic. Filmmakers will be in attendance, the Points North Pitch will return as a live event, and 50+ filmmaker fellows will be on the ground for the fest, making this year’s event one of the largest in-person documentary gatherings since the start of the pandemic.

CIFF’s Virtual Festival will run from September 16-26, and will provide audiences the opportunity to screen our slate of feature and short films from the comfort of your own home (or screen) at any time. Our Filmmaker Solidarity Fund continues this year, which means that as a virtual festival audience member, 50% of your pass or ticket purchase will go directly to the filmmakers who are presenting work at this year’s CIFF. Last year, we supported 64 filmmaking teams with nearly $25,000 through our Filmmaker Solidarity Fund. This year we hope you can help us reach $500 per project! Buy a pass as a gift for a friend who can’t come in person so they can enjoy CIFF remotely.

CIFF @ The Shotwell will continue beyond the festival’s Opening Weekend, screening additional films and award winners through September 26.

Visit CIFF Box Office

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions to the 2021 Camden International Film Festival are now closed. If you have a project in development, make sure to check out our Artist Programs page for program updates and deadlines.

2020 PROGRAM GUIDE

Peruse the films that were included in CIFF 2020.

FEATURES

SHORTS

MAHDI FLEIFEL RETROSPECTIVE

STORYFORMS

After Dark Parties

Feature Categories

Harrell Competition

Cinematic Vision Award

John Marshall Award

Best of Fest

Spotlight

Shorts Programs

Shorts First: The Lovers

Shorts First: The Devil

Shorts First: Wheel of Fortune

Shorts First: Strength

Shorts X: The Hermit

Shorts X: The High Priestess

Dirigo Docs

Virtual Reality & Immersive Storytelling

Storyforms: Remixing Reality

Points North Programs

Points North Fellows

Shortform Editing Residency

Special Events

After Dark Parties

Receptions

PASSES ON SALE

One of the country’s preeminent nonfiction destinations, it’s unique in its merging of an industry-facing event with a laidback, community-friendly atmosphere.

Sarah Salovaara, Filmmaker Magazine

CIFF has become a crucial stop on a documentary festival circuit that has helped advance a new doc era.

Robert Greene, Hammer to Nail

One of North America’s foremost nonfiction-specific forums.

Ashley Clarke, Sight & Sound

The best programmed, best organized, and most accommodating all-documentary event. Add to those superlatives ‘most ambitious.’

Peter Keough, Boston Globe

That, in a nutshell, is the spirit of CIFF: improvisational yet classy.

Brandon Harris, Filmmaker Magazine

Since its founding in 2005, the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) has risen to prominence as one of the world’s most respected documentary festivals.

Taking place each fall along the beautiful coast of Maine, CIFF champions innovative work that explores the boundaries of nonfiction storytelling through a carefully curated collection of films from around the world.

With hundreds of filmmakers and industry professionals attending annually, CIFF has become a major platform for the discovery of new artists and the creative exploration of the documentary form. The festival is an Academy-qualifying festival for the Documentary Short Subject Award, and one of 14 qualifying festivals for the Cinema Eye Honors.

CIFF NEWS

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