⁣⁣⁣⁣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.

⁣The San Francisco Women Film Festival is an online celebration dedicated to promoting the work of talented women filmmakers from around the globe. This dynamic event showcases a diverse range of both short and feature-length films, highlighting stories by and about women. Our mission is to amplify female voices in cinema, offering a platform not only to women filmmakers but also to male filmmakers who create films with a strong focus on women's experiences and perspectives.
The festival aims to inspire, educate, and entertain audiences by presenting a curated selection of films that challenge, provoke, and uplift. With a variety of categories, the festival encourages submissions from all genres, offering a unique opportunity for both emerging and established filmmakers to share their work with a global audience.
Whether you're an aspiring director, an experienced filmmaker, or an enthusiast of cinema, the San Francisco Women Film Festival invites you to join this vibrant celebration of stories that matter.

⁣⁣⁣Our festival was founded to support and promote independent short films from all around the world. We recognize how difficult it is to get your short film ’out there’, and find a platform where your film can reach the right audience. We aim to promote and provide exposure to these films and organize a fun and culturally diverse night of indie cinema for filmmakers and cinephiles alike. Our program will reflect the diversity and opportunities within the short film genre, and our goal is to show films that the audience would otherwise have not seen, and leave a lasting impact.
We look forward to seeing your submissions and welcoming you to Stockholm Short Film Festival! Our submission window for our 1st edition is now open!
For each season, the official selection will be carefully picked by our panel of expert judges and will consist of the films nominated for an award. The movie that got an award will have the option to be screened online during our annual event if they get into the next round; they will also be promoted on our social media platforms and website.

⁣The Indianapolis Independent Film Festival warmly welcomes you to join our global community celebration of peace, love, and the art of filmmaking. We are a collaboration of multi-talented writers, film score composers, filmmakers, producers, and musicians, united in our mission to entertain, inform, inspire, encourage, and educate. Our goal is to recognize and honour artists who use their creative work to increase awareness, provide diverse perspectives, tackle complex social issues, and promote international connections. As an inspiring and intimate platform, the we offer writers, directors, and producers the opportunity to create new projects, develop tools for success, and establish new connections within the global film and entertainment industry.

⁣⁣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.

⁣⁣The Melbourne Independent Film Festival connects global filmmakers with audiences in a diverse, culturally vibrant community by presenting films in its virtual competition and promoting the winners and honorable mentions of each edition in Australia and abroad.
The committee seeks films that engage, entertain, experiment and educate through the power of visual storytelling. Independent film projects of all genres from international talents go through our programming team and the official selections compete in various sections of the competition.
As an emerging international festival, the Melbourne Independent Film Festival aims to be one of the leading film festivals for international film-makers, screenwriters and talents who are dedicated to the cinematic language. It is a unique and innovative online platform for new talent and a celebration of cinematic creativity and innovation.

⁣⁣Atlanta Movie Awards welcomes you to its 1st edition! An event organized for both independent filmmakers and cinema-goers who love to discover niche films and artists.
The festival’s judges and programmers come from different film backgrounds and are eager to put together an exciting and truly high-quality program of indie films. The festival’s aim is to discover new talent, films and filmmakers with potential, and to recognize the collaborative work this art form is funded on.
The program will focus on independent films of different genres, with no limitations on length, style or country of origin. The festival is open to everyone regardless of budget and experience.
The festival is run in association with a collection of international film festivals supporting indie filmmaking. By establishing a working network with filmmakers, producers and marketing professionals, we share one common goal: to forge productive and lasting relationships between independent filmmakers and audiences.

⁣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.

⁣Santa Barbara Shorts is a short, online film competition festival. Its aim is to provide quality films to our festival audience with particular attention to the craft of performance, cinematography, sound and score, and editing.
We are seeking shorts in documentary, animation, live action and narrative films up to 50 mins there are no restrictions on when or where the film was made as long as the film itself can be classified into a general audience rating.
If you have an interesting live action or animated short film, we warmly welcome you to submit to our film section of our festival.