⁣⁣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.

⁣⁣Welcome to the Santa Cruz Independent Film Festival page. This is an online event for the film.
This online event is a platform motivated by the predominant position of California in matters of art and culture. The region possesses a rich heritage and a large film community. The region has often been a locale for Hollywood productions and television programming. With this in mind, we accept films from all over the world, from American filmmakers and international ones. The main criterion for participating in the event is artistic criteria and merits.
The above program will be held bi-annually. The festival believes that many artistic endeavours and projects are produced in today’s world, and many of these projects want to know their outcome as soon as possible. Therefore, this structure allows the filmmaker to be informed of his work’s result in the shortest time possible and will enable him to provide a more suitable and timely platform for advertising and promoting the film. The festival is held in the form of an online award event, which means that the works are reviewed and evaluated privately by the jury, and finally, the jury announces the best result. Once a year, a few selected projects will be chosen from all selected movies and broadcast online.

⁣⁣Portland New Alternative Voices is a bi-monthly awards event. It is an online event. The world has changed and so have we. We are embracing the virtual future, showing our elite films exclusively and broadly online in a manner that supports each film’s individual path of exposure.
The festvial will welcome any independent project from all genres. This is an independent event for all Feature, Shorts, Documentary, Experimental, Commercial, Music Video, Animations, Student Films, Series and TV.
The award ceremony is looking for independent projects from all genres, particularly low or no-budget ones and all countries. Our mission is to promote films, and be another step up in the filmmakers' careers. 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.

⁣⁣⁣Hong Kong Indie Film Festival (HIFF) is a brand new, up and coming online bi-monthly film festival held in Hong Kong. Recognized by IMDB, HIFF is more than just a Film Festival; it is a strong connection among all filmmakers around the world. Hong Kong Independent Film Festival is a hub for international filmmakers to celebrate their premieres, thank their cast and crew, and meet their fans. Exposing young talented filmmakers to an environment of industry professionals with vast experience in their field is a priority for us. One of our top aims is to help first time filmmakers, regardless of their age, promote their talent. The objective of HIFF is to provide support to independent filmmakers globally through reviewing, judging, marketing, and distribution networking. We aim to create networks that lead to further opportunities for filmmakers.

⁣The Seattle Movie Awards is a festival that showcases the best independent films from around the world. Every season we award the best film makers, writers and producers by inviting them to our online competition hosted in Seattle, US. We showcase various genres from non-fiction to fiction films.
Not only do we grant prizes to the winners, but we also connect film makers to our network of professionals. Connecting filmmakers with our extensive database of agents, distributors and other industry professionals. Our festival is also globally orientated meaning we not only look for Western films but also films from Africa, Asia, South America and Australia.

⁣Welcome to the Austin International Art Festival, an online IMDB qualified awards event. This is a festival for both short and featured films. We accept films from all over the world, from American filmmakers and international ones. The main criterion for participating in the festival is artistic criteria and merits. We hope to provide a suitable environment for the introduction of short films and feature films.
The festival believes that many films are produced in today's world, and many of these films want to know of their outcome as soon as possible. With this in mind, our program will be held monthly. The monthly festival is held in the form of an online award festival, which means that the works are reviewed and evaluated "privately" by the jury, and finally, the jury announces the best result. If they want, monthly winners can request a public online screening. We do also promote our winners through our social media and issue certificates for our winners. The jury of the above festival has been chosen from the expert members of cinema, from the university environment, from the working and professional background of cinema and the well-known cinema distributors.
We do believe our structure is the best answer to the reality of contemporary filmmaking. It allows the filmmaker to be informed of his work's result in the shortest time possible and enables them to provide a more suitable and timely platform for advertising and promoting the film.

⁣Hong Kong Indie Film Festival (HIFF) is a brand new, up and coming online bi-monthly film festival held in Hong Kong. Recognized by IMDB, HIFF is more than just a Film Festival; it is a strong connection among all filmmakers around the world. Hong Kong Independent Film Festival is a hub for international filmmakers to celebrate their premieres, thank their cast and crew, and meet their fans. Exposing young talented filmmakers to an environment of industry professionals with vast experience in their field is a priority for us. One of our top aims is to help first time filmmakers, regardless of their age, promote their talent. The objective of HIFF is to provide support to independent filmmakers globally through reviewing, judging, marketing, and distribution networking. We aim to create networks that lead to further opportunities for filmmakers.

⁣⁣⁣⁣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. Winners will be announced on our website and social media pages every month. You can submit your works through FilmFreeway.

⁣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.

⁣Niagara Falls International Short Festival, an IMDB qualified festival, is a bi-monthly Us-based short online film festival held in the beautiful Niagara Falls, New York. Niagara is valued not only for its waterfall but also for its beautiful inns, hotels, restaurants and tourist destinations such as its wineries. Filmmakers and artists have been attracted to Niagara Falls and have used its potentials to set their films. Niagara Falls has been used as background in numerous feature films, including the famous Marilyn Monroe film, titled Niagara (1953), and Superman and Pirates of the Caribbean, to name a few. The spectacular natural scenery of Niagara Falls has always given an extra layer of beauty to films shown on the silver screen, and we hope to use these infrastructures to offer you a fantastic festival experience.
If you have a film ready to be submitted, you can send your film to us before the next deadline. This is an online festival, which means that films will be privately judged, and we will announce the winners; if you are a winner, your project "might" be considered for our online event.