Dance On Screen FilmFestival (Graz)

Overview

Dance On Screen FilmFestival is Austria's first screendance festival. The 10th edition takes place October 30 to November 1, 2026, at the Kunsthaus Graz (Museum of Contemporary Arts), curated by Valentina Moar. The festival programs short dance films and dance animations from international filmmakers, with a maximum duration of 25 minutes per film. Graz is a UNESCO City of Design and was Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003.

The festival accepts fiction and experimental films related to dance, choreography, movement, or performance. Dance documentaries and simple dance or stage recordings are explicitly not accepted. The festival focuses on work where the common language is dance and movement combined with cinematic expression - camera movement, framing, editing, and post-production must form an integral relationship with the choreography, not merely record it.

Dance On Screen operates an On Tour program that extends selected films to partner festivals across Europe. Tour destinations have included the Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart (Germany, 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025), ULTRA Screendance Festival Udine (Italy, 2023), tanzhafen Festival Linz (Austria, 2022), Tanz Karlsruhe Festival (Germany, 2021), Athens Video Dance Project (Greece, 2019), Szerpentin Tanzfilm-Festival Budapest (Hungary, 2018), and Screendance Landscapes at IUAV University Venice (Italy, 2018).

Since 2018, Dance On Screen has built cooperation partnerships with festivals across Europe to create an international screendance festival network. Since 2023, an ongoing partnership with the Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart presents a curated selection of short films from Dance On Screen as part of that festival's program.

Submission Details

Dance On Screen accepts submissions through FilmFreeway. Key details:

Submission fees are published on the Dance On Screen FilmFreeway page. The festival does not pay screening fees to selected filmmakers. Selected films become part of the festival library and are not returned.

Eligibility Requirements

• Open to national and international filmmakers, dance companies, and collectives.
• Only one dance film submission per participant.
• Films must be short dance films or dance animations where the common language is dance, movement, and broadly defined physical expression.
• Maximum duration: 25 minutes. Longer films may be considered for a special screening but not for the competition.
• Dance documentaries, simple dance recordings, and stage recordings are not accepted and will not be selected.
• Films must be original works with all rights held by the authors. The submitter confirms they hold distribution rights for the submitted work.
• Music used in the film must be cleared for copyright. The festival is not accountable for additional presentation costs related to music rights.
• Films that were "not selected" in previous editions of the festival are excluded from submission.
• If spoken language is present, English or German subtitles are recommended.
• By participating, applicants cede the right to reproduce extracts and images for promotional purposes (festival trailers, press releases).

Competition and Awards

Films selected for the festival participate in the Dance On Screen Award competition. Award winners are selected by an international jury. The festival also offers a Screendance Workshop program - the 2025 edition featured a workshop with Douglas Rosenberg (USA).

Selected films may also be chosen for the On Tour program, where the curator selects films for screening at partner festivals across Europe. Filmmakers of On Tour selections are notified separately and agree to the touring screening terms.

What Filmmakers Should Know

Dance On Screen is one of a small number of festivals worldwide dedicated exclusively to screendance - the intersection of dance and cinema. If your film treats dance as cinematic material rather than performance documentation, this festival is a targeted submission opportunity.

The 25-minute maximum and single-submission rule mean you should submit your strongest work. The festival's explicit exclusion of dance documentaries and stage recordings narrows the eligible field significantly. Your film must demonstrate a relationship between choreography and cinematic form - camera movement, framing, editing, and post-production integrated with dance, not merely capturing it.

The On Tour program provides additional screening opportunities beyond the Graz festival. If your film is selected for On Tour, it will be presented at partner festivals in Germany, Italy, Austria, and potentially other European countries. This extends the visibility of your work without requiring separate submissions to each festival.

The festival does not pay screening fees. If your distribution strategy requires per-screening fees, factor this into your submission decision. The festival also requires that selected films be delivered in HD format with 2 photos/film stills in JPG at 300dpi within two weeks of notification.

The Kunsthaus Graz, known as the "Friendly Alien," is a contemporary art museum with distinctive architecture. The festival's venue gives it a gallery-context audience that may differ from traditional cinema festival audiences.

Festival History

Dance On Screen FilmFestival was founded in 2016 in Graz, Austria, as the first screendance festival in the country. Graz is a UNESCO City of Design and was the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003. The festival has run annually since its founding, reaching its 10th edition in 2026.

The festival was originally curated and organized as a standalone event. Since 2018, it has built an international cooperation network with partner festivals across Europe, creating a circulation system for screendance films. The On Tour program has expanded the festival's reach to venues in Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Greece.

Valentina Moar serves as the festival's curator. The 10th edition in 2026 continues the festival's focus on the relationship between dance and cinematic expression, maintaining its position as Austria's primary platform for screendance.

Related Festivals

Two other significant screendance platforms operate in Europe:

• Cinedans (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - the largest screendance festival in Europe, partnered with Dance On Screen. Cinedans 2026 runs March 25 to 29, with a short film competition (submission fee EUR 20, max 25 minutes) and a short docs competition (no fee). Cinedans also accepts out-of-competition features, documentaries, installations, and VR projects.
• DANCE ON SCREEN (Zurich, Switzerland) - Switzerland's leading screendance platform, founded in 2019 by BOLLWERKFILM. Screens at Arthouse Kinos Zurich and tours to multiple Swiss cities. Accepts very shorts (under 10 minutes) and shorts (10 to 20 minutes) in international and Swiss categories.

See Also

Calculate your total festival submission costs and projected return using the Festival ROI Calculator. For experimental filmmaking, see Independent Filmmaking Strategies. For documentary filmmaking, see Documentary Filmmaking Guide. For festival circuit strategy, see Film Festival Strategy. Submit through the Dance On Screen FilmFreeway page.