⁣The Chicago film industry was a central hub for motion picture production and exhibition before Hollywood became the undisputed capital of filmmaking. In the early 1900s, Chicago boasted the most significant number of production companies and filmmakers. This situation was partially preserved until 1920, when the Chicago film industry met decline for a combination of reasons, including the impact of the Great Depression. Not until the 1980s and early 21st century has Chicago experienced a film production revival. Movie production again entered Chicago in the 1980s, with the state of Illinois becoming a leader in money spent on film production. Blockbusters, such as Blues Brothers, Sixteen Candles, and The Dark Knight, have rejuvenated the Chicago film scene.
Inspired by this tradition, the mission of the Chicago Filmmaker Awards, aka Cifawards, is to recognize and reward independent filmmakers that are currently missing in mainstream Hollywood. Whether your talent is in front of the camera or behind it, we have a category for you. We are waiting to watch your films.
We are interested in professionally made independent works. Submissions are open for shorts, feature narratives, documentaries and animation, and even experimental films and music videos.
This will be a seasonal Awards event with yearly live screening. Each season, we will select the best-known movies and promote the winners through social media and the official website. Few of the winners of each season will be selected for our online event.

⁣⁣⁣The IMDb qualified festvial of San Francisco Indie Short Festival is happy to welcome filmmakers from all over the world and short films of all genres. Our main goal is to showcase their brilliant projects in the beautiful city of San Francisco for a diverse audience of cinephiles. It is a world-class event committed to present the best of this beautiful art called 'Cinema' and dedicated to all generations of filmmakers. The festival has a monthly and yearly structure. First of all, through "private" screenings, a team of professional screeners will evaluate all the submitted short films during each month. All the highest scored films will be reviewed by at least three judges who will decide through "private" screenings the best of each season. All the seasonal winners will receive the Official Laurels and the winning-category certificate for each season. We will announce the winners of each month through our social media. In the second stage, we will hold an annual event. Here, the internal committee selects the candidates for the yearly event from each month's winners. The selected films will compete for the annual awards.

⁣⁣⁣Phoenix Shorts is a monthly and yearly online IMDb qualified festival. We encourage the breadth and variety of views and supporting the best up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world. Each month, our jury selects the winners of each category through private screenings. Every submitted film has a chance to be a winner in the monthly competition. If they get selected by the programming team of the yearly event, the winners of each month may be then considered for the annual online competition. If this happens, they will be shown and compete with other films-winners at the yearly online event. It's an excellent opportunity to provide a platform and to introduce your work. We believe your talents must be showcased early to propel the filmmakers of the future into their feature film careers. We are here to recognize and spotlight creative and talented filmmakers like you.

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Palm Springs Shorts is a bi-monthly online awards event. The festival will welcome any independent project from all genres. The Festival is looking for independent projects from all genres, particularly low or no-budget ones and all countries. The selection process has two parts. First, the submitted projects are judged through private screenings by our internal programming team, and they will select the Finalist films of each edition. Then the Festival's jurors, who are a random team of invited experts mainly from the film industry, will privately review the films and award the best projects. All of the winners will receive the official laurel and an achievement certificate and can request an online screening. Winner's announcements will be released through our social media to help promote the films.

⁣⁣We are a young cinephile group inspired by French cinema; our first love and point of entry to cinema were through the French new wave. When we watch films by Goddard and other masters of the new wave, we realize how the language of cinema could be diverse and different. French cinema was a bomb for us and changed our mindset about the art of filmmaking wholly. This festival is our dedication to the French cinema.
We prefer films with new /subversive looks. We hope to discover unheard voices and introduce them to the world. If you have a project ready, even a tiny one, don’t hesitate to submissions. We are here to promote your works and show your talent to the world.
This will be the second year of the festival. We started quietly; we had little chance for a great exposure during Covid time. Still, we have managed to organize physical events and invite young filmmakers to share their voices. We hope you make our event bigger with your physical presence. We believe films are made for big theatres, and a festival must respect this.

⁣⁣Sydney Indie Short Festival is an online seasonal film festival. The Festival is dedicated to international short films of all genres, especially low or no-budget ones, plus student films. From the pool of official selection, which has a very competitive acceptance rate, Sydney Short chose the nominees and award winners of the season. Each season, our jury selects the winners of each category through "private" screenings. Every submitted film has a chance to be a winner in the competition. Suppose you're looking for an opportunity to showcase your film in the best possible way to spread the news about it and experience a joyful festival atmosphere. In that case, the Sydney indie short Festival is what you need.

⁣Washington Film Awards is a unique seasonal virtual film competitions. Attracting both powerhouse companies as well as talented new filmmakers, it is an unparalleled, truly international awards competition, not a traditional film festival – which allows filmmakers from around the world to enter their films in this prestigious competition.
The festival gives talented directors, producers, actors, creative teams the positive exposure they deserve. It discovers and honors the achievements of filmmakers who produce high quality projects. The festvial promotes award winners through press releases to filmmakers and industry contacts. Above all, we truly value and honor our filmmaking family.
The festival accept screenplays (up to 40 pages) and short films (up to 40 minutes long). It offers a seasonal competition. Each season, our jury selects the winners through private screenings. The seasonal winners will qualify for the online screening. Furthermore, all seasonal winners receive a free digital certificate (in JPG), ready for print.

⁣⁣Created to encourage content creators from unique backgrounds to share their stories, International Cosmopolitan Film Festival of Tokyo will promote the work of diverse (thought, race, gender, age, religion, physical ability and sexual orientation) filmmakers and recognize them for their achievements in film.
On the other hand, coronavirus and the challenges and devastating changes it has caused made it clear that the future of art might be in the hands of animations and computer generated services. In the past few months, many art projects have been either cancelled or halted and postponed but animation and digital companies were able to keep going despite the Coronavirus pandemic, and they have managed to survive through their use of CGI technologies instead of using traditional methods. The festival was founded with the goal of becoming a place to introduce the best of recent national and international animated art projects. The festival is framed by a range of different activities surrounding the art and industry of animation.

⁣Are you fed up with the politicization of art in contemporary society? Do you believe that you are an excellent filmmaker because of the inner artistic quality of your work and not because of the political layers of your film?. Do you find it irritating that festivals constantly ask you about your identities, your political views and make you fill interrogative forms in which you have to justify that you are a "good" morally correct artist for society? If you think any of this, welcome to the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival for ALL! We believe that an artist should be free to create her work, and no institutions for any reason should impose on her how her art should look. For us, a just and democratic cinema is a cinema that treats everybody the same and equally without imposing any artistic criteria to follow. This is the first principle of democracy. Each artist's "dignity" and free opinion is more important than the "assumptions" of intellectuals who feel they know what justice is and want to teach it to everybody. Every artist is equal, and every artist should be treated equally and with the same degree of respect. We have created this radical festival which this specific line of thoughts. This is the festival in which the only criteria to judge your work is its "artistic" quality and not any political demand of the current society. We judge films based on their inner qualities, and we don't care to be a politically correct festival. We want to prioritize once more the "art" of filmmaking.
The organizing and administrative team of Hollywood Golden Age started their activities in New York 2 years ago. This is a monthly New York-based film festival with a yearly event. Every month, our Jury will award the best films through private screenings. Monthly Award Winners will be chosen to compete in the online Award.

⁣Welcome to the Nashville Independent Filmmakers Festival.
This is an award ceremony that showcases the best independent films worldwide. Every season we award the best filmmakers, writers and producers. We showcase various genres, from non-fiction to fiction films, and we accept both short and featured movies. We get films from all over the world, from US filmmakers and international ones. The main criterion for participating in the festival is the artistic criteria and
merits. Considering our professional platform, we hope
to provide a suitable environment for the introduction
of short films and feature films.
This is a seasonal festival and all the works are reviewed and evaluated privately by the jury, and finally, the jury announces the best result. Filmmakers have the option to request an online screening.