Tell the World Your Story

Since 2014, the study abroad film festival has been putting student stories on the big screen. Over the past decade, 600+ student films have put us on the edge of our seats, demonstrating the transformative power of study abroad and the creative abilities of IES Abroad students.

Submit your film to our 2025 Study Abroad Film Festival for your chance at an all-expenses-paid trip to Vienna, Austria for the 2025 film festival and our $1,500 Grand Prize. The winner will also sponsor a study abroad opportunity for a student in financial need at their alma mater with the $5,000 Barbara Bobrich scholarship.

There are limitless ways to capture the spirit of study abroad, and we want to see how you do it. What does study abroad mean to you? How did study abroad redefine your world? Wherever you go abroad, and whatever impact your experience has on you, we want to see your take!

  Submit Your Film How it Works

Get Inspired by Past Film Festival Winners

Watch films of previous winners, and as you capture your study abroad story, take a look at our film festival tips and tricks.

Patrick Jager, Film Festival Host, at the podium
“I don't think you should be in this film festival and submit because you want to win. I think you should submit because you have something to say.”
Patrick Jager • Award-Winning Media Executive • IES Abroad Vienna Alum, Juror & Host of the Study Abroad Film Festival

History of the Festival

Founded in 2014, the IES Abroad Study Abroad Film Festival was the first student-focused study abroad film festival in the industry. The IES Abroad Film Festival provides students a platform to voice their global journey through their own words and video footage, capturing unique views into their life-changing study abroad experiences – showing what the experience meant to them and how it redefined their world. 

Originally, the entire Film Festival was hosted as on-demand content on Facebook. In 2017 it was hosted as a live event for the first time at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and emceed by Kate Flannery – best known for her 9 seasons as Meredith, on NBC’s hit show, The Office. The 2018 and 2019 Festivals were hosted by Richard Roeper, best known as the film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times. Our 2020 Festival was hosted virtually due to Covid, and we were excited to return to an in-person Festival in 2022 hosted by Patrick Jager, an IES Abroad Vienna alum and award-winning, multi-discipline media executive. 2024 marked our special 10th anniversary of the Film Festival, and was a testament to the timelessness of student storytelling.

The Film Festival event has raised more than $1,00,000 for IES Abroad Scholarships and more than 160+ colleges and universities have been represented through 600+ student film submissions. Get a sense for the magic of this event and peruse our past film festivals.

Explore Our Past Film Festivals

How the Winning Film Is Selected

Submit Your Film by the Deadline
To be considered, you must submit your film before the deadline. Be sure your film meet all the requirements!
Learn How to Submit
Initial Review
IES Abroad staff spend hours watching and whittling down student film submissions, checking that films meet contest requirements.
Read the Rules
Jury Review
Once our staff select the pool of Semi-Finalists, they are sent to our highly esteemed international jury who watch and score all Semi-Finalist films.
Meet the Jury
Finalists Chosen
After our jury scores each Semi-Finalist, the top three filmmakers become our Finalists. Finalists are invited to Chicago to attend the Film Festival.
See Past Finalists
You Vote!
The film with the most votes is announced as the Grand Prize Winner live at the Study Abroad Film Festival and awarded $1,500.
See Past Winners

Experience the Festival

It's like a night at the Oscars...but of study abroad films. Each year of our Festival is a night to remember. We're excited to share that we're taking the 2025 film festival abroad to the place where the very first IES Abroad students went: Vienna, Austria! More details will be coming soon. Until then, relive the  magic of our past festivals.

Relive the 2024 Film Festival

Woman with long blonde hair and glasses in front of a grey wall
“The IES Abroad Film Festival gives students a platform to share their authentic, life-changing, global experiences through their own voices.”
Amy Ruhter McMillan • Vice President of Global Marketing & Institutional Relations and Founder of the IES Abroad Study Abroad Film Festival

 

 

 

 

Film-Making Tips from a Winner

2023 Film Festival Grand Prize Winner Sami Stidham created her film Take the Goggles Off to explore and share how her time abroad taught her to see the beauty in all aspects of life, from the extraordinary to the mundane. 

"My film is a piece of art that helped me process and reflect upon my time abroad through its creation. A visual representation of what I learned, and how one semester changed me for life. It was a chance for me to share my experience, and my story, with so many others, and it was a huge confidence boost for a young creative stepping out into the real world. That is why I made, and submitted, my film, and it’s why I hope you create something too. "

From writing your unique narrative to film recording techniques, discover her top tops for creating the film of a lifetime. Then, read her full letter to future Film Festival students for even more insight into the experience and what you can expect!

Press & Awards

View All Awards
GoAbroad.com’s Innovation Awards
Collegiate Advertising Awards
PIE News PIEoneer Awards
View All Awards

Join the Film Festival

Take a Film Class Abroad 

Learn How to Submit Your Film

 

a student takes a photo of the ocean on the beach in Barcelona