Overview
The Taipei Film Festival is Taiwan's major urban film festival, held annually in late June and early July in Taipei. The 28th edition runs June 26 to July 11, 2026. The festival programs approximately 200 films across competitive and non-competitive sections, with a focus on Taiwanese cinema and international emerging directors. It is distinct from the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (November), which is organized by a separate committee and focuses on Chinese-language cinema awards.
For filmmakers, the festival's International New Talent Competition is the primary draw for international submissions. The competition selects 10 films from hundreds of international entries each year, competing for a Grand Prize of $10,000 USD and a Special Jury Prize of $5,000 USD. Submission is free. The competition is limited to a director's first or second narrative feature (documentaries are not eligible), making it one of the few major festival competitions exclusively for emerging directors.
If you have a completed first or second narrative feature, the International New Talent Competition accepts submissions via the festival website from February 6 to March 13, 2026. There is no submission fee. Use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator to plan your overall festival strategy.
Key Sections
- International New Talent Competition - 10 first or second narrative features from around the world competing for $15,000 in cash prizes. Free to submit. Films must be 70+ minutes, available as DCP, and have a Taiwan premiere.
- Taipei Film Award - competitive section for Taiwanese features, shorts, and documentaries. The top award recognizes the best Taiwanese film of the year. New in 2026: a Best Original Film Song award has been added, and the Best Score award has been renamed Best Original Film Music.
- Taiwan Cinema Panorama - a comprehensive survey of new Taiwanese films, non-competitive
- Documentary Program - nonfiction features and shorts, primarily Taiwanese
- Shorts Program - short films from Taiwan and internationally
- Industry Program - market screenings, forums, and networking events for film professionals
- Taiwan Film Marketing Creative Award - renamed in 2026 from the Taiwan Film Marketing Award, recognizing creative film marketing (separate submission period: February 6 to March 20, 2026)
Submission Details
International New Talent Competition:
- Submission period: February 6 to March 13, 2026
- Submission fee: Free
- Submission method: Online via the festival website (requires website registration)
- Notification: Mid-May 2026
Eligibility:
- Films must be a director's first or second feature (excluding documentaries)
- Minimum length: 70 minutes
- Must be available as DCP
- Film must have been premiered after March 15, 2025
- Films must have a Taiwan premiere (not previously screened publicly in Taiwan)
- Non-Taiwanese films should have English subtitles if the dialogue is not in English
- Taiwanese films should have both Chinese and English subtitles
- Each selected film is screened in its finalized version
Taipei Film Award (Taiwanese films only):
- Submission period: February 6 to March 13, 2026
- Films must not have been publicly screened in Taiwan before March 14, 2025
- Animation films must be produced frame-by-frame or shot and produced in stop-motion style (new 2026 rule)
- Best New Actor eligibility tightened in 2026: applicants must not have previously played a lead or supporting role in a narrative feature, must not have previously applied for Best New Actor at the Taipei Film Award, and must not have been nominated for or won an acting award for a short film
What Filmmakers Should Know
International New Talent Competition prizes:
- Grand Prize: $10,000 USD
- Special Jury Prize: $5,000 USD
- Audience Choice Award (no cash prize)
- Taiwan Directors Guild Award (no cash prize)
The 2025 competition selected 10 films representing 13 countries. The Grand Prize went to Laurynas Bareisa for Drowning, and the Special Jury Prize went to Paula Tomas Marques for Two Times Joao Liberada. The Taiwan Directors Guild Award was given to Seyfettin Tokmak for Empire of the Rabbits, and the Audience Choice Award went to the Taiwanese film Family Matters.
Free submission: The International New Talent Competition is one of the few major festival competitions that does not charge a submission fee. This makes it accessible to filmmakers who may be priced out of festivals with $75 to $125 submission fees. However, the competition is limited to 10 slots from hundreds of entries, so the acceptance rate is competitive.
Taiwan premiere requirement: All films in the International New Talent Competition must have a Taiwan premiere. If your film has already screened publicly in Taiwan (at any venue, to any audience size), it is not eligible. Plan your festival circuit accordingly if you are targeting Taipei.
Relationship to Golden Horse: The Taipei Film Festival (June-July) and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (November) are separate events run by different organizations. The Golden Horse is the older and more internationally recognized event, focused on Chinese-language cinema awards. The Taipei Film Festival is more focused on urban themes, emerging directors, and Taiwanese cinema. A film can screen at both festivals if it meets each festival's eligibility requirements, though the Golden Horse's premiere requirements (no public screening before July 1, 2025 for features) may conflict with Taipei Film Festival's June-July dates.
DCP requirement: All selected films must be delivered as DCP. The festival does not accept other formats for screening.
Major Awards
International New Talent Competition:
- Grand Prize - $10,000 USD
- Special Jury Prize - $5,000 USD
- Audience Choice Award - audience-voted
- Taiwan Directors Guild Award - selected by the guild
Taipei Film Award (Taiwanese films):
- Grand Prize (Best Taiwanese Film)
- Best Director
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Actor / Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor / Best Supporting Actress
- Best New Actor (tightened eligibility in 2026)
- Best Original Film Music (renamed from Best Score in 2026)
- Best Original Film Song (new award in 2026)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Sound Design
- Best Art Direction
- Best Animation
- Best Documentary
- Best Short Film
Festival History
The Taipei Film Festival was founded in 1998 as a platform for Taipei's cinema culture, originally focused on urban-themed international films and Taiwanese cinema. The festival was established to complement the Golden Horse Film Festival with an event more directly connected to Taipei's city cultural life.
The International New Talent Competition was added to provide a platform for emerging directors from around the world. The competition's restriction to first and second features distinguishes it from most festival competitions, which do not limit eligibility by director experience level. Over the years, the competition has selected films from directors across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
The Taipei Film Award is the festival's domestic competition, recognizing the best of Taiwanese cinema across feature films, documentaries, shorts, and animation. The 2026 edition introduced the Best Original Film Song award and renamed the Best Score category to Best Original Film Music, reflecting evolving standards in how film music and songs are recognized in Taiwanese cinema.
The 28th edition (June 26 to July 11, 2026) continues the festival's dual focus on international emerging talent and domestic Taiwanese cinema, with both the International New Talent Competition and the Taipei Film Award opening for submissions on February 6, 2026.
Past Winners
The festival runs two major competitions. The International New Talent Competition is for first and second narrative features from around the world. The Taipei Film Award honors the best of Taiwanese cinema across four categories.
2025 International New Talent Competition (27th edition):
- Grand Prize ($10,000 USD): Drowning Dry, dir. Laurynas Bareisa (Lithuania). The jury praised the film as "a masterful magic trick" with layered storytelling.
- Special Jury Prize ($5,000 USD): Two Times Joao Liberada, dir. Paula Tomas Marques. The jury noted the director's bold exploration of identity in a first feature.
- Taiwan Directors Guild Award: Empire of the Rabbits, dir. Seyfettin Tokmak
- Audience Choice Award: Family Matters, dir. Pan Ke-yin (Taiwan). The film moved audiences to tears at its Taipei premiere.
2024 International New Talent Competition (26th edition):
- Grand Prize: Under the Roof, dir. Maria Joussemet (Tunisian-American). The jury cited its strong visual language and mature sound design handling a complex family story.
- Special Jury Prize: My Sun, dir. Daishi Matsunaga (Japan). Also won the Taiwan Directors Guild Award and Audience Choice Award, making it the biggest winner of the night.
2025 Taipei Film Award Grand Prize:
- Winner (NT$1 million): Island of the Winds, dir. Hsu Ya-Ting. A 20-year documentary project about the Losheng Sanatorium and residents fighting eviction. Also won Best Documentary and Best Editing. Nominated for Golden Horse Best Documentary.
2026 Taipei Film Award Grand Prize:
- Winner: The Dance of A Soloist (Best Documentary). The jury praised its gentle imagery connecting family memory with ethnomusicology history. Best Narrative Feature went to A Foggy Tale, which won five awards total.
Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up
Several films that won or competed at the Taipei Film Festival went on to significant downstream success:
- Detention (2020 Taipei Film Award Grand Prize) - dir. John Hsu. Became a major commercial hit in Taiwan. Later adapted into a Netflix series and a video game.
- The Great Buddha+ (2017 Grand Prize) - dir. Huang Hsin-yao. Won multiple Golden Horse Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay. Screened at Toronto and Rotterdam.
- Cape No. 7 (2008 Grand Prize) - dir. Wei Te-sheng. Became one of Taiwan's highest-grossing domestic films of all time. Launched Wei's career toward the epic Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale.
- Family Matters (2025 Audience Choice) - dir. Pan Ke-yin. Won Best Feature Film at the New York Asian Film Festival. Won Golden Horse Best Supporting Actor (Tseng Jing-hua) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Screened at Udine Far East Film Festival and Osaka Asian Film Festival.
- Island of the Winds (2025 Grand Prize) - dir. Hsu Ya-Ting. Received the Cannes Docs IEFTA Award in 2022 as a work-in-progress. Nominated for Golden Horse Best Documentary Feature. Received theatrical release in Taiwan in December 2025.
- Thanatos, Drunk (2015 Grand Prize) - dir. Chang Tso-chi. Won multiple Golden Horse Awards. Screened at Berlin and other major international festivals.
Submission Tips Specific to This Festival
The International New Talent Competition is free to submit, making it one of the few major festival competitions with no entry fee. This is a significant advantage for filmmakers with limited budgets. However, the competition is intense: 443 films submitted for 10 slots in 2025.
The competition is restricted to first or second narrative features only. Documentaries are not eligible. If your film is a documentary, consider the Taipei Film Award instead, but note that category is limited to Taiwanese productions.
The jury tends to favor films with strong visual language and personal storytelling. Recent winners like Drowning Dry and Under the Roof were praised for their formal craft and distinctive directorial vision. Films that blend genre elements with intimate subject matter tend to perform well.
A Taiwan premiere is required. If your film has already screened publicly in Taiwan, it is ineligible. Plan your Asian festival circuit carefully. Films that play at Hong Kong, Busan, or Tokyo first can still be eligible if they have not screened in Taiwan.
The Taipei Film Award is only for Taiwanese films. If you are a Taiwanese filmmaker, submitting to both competitions can maximize your festival experience. The two competitions run simultaneously during the festival.
Industry Reputation Notes
The Taipei Film Festival is often overshadowed by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, which runs in November. The Golden Horse is the most internationally recognized Chinese-language cinema awards event, often called the "Chinese-language Oscars." Taipei Film Festival has a different focus: emerging directors and Taiwanese domestic cinema.
Compared to Busan International Film Festival's New Currents section, the International New Talent Competition is smaller (10 films vs. roughly 10-14) but more strictly limited to first and second features. Busan's larger industry market and broader Asian cinema scope give it more international visibility. Taipei compensates with its free submission policy and a jury that includes international programmers from Berlin and San Sebastian.
The festival's industry program is growing but remains modest compared to the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, which is the primary industry market in the Chinese-language film world. For international filmmakers, the main value of Taipei Film Festival is the competition exposure and the chance to connect with Taiwanese distributors and the local film community.
The 2026 edition (June 26 to July 11) continues the festival's focus on emerging talent. The 2026 International New Talent Competition selected 10 films from 430 submissions, including entries from Japan, South Korea, Spain, the UK, Canada, and Argentina.
Watch
See Also
For understanding Taiwanese and Asian cinema, see International Film Markets. For festival strategy, see Film Festival Strategy. To calculate whether festival submission fees are worth it for your budget, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator. For another major Asia-Pacific festival, see Sydney Film Festival.
