"There are more film festivals in Buffalo now than any time in the area’s history, and that’s a great thing for lovers of cinema. The most purely fun of these movie extravaganzas? It’s undoubtedly the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, which offers action, animation, comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, thriller and science fiction features and shorts from around the world." - The Buffalo News
“This is one of the very few festivals I would travel to attend even without a project involved. It is always incredible.” Skip Shea, filmmaker and Shawna Shea Film Festival Director
"Buffalo Dreams is a well oiled machine of blatant awesomeness, due completely to the fierce dedication of its showrunners, Gregory Lamberson and Chris Scioli. These two work tirelessly to program one intense and well rounded festival, and perhaps what’s more impressive is the fact that they still remain completely approachable throughout. They do all the greeting, introductions, and personally hand out passes and talk to fans and festival goers." - Bro Knows Movies
For our ninth year, Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival is seeking seeking visionary films in the genres of horror, suspense, action, animation, fantasy and science fiction. We also love westerns and musicals!
We enjoy communicating with filmmakers and fostering ongoing relationships, and screen all final selections on one screen, with no counter-programming. We are always looking for films from bold new voices and hope to spotlight more films from female artists.
We believe in cinema, and in the cinema going experience, and only hold in-person screenings. Over the past eight years we’ve become a destination spot for filmmakers visiting from around the world: Isaac Ezban has travelled from Mexico several times to screen his work for our appreciative audience; Richard Rowntree and Simon Pearce have come from the UK; Christophe Karabache from France; Megan Riakos from Australia; and so many more. Every year filmmakers from across the US attend and have a great time.
We offer two free passes good for the entire festival to every artist who submits work for consideration, and an additional two passes will be given to the creative teams responsible for feature films that we select. Passes must be used by people who actually worked on the selected film and may not be transferred to friends and family members.
Awards
Our Dreamer Awards ceremony is a casual in-person presentation held in the WBBZ TV Studio located in the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville, New York. Award winners receive a plaque or trophy. We reserve the right to delete, combine, or add categories depending on the films we select for our final program.
We also present Special Awards when we deem them appropriate: the Indie Genre Spirit Award, the Lois Weber Award, and Filmmaker to Watch.
Western New York submissions
We have always spotlighted the work of local artists and will continue to do so. We’re looking for local filmmakers who wish to participate in the festival as much as visiting filmmakers do: to attend the screenings of other filmmakers, to network with other filmmakers, and to take advantage of what our festival has to offer
Communication
We answer all communications from filmmakers in a timely manner and ask for the same consideration. We’re very clear about scheduling, venue location, passes, etc. in our notifications.
Acceptable Exhibition Formats
We require MP4 h264 or .MOV files for screening. If you have a DCP professionally made and ship it to us, we will pay for the return shipping. We do not download DCP files or Blu-ray files.
Outstanding Feature (61 mins and up)
Outstanding International Feature (61 mins and up)
Michael O’Hear Award for Outstanding Western New York Film (any length)
Off Beat Cinema Award (61 mins and up)
Outstanding Director (feature)
Outstanding Screenwriter (feature)
Outstanding Short Feature (31 – 60 mins, any country)
Outstanding Short Film (8 – 30 mins, US and Canada)
Outstanding International Short Film (8 – 30 mins)
Outstanding Super Short (under 8 mins, any country)
Outstanding Animated Film (any length, any country)
Outstanding Student Film (any length, any country)
Unproduced Feature Screenplay
Unproduced WNY Feature Screenplay