Welcome to HOLLYWOOD INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

The Festival was established to honor the art of filmmaking and the talented individuals who bring it to life.

If you are interested in submitting your project to the Festival, please read the information carefully. All applications are handled online through FilmFreeway.

The Festival operates in two rounds of judging. In the first round, the jury reviews films and scripts on a broader basis. Selected projects will receive an official selection Laurel.
ALL THE SELECTED FILMS will be invited to participate in the ONLINE SCREENING WEEK.

In the second round, the jury carefully evaluates the chosen films and scripts before deciding on the category winners and special awards.

ONLY THE WINNERS will be invited to attend the AWARDS CEREMONY and the SCREENING OF WINNERS, where they will receive a trophy and certificate.

Please note that trophies and certificates WILL NOT BE MAILED TO ABSENT WINNERS. They will only receive a digital version of the certificate.

This festival will have its award ceremony and screening of films at the FILM FESTIVALS GROUP ANNUAL EVENT, which will take place in Lisbon - Portugal.

*** IMPORTANT INFORMATION ***
When registering for this film festival, it is important to bear in mind that providing your email address implies the possibility of using it for future promotional campaigns about all our film festivals, without the need for prior notice or request for consent additional.

If you would like to stop receiving our emails, please get in touch.

Therefore, it is always advisable to consult the festival's privacy policy to fully understand how your personal data will be used and make an informed decision before registering.

This Festival is presential but in case of political instability, martial law, war, natural disaster, pandemic diseases, or any situation that puts at risk the organization of the event and the people involved, automatically the Festival will be switched to ONLINE FESTIVAL.
All submitters will be notified about that on the notification date.
The winners will receive the online version of the certificate.

Trophy and Award Certificates to the categories:

BEST ANIMATION
BEST STUDENT FILM
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
BEST WEB SERIES
BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY
BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY
BEST SHORT FILM
BEST DOCUMENTARY
BEST FEATURE FILM
BEST LATINO SHORT FILM
BEST LATINO DOCUMENTARY
BEST LATINO FEATURE FILM

***NO FEE WAIVERS***

All non-English films must have English subtitles.
Except for the SHORT LATINO FILM that can be in Spanish without subtitles.
At this time, we are only requesting online submissions and all materials must be viewable online, as we want to remain as green as possible.
By submitting to the festival, you agree to allow your film (or other artistic work) to be screened by the festival during the festival run, for which you are submitting, at no charge to the festival. If there are to be any additional screenings, we will come to a mutual agreement between the filmmaker and the festival. All media selected by the festival will be asked to provide promotional materials, but we ask that no promotional materials be sent until selection. By submitting to the festival you are admitting copyright ownership of everything submitted.
The festival reserves the right to disqualify any submission at any time if there is any question of ownership, copyright infringement, or any sign of disrespect (in any form of media) to the festival or its representatives.

RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING POSTERS AND TRAILERS

It is very important for all filmmakers to readily have available posters and trailers and additional materials possible to submit to film festivals at the submission stage. Film festival directors appreciate these materials to work with, should your film get accepted to the festival submitted. As a Festival Director, I see professionalism and dedication to the film when the submitter sends a well-made poster and a short trailer. This also helps the film festival better promote selected films.

POSTER :
It’s important to get a frame from the movie or a photo still of the film that makes people look at it and think “I want to see this film” or “Who is that guy and why he is running?” or “Why is that woman crying?”.
A good poster should immediately grab people’s attention. A poster with only the title a background doesn’t convey any emotion and doesn’t mean anything.
Film festivals prefer to have posters in the following proportion.
Recomended file size: 1400 pixels x 2100 pixels at 300dpi.
Make the Title stand out, but don’t make it so big that it distracts the important images in your poster.
Make sure to export it as a JPEG, PNG, or PDF.

TRAILER:
The trailer has to give the audience a glimpse of your film and just enough so as not to reveal important parts of it. This will make the viewer curious about your film.
Place important information like Title, Directed by…, important actors in the poster. Include festival laurels like Winner of Best Film or Best Director, and Official Selections from important festivals such as Sundance, TIFF, etc...
Duration: The recommended length of a trailer should be between 1 and 2 minutes maximum.
Export : 1080p – MP4 or Quicktime mov file.
Even if your short film is 3 to 5 minutes long, creating a 1-minute trailer will make a good impression.

FINAL THOUGHTS
When a film is submitted to my festivals without a poster or trailer or sometimes without both, the judges take points off the final rating of the film.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • It us a great festival and we think it is a good way to show your films. Thank you.

    September 2024
  • Kima Majid

    It was great, thank you!

    September 2024
  • THANK YOU for selecting two of my award-winning scripts, "HAPPY HOUR" and "A LIFE UNEXAMINED" into the 6th Hollywood Independent Film Festival! I appreciate your giving them consideration.
    Catherine Stanley

    September 2024
  • Thank you for selecting "Enter the Room" as an award winner for Best Drama Short Film. The communication was very clear and I had a very good experience overall. I will definitely consider submitting future projects to this festival.

    April 2023
  • Thank you wonderful HOLLYWOOD INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL for awarding REVENGE OF A GRANDMOTHER with the SPECIAL JURY AWARD!

    April 2023