⁣⁣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.

⁣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.

⁣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.

Florence Indie Film Festival (formerly Venice Indie) is a seasonal online awards event. The festival will welcome any independent project from all categories. The Festival is looking for independent projects from all genres and categories,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 official 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 offer the option of online screening.

⁣⁣Berlin Short Awards is a bi-monthly IMDb qualified online short awards event. We are happy to welcome filmmakers from all genres, particularly low or no-budget ones, and all countries, especially from those traditionally underrepresented in the global film industry. Our main goal is to showcase their brilliant projects in Berlin's beautiful city for a diverse audience of cinephiles. Berlin, as a city dates to the 13th century. Reminders of the city's turbulent 20th-century history can be seen in the parts of city. The city's also known for its art scene and modern landmarks like the gold-coloured, swoop-roofed Berliner Philharmonic, built in 1963. We encourage you to submit your work to this online event.
The selected projects are privately judged by a random team of invited experts from academia and the film industry worldwide, against a high standard of merit. From the official selection pool, which has a very competitive acceptance rate, Berlin Shorts Award chose the nominees and award winners of the month. All the Winners will receive the Official Laurels and the winning-category certificate.

⁣⁣An IMDb qualified festvial , Rotterdam Independent Film Festival (Riff) is a brand new, up-and-coming online seasonal short film festival in Netherland, a country with great filmmakers like Johan van der Keuken and popular international film festivals. Riff is an exclusive online short film competition, and our main goal is to showcase the brilliant short projects for a diverse audience of cinephiles.
RIFF is more than just a Film event; it is a strong connection among all filmmakers worldwide. RIFF 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 promote their talent regardless of their age. The objective of RIFF is to provide support to indie filmmakers globally through reviewing, judging, marketing, and distribution networking. We aim to create networks that lead to further opportunities for filmmakers.
RIFF is an online award film festival. You have two steps in front to advance to the annual event. At first, each season, our jury selects the winners of each category through "private" screenings. Every submitted film has a chance to be a winner for each season. In the next step, we select few films from the winner projects for the annual event. If you get to the second stage, we will get in touch with you for the annual event (not getting a notification from us means that you are not a selected film for the second stage). If you advance to the yearly event, you need to send us materials for online screening.
Our judges consist of filmmakers and industry professionals from 5 different countries. We believe that having such a multicultural team behind our festival helps our festival thrive among Indie Festivals.

⁣⁣⁣⁣The Niagara Falls International Short Festival is a seasonal online film festival dedicated to showcasing short films. With an emphasis on brevity and creativity, the festival offers filmmakers a platform to share their work with a global audience. The festival's next online event is scheduled for April 15, 2024, promising a diverse selection of compelling short films from talented creators around the world. Stay tuned for an immersive cinematic experience that celebrates storytelling in its most concise and impactful form.

⁣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.

⁣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.

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.