Hamilton Film Festival

19 years of the Hamilton Film Festival and we've hit the TOP 100 best reviewed festivals status a few times on FilmFreeway, and we are also a Canadian Screen Award Qualifying festival.

We accept all genres including short, mid-length, feature, episodic / series, and screenplays. We have paused our themes this year and our focus is simply on great independent movies!

We will be accepting movies a month earlier than usual, and closing a month earlier so please familiarize yourself with our new dates.

A initiative we started during the pandemic will continue. NO MORE LATE FEES! ONE TIER, ALL YEAR, is GOLD! That means there will be NO inflated fees based on when you submit. Fees will be the same from open to close. For a festival our size, we offer some of the lowest fees around.

GOLD members on FilmFreeway will be able to take advantage of our additional Gold Member discounts. Following us on social media is beneficial as throughout the year we post limited time / quantity discount codes that will offer a 19% discount off submission fees.

Those familiar with our dates know that we have been running in November since 2008. Going forward, the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre will be our home base each October as we share this wonderful centre with many organizations and the late October dates are available to HFF. This is also the centre where we run our small film school.

The 19th Annual Hamilton Film Festival continues to be an important film festival in Canada, for Canadian and International films as it has an industry development component, and a market. We programs over 100 independent films which means there is plenty of room for great indies! We are not part of any distribution circuit and so our screens are dedicated to the indie filmmaker!

Hosted in a city with a booming film scene, it has become a go-to destination to live and work for several people in the film and television industry with year-round opportunities to network, engage, pitch and participate. Distributors, festivals and industry professionals actively look to the Hamilton Film Festival for content, connections and top-notch engagement.

Included in your submission fee is the option to become a delegate at our networking and meet-up events, at no extra charge. So even if you film is not accepted, you can still participate and take advantage of the networking and industry development that HFF has to offer!

The Hamilton Film Festival has a school of media arts inside the new Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre where will will host classes, camps, workshops and panel discussions year round. We will also utilize this learning space during the festival!

HFF Guests have included Academy Award® winner Colin Chilvers, Kim Coates (Sons Of Anarchy) Juno Rinaldi (Working Moms), DB Sweeney (Fire In The Sky) Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers), Tony Rosato (SCTV), Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Catherine Dyer (Stranger Things) Robert Miano (Donny Brasco), Alex Elena (Drummer for Bruce Dickinson) Jason MacDonald (Vampire Diaries) Frank D’Angelo (Red Maple Leaf), Fred Fuchs (Godfather III Executive Producer, Milton's Secret) Art Hindle (Black Christmas), Doug McGrath (Goin’ Down the Road), Lynne Griffin (Curtains), Julian Richings (Superman: Man of Steel), TJ McGibbon (The Umbrella Academy), Craig Davidson (Author / Rust and Bone) Kirsten Bodenstedt (COO and Co-Owner of Peregrine Labs) Academy Award® winner Colin Doncaster, Bob Munro (The Expanse), Sean Sullivan (Wayne’s World, Back to the Future III) Lisa Langlois (Class of 1984), Danial Baldwin, Matthew Willson (Exec. Producer) and many, many more! Filmmakers and producers have attended from England, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Cyprus, Australia, the USA, and all across Canada.

We have 14 prize categories, including, Feature, Short, Doc, Performance(2), Editing, Cinematography, Sound, Screenplay (x2), Music, Student, Production Design, Truly Independent local award, and the legendary Sparquie the Squirrel award!

The festival is as diverse as our alumni, who come from over 50 countries around the world. Filmmakers globally are looking to the Hamilton Film Festival as an accessible event with multiple chances to screen, network, win awards and gain post-festival promotion as our Alumni is our family and your movie never has a shelf life with us! You’d be surprised how much we remember about you and your film even from our earliest screenings!

We have screened many films from BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers, filmmakers with disabilities, and female filmmakers.

HAMILTON LADIES OF FILM & TELEVISION (L.O.F.T.)
The Hamilton Ladies of Film & Television (L.O.F.T.) is excited to partner with the Hamilton Film Festival for their 2024 season as they support our mandate to achieve gender parity within our city and the Canadian film industry. In 2021 They hosted their debut at the 16th Annual Hamilton Film Festival that included a screening of films made by female identifying filmmakers, and a panel discussion.

The Hamilton Ladies of Film & Television (L.O.F.T) is a Hamilton based collective founded and co-created by local artists Laura Ellis, Alysha Main, and Cher Obediah. The Hamilton L.O.F.T seeks to bring together womxn* working in all disciplines of filmmaking.

To create/support content that is predominantly female-driven with a focus on overcoming issues/barriers within the film industry affecting womxn and underrepresented minorities

Assist in building the skills and confidence of womxn by working in cross-disciplinary and supportive teams while providing affordable training opportunities with mentors in the film community

Demonstrate that a local all-female identified production team is achievable

Showcase the achievements of womxn in Hamilton’s film industry

Partner with local organizations to provide mutual support and opportunities for womxn by sharing knowledge, tools, and holding networking events

*The Hamilton L.O.F.T. uses an all-emcompassing definition of “womxn/woman/female/lady” which includes but is not limited to cis, trans-identifying, non-binary, and other.

We are excited to officially launch in spring of 2021 and look forward to working with many of the talented womxn in Hamilton that we know, that we love, and those we have yet to meet.

YOUR CHANCES
We receive between 400 - 700 films, typically screening around 100-150 of them, so if your film is good…so are the odds. We aim to earn the "Hamilton" in our title so we do our best to make sure there is dedicated screen-time for locally made films! For this reason, films MUST be Hamilton premieres as they will also benefit from free-passes to the entire festival so they can take advantage of all the films, networking and industry development we bring in each year. To date we have screened 998 Canadian Films!

THE MARKET
We are proud to offer, for the eight year, the Canadian Film Market which runs during the festival, and includes Industry Development events, quality networking, pitches and more! 50 countries have participated.

OUR CITY
Guillermo Del Toro love’s our city and say’s he’s been watching it since the 90’s and would like to set up his own studio here. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is a major destination for film and television productions. Shows like The Queen’s Gambit, The Umbrella Academy, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Shape of Water, Spotlight, Crimson Peak, Suicide Squad, The Hulk, and Robocop, are just a few films that have taken advantage of Hamilton’s many incredible locations. Producers love the additional tax credits, Directors love the “anywhere is here” look of the city, and people love seeing it on screen! You will also have the opportunity to meet with the people who run the film office, should you wish to film in our great city!.

Filmmakers around the world are choosing the Hamilton Film Festival as a required stop, and we want YOU to be a part of this growing scene that is expanding into a not-so-hidden gem! See you, and your film, in Hamilton this November!