Since 1995, The Victoria Film Festival (VFF) has presented the best Canadian and international feature, documentary, and short film to Victoria and Vancouver Island in a ten-day celebration of cinema. This year marks our 30th festival! Eclectic and inspiring, the festival hosts a wide array of film directors, producers, distributors, and programmers as guests and participants. With a continuing legacy of great workshops, installations, filmmaker lounges, and the opening Gala, this year’s celebration of film and filmmakers is taking place in British Columbia’s capital city February 2rd -11th 2024!

Best Feature Film
Best Canadian Feature
Best Canadian First Feature ($1000 prize)
Best Documentary
Best Short Film ($500 prize)
Audience Favourite Feature
Audience Favourite Short
Cultural Currents Award ($1000 prize for film that best facilitates inter-cultural understanding/insights)

Deadline & Fees for Entries
Earlybird postmark deadline: June 23, 2023
Regular postmark deadline: July 21, 2023
Late postmark deadline: August 25, 2023
Notification Date - January 5th, 2024

VFF only accepts entries digitally.

All cheque or money orders payable to Victoria Film Festival.
All funds must be in Canadian or US Dollars.
If paying via cheque/money order, include the name of the film being submitted on the payment.

Submissions
1. May be fiction, documentary, animation or experimental of short or feature length. Virtual or augmented reality projects will also be considered.
2. Only films completed in 2022 or 2023 will be considered.
3. Films which have received television , streaming, or theatrical exposure, in the Victoria, B.C. area prior to the festival are not eligible.
4. Films available and accessible online are not eligible.
5. Please include two film stills and a director's head-shot with your entry. These can be emailed or included with submission.
6. VFF only accepts online screeners for programming purposes. Entries can be submitted by secure password-protected internet link. The link must NOT be visible to the public.
7. If selected for the festival, exhibition prints may be presented via DCP or a QuickTime compliant file by January 12, 2024. Filmmakers must deliver final format as requested for festival in-person and on—line screening. No exceptions. Shorts will be compiled into programs for screening. Digital delivery of titles is preferred.
8. Virtual or augmented reality projects are exempt from some of these requirements as outlined in their category rules.
Screening Access
The festival will provide a complimentary Guest Pass for two representatives from each feature (75+ minutes) presented and six complimentary tickets to one screening of the film. Short filmmakers will receive one complimentary Guest Pass and two complimentary tickets to one of screenings of their film.

Program Selection
Entries will be reviewed by a Selection Committee appointed by the Festival Director and Program Manager. The Selection Committee provides a list of those works which it feels should be invited to participate in the VFF and will provide a short list of nominees for VFF awards. Entrants will be notified of the decisions of the Festival by January 5, 2024.

Upon Acceptance
1. All shipping costs to Victoria must be paid by the participant.
2. The Festival will pay the cost of outbound shipping.
3. For international films, our print traffic coordinator will contact you with specific instructions.
4. Promotional materials of selected films become the property of the VFF and can be used to promote the festival and the programs of the festival in all mediums.

Insurance
The Victoria Film Festival will make every effort to ensure the safe keeping of all films and videos submitted for exhibition. However, the applicant in applying to the festival agrees to release the Festival, its Officers, Directors, and other representatives from any and all claims arising in any way from the submission of materials by or on behalf of the Applicant, whether film, video or otherwise to the festival. If you wish to insure your film, please make arrangements with the Program Manager. You accept these conditions by submitting them to us.

Release
Your submission implies that you have the legal right to represent and submit this film for consideration along with your acceptance of The Victoria Film Festival regulations. By submitting this form, you also agree to allow the festival to use your film and its publicity materials for promotional purposes. Please agree below.

You accept these conditions by submitting them to us.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Thanks so much for screening Ashes, wish I could have been there! Festival had great communication and were very supportive and lovely.

    February 2024
  • Anne Phillips

    Victoria is such a familiar experience. The programmers and organizers have done such a great job of making everyone feel as if they are participating in the inner most circles. Great use of the cities iconic theaters and very responsive to the needs of the film makers.

    February 2024
  • Michael V. Smith

    Victoria Film Fest was such a great experience. They took excellent care of us--from screening fee, to accommodation, to airport pickup and drop off, to an invite to dinner, and plenty of comps for my screening. Start to finish, wonderful. Great communication, super pro. Loved this weekend.

    February 2024
  • Rose Patterson

    I was so excited that I was finally going to be able to attend, as a low Income production crew, a local film festival that I was accepted into.
    I began sharing to all my friends and family and being Sixties Scoop Survivor. I was able to share this with those in the United States as well as locally.
    I then became very sad, because suddenly, when I thought I was being included into an industry in which I had been accepted, and I was going to be given the due respect as a producer and Director.
    I felt like as a marginalized person suddenly, even this industry was treating me differently.
    It began with a communication line, and I expressed how it was important that I needed disability accommodations and that ended up having three or four letters in which I felt were constantly argumentative or questioning of why I was requesting certain information.
    It ended with sitting in a very cold theater in an area where the person who had been communicating, had then also failed to post initially, the photo of my documentary, and I was showcase at the very end of a larger documentary, which got full representation on the website.
    I was surprised to see in order to view my documentary, one could not do so unless they purchased, and I would have to broadcast and advertise the other person documentary, inadvertently, The film festival had used their title for the ticket purchase, and only in the end of the description of this first documentary was the name of mine, and it was mentioned that it would be shown afterwards.
    It was not until somebody in the community made me aware that I was inadvertently broadcasting for a political entity, because the person who created that documentary was also Very involved with political affairs in the city.
    This made me sad because I don’t mind supporting political agendas that I align with, but to be inadvertently forced to share somebody else’s document in order to get people to also come attend mine. I was very upset, and finally had to step up to my ancestral power as a daughter of a matriarchal family.
    I made the phone call and advocated for myself, and at the same time, felt like I was having to choose whether there’s a great potential in this industry to lose any support down the road and be blackball from the social circles, very much this industry is based upon
    Whether you are in the crowd, or if you are not, you may be stigmatized and pushed out if you challenge or step out of line.
    I shared I did not like the fact that my documentary did not even have a picture, and it was at the very end of the description of the previous document so that my friends and family could not even located until I had to share the name of the first documentary and then walk them through purchasing tickets for that documentary. I said how disappointed I was that I was getting such a gift of being chosen for the festival and then afterwards it was describe that my documentary would show at a later time, in small paragraph at the end of a description of another’s documentary. So many of my friends and community members in local agencies chose not to attend for they couldn’t locate my film in the festival or stated they felt uncomfortable supporting another they didn’t know about.
    After this phone call clearly they were a little tired of my constant emails as well as this final phone call. When I arrived, I was ushered in and sat down front, the heat was not on and it was warmer outside the building than inside. I was sat in the darkest part of the stage and away from the rest of the group.
    It was clearly shown that they had told the person from the first documentary that instead of being shown first, they were going to show mine, but I was not to come up or speak unless she invited me up and then it was clear that she had the microphone for the whole time so it was still all about her documentary and her venue. My documentary got no Q&A as hers did and afterwards the festival representatives and other filmmakers took over and I left.
    I speak to this openly because I clearly don’t see a future down the road of my coming back or being voted in again because sadly, I am very much an advocate for the people being an indigenous social worker and it is my job to constantly be challenging the boundaries of those that are marginalizing and failing to Walk the talk, but instead show us that marginalization and politics is very much still in the industry of film and documentary.
    This brings me to the end of my commentary of this film festival. It made me sad to have to endure this when I should be happy, and excited that I had finally created a project that after years of being sent away from my country and people I return to only be treated by the same similar treatment that I’ve experienced in the US.
    The trauma that is constant for Indigenous. People is always something that I speak to which is why my documentary was chosen, because I stand up and speak when other Indigenous people are still reeling from the trauma and unable at this time for there are so many battles that they are fighting that sometimes, it requires persons like myself to do this work. Though it doesn’t make me many friends or positions in agencies where they are too focused on their superficial popularity, I will still speak to this to share and educate, so that people are aware that this does still continue and that may we still have more change to make.
    Overall the opportunity to show a local artist in the Victoria area, this festival is very nice and cost wise to enter. It was very affordable.
    Overall, I feel there is some more reconciliation and work to be done and hope down the road that the next Indigenous artist will have a better experience than I did.
    Finally, I do thank those that voted, and those that chose my documented to be shown, for I am grateful for the opportunity to at least have had the ability to share with my friends and family. I also those that were interested in my work as a returned sixty’s scoop survivor.
    Thank you and I share for education purpose and hold no grudges or ill will, but to show that regardless of my getting recognized as a director and producer, lessons can be learned in this industry and for marginalized and minority treatment, there is still work to be done.

    February 2024
  • Alexi Liotti

    My team and I we’re so impressed by the Victoria Film Festival, where our film Rematriation was an official selection for the 2023 festival. It was so well run, and the coordination with the city overall in P&A was really exceptional.

    It was a truly great experience with a world class feel to it - and world class films to back it. Definetely would recommend this awesome festival.

    February 2023