The Chicago Horror Film Festival has become a Chicago institution. With a past that started with the historic 3 Penny Cinema and a future continuing to grow with new venues and special guests. What has once started with a simple one day festival to showcase Short Independent Horror films has now become a festival for both feature and short horror films and to be known for seeing many of it’s featured films picked up for distribution.
We are only accepting submissions via online screener (here on filmfreeway.com) and exhibition films will need to be in MOV or MP4 format if selected. We are not accepting DVD/BluRay/Hardcopy submissions any longer.
We are excited to get back to an in person festival for 2022! Official venue announcement coming soon!
MISSION & OBJECTIVE
The Chicago Horror Film Festival is an independent film festival and mixed media event.
We strive to support independent film, and promote all types of dark art. We go the extra mile to get recognition beyond the festival alone for the amazingly talented people in this industry. Even films submitted to us that don't get accepted for the festival are very often reviewed and written about by one of our columnists for one of our websites or print magazine publications including Breaking Fate Magazine and the Cinema Soup Podcast!
Best Feature
Best Short
Best Director
Best Writer
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Special FX
Best Music
Best Sound
Directors Choice Award
More Information On The Chicago Horror Film Festival Awards:
*Award Winners will be announced in a ceremony at the end of the festival. Winners in attendance will be presented a certificate. Those not in attendance can obtain a digital certificate to print via the official website within 48 hours after the close of the festival. Winners will also be posted in the news feed (front page) and Awards Page of IndieHorrorFest.com within 48 hours of the close of the festival.
** Our Selection / Awards Procedure: Festival Director / Producers make official selections for the festival by vote. Official Selections are then screened/graded by 5 different judges anonymously and given an overall grade on a 5 point scale for each of the qualifying award categories (with the exception of the “Directors Choice Award”). All judges points are then added together to give it a grade. The top 5 films by grade in each category are then considered an award nominee and listed on this page. The film with the highest grade in each category is considered and announced that category’s award winner at the festival. In the event of a tie for highest grade, the festival director, festival producer and festival founder will each vote on the tied films giving the majority vote the award. In the event that one of the production staff are involved in one of the films involving a tie, a 3rd party will be selected to vote in place of the production staff member involved.
**** The Festival Directors Choice Award nominee’s are the Film Festival Directors top 5 choice films of the festival. The Directors Choice Award is presented at the festival to the Directors favorite film of the festival. (Any film that the festival director is personally involved in at any level is not eligible for this award.)
Award Winners will be announced LIVE at The Chicago Horror Film Festival! www.chicagohorrorfest.com
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Wes Worthing
March 2021 -
Gio Forlenza
November 2020 -
October 2020
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October 2020
