The 37th International Film Festival for Children and Youth will take place from October 4th to 8th, 2025 in Tehran with the participation of Cinema Organization and Farabi Cinema Foundation. It is intended to promote peace and tolerance, realize moral values, raise awareness and hope among children and young adults, and to discover young talents in both competitive and non-competitive sections.
This year, the festival will have a special look at family films with family values.
- A) Competition of Long-length Films and Animation
The running time of the long-length films should be at least 75 minutes. The following prizes will be awarded by the jury:
1) Golden Butterfly for the Best Film
2) Golden Butterfly for the Best Director
3) Golden Butterfly for the Best Screenplay
4) Golden Butterfly for the Best Young Actor/Actress
5) Golden Butterfly for the Best Artistic Contribution
The Children and Youth Jury also present an award to the director of their selected film.
- B) Competition of Short Films and Animation
The running time of the short films should be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 20 minutes.
The jury will dedicate the Golden Butterfly for the Best Director of Short Film/Animation to the winner.
- C) Non-Competitive Sections
1) Children of the Twelve-Day War
2) Children of Gaza
3) Special Asian Films Award
Rules & Regulations
1) Films will be selected by the Festival director.
2) Films not accepted in the previous editions are not eligible.
3) Films already released in Iran (theatrical, TV, VOD, etc.) are not eligible.
4) All films will be classified into 2 age groups: Children (6 – 10 years) and Youth (11 -17 years).
5) The production date of the applied films must be after January 2024.
Film Submission
1) Applicants must first register the film on the festival website, portal.icff.ir, and then send an MP4 previewing link with English subtitles to the secretariat along with the director’s photo, biography, filmography, film poster, brochure, and at least 3 film stills.
2) The submission will be open from July 1st to August 27th, 2025.
3) The deadline for delivering the original version of the selected film is September 22nd, 2025. If the final version is not presented on the scheduled date, the festival secretariat reserves the right to withdraw the film from all the announced programs.
4) The festival secretariat is responsible for scheduling the screening of selected films.
5) By submitting the film to the festival the applicant agrees to all the Rules and Regulations of the festival. It is worth mentioning that, after the official announcement of the festival and receiving the approval from the producer or the legal distributor of the films, there is no possibility for cancelling the screenings.
6) Taking the final decisions about unforeseen cases is at the sole and absolute discretion of the festival director.
Address of the Festival Secretariat:
Farabi Cinema Foundation /Building No. 3
2454, Corner of Lankaran St., Vali-Asr Ave., Tehran 1434843631 Iran
Phone: 021- 88194257, 021- 88880328
E-mail: intl@icff.ir
Website: http://en.icff.ir/