There’s a clarion call for the world’s filmmakers to bring their movies and short films to the 2024 Calgary International Film Festival.
Submissions to CIFF opened on Jan. 8, with a goal of attracting more than 4,000 films this year—up from nearly 4,000 in 2023– to bring the best the world offers to Calgary audiences.
This year, the festival is looking for international films shorter than 40 minutes for the short film categories, and above 40 minutes for longer format categories.
“We’re just looking for some exciting new films to bring to the festival this year in September,” said Adam Keresztes, Shorts Programmer and Program Administrator for CIFF.
“We get submissions from almost every country around the world, and then we’re trying to curate a really interesting set of films that really represents the world as a whole. We are an international film festival, and we love receiving films from countries that maybe don’t have as big film industries, but somebody there is doing something really interesting, and we’d like to highlight that.”
For those prospective filmmakers, there are some pretty big opportunities to use the festival as a stepping stone to the pinnacle of entertainment awards in Canada and in the United States.
Shorts that take home the festival’s Best Overall Short Film Award are eligible to submit to the Academy Awards as a qualifying film for consideration to be nominated.
“We’ve had films in the past that have won, and then we’re then nominated or shortlisted for the award. It is a big enticement because that can be an expensive process as a short filmmaker if you want to get your film into Oscar contention. You have to pay to get it screened in different cinemas,” Keresztes said.
“But if you come to us, if you get your film into CIFF and then you win, then you bypass those nomination categories. So that’s a big thing.”
Keresztes said that films accepted to the festival also become Canadian Screen Awards qualifying, in addition to numerous CIFF category awards that come with cash prizes.
“We also have a lot of awards, and exposure of getting your film into the festival is a big deal. Putting the laurels from a festival like CIFF that’s been around for 25 years, and has some prestige in the international scene and pretty high prestige in Canada, is pretty exciting for filmmakers,” he said.
Filmmakers and studios can submit their films for consideration for the 2024 festival, through the film festival submission site FilmFreeway.
Feature films for consideration in the festival must be at least a Calgary premiere and have not been released on demand or have been available to Canadian audiences online.
Short films that have not yet screened in Calgary and are not available online are given priority.
For more details on the submission process, and requirements for the festival, filmfreeway.com/CalgaryInternationalFilmFestival.
