The Okotoks Film Festival is a four day international festival to be held annually in the town of Okotoks. (located in Alberta, Canada just south of Calgary) We are entering our sixth year of the festival. We are thrilled to support filmmakers and give the opportunity for audiences and filmmakers to connect. Our growing festival has seen films from as near as down the street to as far as Japan and India!! We can't wait to see what you, as filmmakers, surprise and delight us with this year.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year saw us move the festival online, However we will be going back to a LIVE PUBLIC SCREENING EVENT this year at the Okotoks Cinemas. We had a huge success with audiences however and would like to create a Hybrid festival, both Online and in Person. For this reason, each film that is submitted will be asked if you would like to be considered for our in-person festival, online festival, or both. The answers to this question has NO influence on the likelihood of your film being selected, it just lets us know how to consider your film. We will be selecting a collection of short films and one feature to play online only. We will also select a collection of shorts to play at both at the online and public festival. We will still schedule the majority of our films to play in person at the festival only. We understand that many films are looking for premieres and/or are not ready for their films to be available online. We will never consider a film that requests an in-person only screening for online and selecting that option will not reduce your chances of playing at the 4 day in-person live festival.
Workshops will be run during the festival. Selected film will be given two artist festival passes, which give free access to all screenings and workshops during the festival (including the online festival), and 6 tickets to the screening of their film. Filmmakers of selected films will also be invited to attend a Filmmaker Lunch on the Saturday of the Festival. Filmmakers are invited to attend our opening night awards ceremony as VIPs!! All selected Filmmakers are able to take part in our Filmmaker Instagram Takeover leading up to the festival and an online Speed networking event.
We are looking for films in ANY GENRE for our general screenings. We also have two specialized screenings with specific genre needs. These genres are Children's short films and VR/360 short films.
Each year we will be creating a short films package from a specific country (This country changes each year). This year the selected country is GERMANY. Please submit as a Country Highlight if your film was shot in or is made by filmmakers from that country.
The first month of submission is FREE TO ALL SHORT FILMMAKERS. (Sept 1-Sept 30) Submission is always free to films from the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31. If you believe your film qualifies as a Foothills Film (made in or by filmmakers from the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31) please e-mail info@okotoksfilmfestival.ca for information on how to submit.
**NEW THIS YEAR: We are combining our Zooom Youth Film Festival with our main festival. Youth Filmmakers living in the Foothills (or with a connection to the foothills) are asked to submit their films for a unique local youth screening. Selected films will also get mentorship meeting with an industry professional. The Youth Screening will include a full gala including Red Carpet, Awards, and snacks. Youth films are any film with a director under 18.
O.F.F. also runs a 48-hour filmmaking challenge. For more information visit our website.
Awards:
Best Picture - $1000CAN
Audience Choice - $1000CAN
Best Cinematography
Best Performance
Best Art Direction
Best Overall Sound
Best Editing
Best Screenplay
Best Animation
Best Visual/ Special Effects
Best Documentary
Best Foothills Youth