Edmonton's International Festival of Winter Cinema (IFWC) recognizes and celebrates local and international cinema with winter, mountain, and polar themes of any style or genre, with a focus on films featuring indigenous people, immigrants, winter life, or address climate change. We are the world's only winter film festival that takes place outside in a winter city.

This, our second season will showcase feature films and short films at the same time as the nearby SilverSkate Festival in Hawrelak Park, Edmonton's centre for winter sports, arts and culture, and recreation for the family. After a day at Silver Skate, join us, heated by blankets, hot chocolate or coffee, and fires, to watch the best in Alberta, Canadian, and international winter shorts and feature films from the past year.

New this year, we will be expanding our Festival's programming. Our first weekend will feature an "Open Screen" where we will screen new works with winter and other themes by emerging and experienced filmmakers from Alberta and beyond on the giant snow screen. Imagine seeing your short film on a giant screen made of snow! Priority selection will be given to Alberta filmmakers.

The core winter film festival programming will happen on the second weekend, including short films, feature films, and artist talks in which local filmmakers recount their favourite winter filming experiences.

Awards & Prizes

Best Open Screen Film
Best Short Film by an Alberta Filmmaker
Best Short Film by a Canadian Filmmaker
Best Short Film by an International Filmmaker

Rules & Terms

1. Except for Open Screen films, all films must be relevant to at least one of the theme(s) of the festival in order to be considered as a possible candidate. The theme(s) of the festival are Winter, climate change, alpine, polar, and indigenous perspective.

2. All participants understand that their work will be shown at least once during the International Festival of Winter Cinema.

3. The IFWC welcomes all entries, but specifically encourages films made by Alberta, Canadian, female, non-binary, indigenous, or visible minority filmmakers.

4. All non-English films with dialogue must have English subtitles.

5. With the exception of during the Open Screen program, filmmakers whose short films are screened will be paid an artist fee of CAD $10 per minute of run time, rounded down to the nearest minute. Feature film screening fees are dependent on the film. All artist fees will be paid by PayPal or Interac e-transfer to the submitter within 90 days after the festival. Filmmakers whose films are screened during the Open Screen program will not be paid an artist fee.

6. The IFWC reserves the right to remove selected films from its program for any reason and at any time.

7. The IFWC shall not be held responsible for any audiovisual materials that are damaged as part of the submission or exhibition process.

8. If you submit an exhibition copy by mail and want it returned to you, please include a pre-addressed envelope with sufficiently paid postage in your exhibition package.

9. By submitting your film, you agree to the IFWC using all audiovisual media associated with your film and your press kit for promotional purposes.

10. The IFWC reviews all submissions but shall not be held responsible for any incomplete submissions, including those that affect final decisions. For all technical issues related to your submission please contact filmfreeway.com.

11. The IFWC encourages filmmakers to attend the Festival but cannot pay for travel costs at this time.

12. Filmmakers of any age may submit to the festival. Filmmakers under 18 years of age whose films are selected may be asked to provide parental/guardian consent for certain approvals.

13. By submitting your film, you agree that you have read and agreed to the above terms.
9 Reviews
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  • Caroline Cox

    I couldn't actually attend the festival, but the organizers were great to work with and I love the concept of an outdoor snow screen. The photos they sent us looked great!

    April 2019
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  • Frederick Kroetsch

    It was a cold night, watching my film on the snow screen, but it was also really amazing. I highly recommend this experience. Also - they had free hot chocolate!

    March 2019
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  • Andrea Geraghty

    IFWC was awesome to work with. Defiantly will submit future projects!

    March 2019
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  • Demmi Dupri

    This is an excellent festival to be a part of! The team is super friendly and organized. It is also super rad to see your film on a screen made of snow! I would definitely recommend submitting to this festival! And bundling up to check out the films while standing around a fire pit in the middle of a snowy park.

    February 2019
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  • Eva Colmers

    We were thrilled to be included in IFWC 2019 with our short film The Suburbanight. As a resident of a "winter city," opportunities for entertainment during the long, dark, cold days is always welcome, and the chance to screen our film in our hometown was just the ICEing on the cake! Boasting a giant projection screen made entirely out of snow was just the kind of unique touch that separates this festival from any other that I've heard of. The International Festival of Winter Cinema is still a new festival, and I think every year will bring some new delight. Bravo to these organizers for creating such a unique event! See you all next year!

    February 2019
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