
Hellifax is entering it's 3rd year in 2022! Our main focus has been horror films, and this year we're expanding to include sci-fi, action and thriller.
Hellifax Horror Fest is a third-year festival in the seaside city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Therein lives a contingent of die-hard horror fans with a taste for blood (in film, that is). This festival has been created for those fans, and for the filmmakers who deliver innovative and compelling stories.
We're filmmakers ourselves, and we're doing this for the love of genre films. We aim to showcase the next generation of filmmakers and shine a light on their talents.
The festival has 3 components:
Feature film competition:
-Horror, sci-fi, action and thriller feature films 45 minutes or longer can be submitted.
Short film competition:
-Horror, sci-fi, action and thriller short films 25 minutes or less can be submitted.
Script competition:
We're ready for your horror,sci-fi, action and thriller genre scripts (maximum length - 25 pages).
-Each script will receive brief reader notes (if requested).
-The Hellifax jury will select the top 15 semi-finalists from the submissions, followed by the top 5 finalists. The top five and the grand prize winner will be announced at the awards ceremony and be available on the Hellifax website (although it's not mandatory - the writer can choose not to make their script available on the site). Laurels will be provided to the top 5 finalists.
-The grand prize winner will receive $100 (CDN) cash award.
In 2020 we screened 52 short films in five programs, selected from submissions received from over 30 countries. For 2021 we made the festival bigger and better by including horror features and adding small cash prizes for Best Feature, Best Short and Best Script and overall 24 awards were won! We screened four features and 48 shorts in front of live audiences during an October weekend.
Hellifax Horror Fest is committed to recognizing filmmakers in a number of categories, including:
Audience Favorite Film (audience vote)
Audience Favorite Film - Runner Up (audience vote)
Juried Awards for both feature and shorts categories:
Best Film
Best Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Ensemble
Best Script
Best Cinematography
Best Score
Best Editing
Best Practical Effects
Best Visual Effects
Scariest Film
Best Monster/Villain
Best Poster
Every winner will receive an award laurel graphic.
Best Feature Film and Best Short Film will each receive a $100 (CDN) cash prize and a trophy.
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Screenplay category: all scripts will be read by industry professionals, the top 15 will receive a semi-finalist laurel, the top 5 will be announced at Fest (finalists) and winner gets: $100 (CDN) cash prize, their script will be sent to two prominent genre companies who will read it and a recorded live script read by professional actors.