International Mute Photo Festival

Open Call for IMPhF 2027! Theme: "Nature ate the pixels". Exclusive medium: children's thermal print cameras. Free submissions. 20 selected series will be produced & exhibited in Samos, Greece.

Photonisos Arts & Culture NPO is pleased to announce the 1st International Mute Photo Festival (IMPhF 2027) and invites photographers from around the globe to submit their work. In an era dominated by digital mediation, information overload, and isolation in front of high-definition screens, IMPhF proposes an aesthetic and ontological return to silence, abstraction, and materiality. Under the central theme "Nature ate the pixels," the festival seeks photographic series that document humanity's organic contact with the natural world, the urge to reconnect with it, and the regenerative power of Nature.

The exclusive recording medium for IMPhF is children's thermal print cameras. By transforming a humble, accessible toy into a tool for contemporary photographic expression, the festival rejects technological perfection. The black-and-white, low-resolution thermal prints strip away chromatic spectacle, highlighting the bare essentials: form, texture, light, and the acceptance of imperfection. Thematic categories include Landscape, Symbiosis, Rebirth, and Future.

The jury will select the 15 best series in the Adult Category (18+) and the 5 best series in the Children & Youth Category (under 18). Participation in the Open Call is completely free of charge. The festival covers all production and printing expenses for the featured works in the main exhibition, while all selected works will be published in the official printed catalog. A Special Award will fully cover travel and accommodation expenses for the artist behind the most complete photographic series to attend the opening ceremony in Samos, Greece.

The open call runs from September 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027 (23:59 EEST). The exhibition will take place in July 2027 at the Old Customs Warehouses in Karlovasi, Samos, Greece. For more details and submissions, contact mutephotofestival@outlook.com.gr or visit linktr.ee/mutephotofestival.