11th Annual Study Abroad Film Festival

This October, we invite you to join us virtually to celebrate the power of student storytelling through film at our 11th annual Study Abroad Film Festival! 

Over the past ten years, 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. 

Last year marked our 10th Study Abroad Film Festival, and this year marks yet another milestone: IES Abroad's 75th Anniversary! To celebrate this extra-special occasion, we're taking our Film Festival abroad for the first time ever, to Vienna, Austria, where we launched our first program 75 years ago. 

While in-person attendance for this year's event is limited to specially-invited guests, we're making sure you won't miss out on the magic! We'll be live-streaming a screening of our Finalist films and the announcement of our winner on October 17th. Tune in to catch the study abroad magic, all from the comfort of your home. 

Date: October 17th, 2025

Time: TBD

How to watch: YouTube Live link coming later this year!

In 2024, we rolled out the red carpet for our Film Festival at VenueSIX10 in downtown Chicago, on October 17th—all in benefit of IES Abroad scholarships. The 2024 Study Abroad Film Festival was a special night because it marked the 10th year of our festival, and the first time in IES Abroad history that the event sold out! Connor Sorg (University of Wisconsin-Madison | IES Abroad Milan, Spring 2024) took home the Grand Prize for his film "The Journey is the Dream."

Founded in 2014, the IES Abroad Study Abroad Film Festival was the first student-focused study abroad film festival in the industry. For over ten years, the Film Festival has provided 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 the 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. To get a sense of the magic of this event, peruse our past film festivals.

Browse Past Film Festivals