Reelworld Film Festival - in its 24th year and going strong!
October 21st to November 3rd, 2024
The Reelworld Film Festival showcases a wide variety of genres in narrative and documentary features, shorts, music videos, animation and episodic content for web. The official selections reflect the strong and authentic voice of Canadians identifying as Black, Indigenous, Asian, South Asian and People of Colour.
The 2024 Reelworld Film Festival will run in a hybrid format (virtual and in-person in Toronto) from October 21st to 27th, with the films remaining accessible online until November 3rd. For the second year, the Reelworld Summit will take place during the festival, on October 22nd & 23rd. All filmmakers will get a pass to the festival and summit.
Awards & Prizes:
Works selected for the festival will be screened and considered for awards by an independent jury of professional filmmakers and industry executives. The 2024 Reelworld Film Festival Awards will support Canadian talent with a total of $45,000 in cash prizes, including $20,000 for Outstanding Feature Film and $10,000 for Outstanding Short Film. Films in competition that qualify as premieres will be eligible for the below mentioned awards:
Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film
Outstanding Director for a Feature Film
Outstanding Writer for a Feature Film
Outstanding Cinematographer for a Feature Film
Outstanding Producer for a Feature Film
Outstanding Feature Film Award
Outstanding Actress in a Short Film
Outstanding Actor in a Short Film
Outstanding Director for a Short Film
Outstanding Writer for a Short Film
Outstanding Cinematographer for a Short Film
Outstanding Producer for Short Film
Outstanding Short Film Award
Rules & Terms:
1) ELIGIBILITY
- Eligible film submissions must be directed by Black, Indigenous and/or People of Colour Canadian filmmaker;
- All submissions and exhibitions must be in either English, subtitled in English or English versioned (if selected, any subtitles must be burned into final submission file);
- Must not be available online, via any home device (blu-ray, DVD, etc.) or screened/released theatrically or on TV in Canada by the time of the festival exhibition until after the final festival date November 3, 2024;
- Rough cuts and works-in-progress will be considered during the selection process.
- Entrant confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry into the Reelworld Film Festival and to use all music, images, and content in the entry; Entrant hereby grants Reelworld Film Festival permission to screen and otherwise use the entry in connection with the 2024 festival. Your film festival acceptance also grants Reelworld permission to use stills and excerpts from the entry for promotional and publicity use.
Programming Consideration
We accept narrative films, documentaries, animation, webisodes (web series), and episodic content, by Black, Indigenous, Asian and People of Colour Canadian filmmakers. All programs are carefully curated and submissions will be fully considered by the Reelworld Film Festival programming team. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR SCREENER PASSWORD IS CORRECT AT TIME OF SUBMISSION.
Film Length
For the purposes of eligibility and awards consideration, Reelworld uses the following definitions:
Feature-Length: 45 minutes or longer
Short: up to 30 minutes
Episodic: up to 45 minutes (must be part of or intended to be part of a 3+ part series)
Selection & Notification Process
Accepted applicants will be notified of programming decisions by email before September 3rd, 2024. If applicants do not hear by that date, then they have not been selected for the festival. Final programming, categorization and slotting of films will be determined by the Reelworld programming team. Their decision is final. Successful applicants will receive this information in their official invitation.
Selected applicants must send in a film trailer and a one-minute scene of their choosing. Other requirements, such as social media handles, press information, etc will be outlined in your selection letter.
Acceptance of your invitation into the festival indicates an understanding that this will be a hybrid screening of both an online festival screening, geoblocked to Ontario and an in-person screening in Toronto.
Selected Applicants will receive passes to the Festival and complimentary tickets to their screening. These details will be outlined in your selection letter.
Accepted Exhibition Formats
For this year's digital online festival, a direct FTP upload link to our secure online streaming platform, CineSend is the required method for uploading film assets, as well as critical film info like credits, premiere status, synopses, etc. Selected applicants must provide a high quality digital file that meets the source file technical requirements for upload. Details about this will be outlined following your selection letter.
For accessibility, all accepted films should have subtitles or closed captions in WebVTT or TTML file format included with the delivery (can be sent via email when directed, with the file clearly labeled with the film title and the subject header: "Subtitle/Closed Captions: [Film Title]")
All film assets, as well as film stills, director bios, and other relevant marketing information that will be outlined in the acceptance letter must be received by the deadline listed.
Selected applicants must provide a digital or physical DCP format, digital file in .MP4 format and or digital file in .MOV formats of their digital film or video work. The exact requirement will be detailed in the acceptance letter. For the purpose of the online festival, complete source file requirements/upload specifications to our CineSend streaming platform will be sent to selected applicants. Please contact the festival directly if you have other formats for consideration. DVD is not accepted at Reelworld.
Artist Fees
Reelworld is committed to paying artist fees to directors in selection and follows standard rates set by the Independent Media Arts Alliance (http://www.imaa.ca/). Artist fees will be paid via e-transfer after the festival.
Festival Dates
Oct 21-Nov 3rd
Summit day, 22 & 23rd
Digital Window - TBA
Opening Date - Feb 9
Free submission closes - March 8
50% discount - April 12th
Submissions closes - May 31th
Notification date - Sept 15
Event Date - October 21 - Nov 3