About

The Alameda International Film Festival gathers shorts, features, and the people who make them from all over the world. Every year audiences in the beautiful island city of Alameda, California gain access to an amazing slate of unique domestic and foreign films.

AIFF was expanded and renamed in 2016 after five years as a smaller shorts-only festival. Since that time, AIFF has had the great honor to connect filmmakers and movie lovers from around the world and around the corner. After a screening of some best of the fest at City Hall in 2019, the producers took some time to regroup and seek out additional community support and engagement. Of course, the pandemic also made a relaunch in 2020 or 2021 impossible, but this period of dormancy was not without activity. The producers connected with some local filmmakers and producers dedicated to getting AIFF back and at its best. With submissions already open and new films rolling in daily, everyone involved with AIFF is thrilled to see the fest’s rebirth coincide with the rest of the country’s emergence from this very difficult time.

Because of the challenges of making film in the past couple years, AIFF is happily accepting independent films that finished production in 2022 or later. We routinely include many U.S. and World Premieres. The festival jury does not discriminate in its selection based on country of origin, genre, subject matter, nor any other criteria outside of whatever magic ingredients add up to a great film, whether a 60-second short, a 2-hour long feature, or anything in between. AIFF aims for quality and diversity and we think this is evident in every program we curate.

AIFF is a production of the non-profit organization Anchor Alameda Association for Art and Film, and it’s important to note that all submission fees, tickets, merchandise, and concessions go toward festival production, which includes thousands of dollars of award money for the artists. AIFF relies on the community in a hundred ways to produce this event each year. We would be nothing without our daring and talented filmmakers. The local businesses you see in our program are also essential to our continued growth and success. And of course, we could never do it without our audience coming to support the arts in Alameda. Thank you to everyone who makes AIFF possible. We’re looking forward to our best fest yet!