IOWF® is a renowned online web festival dedicated to the promotion of short films, new media, and digital arts under 40 minutes in length.
Now in its 8th year, the International Online Web Fest® has grown into an internationally respected annual awards event. It was one of the first web-fest that allowed submission of both categories: Web-Series and Short Films.
The festival’s growing reputation is built upon a commitment to discovering new and diverse voices, with 98% of the lineup coming directly from submissions.

In the first five editions, the Annual Awards Ceremony was held in London (UK). Now in 2022, after the pandemic situation, the IOWF event moved to Milan (Italy).

#IOWF is a festival that specifically helps independent filmmakers to raise their visibility through the web. We do so by creating and taking care of their communication online.
Filmmakers competing in festivals that require them not to show their films online, can submit their films and share the trailer, teaser, or behind-the-scenes video. Judges will award the best films through private screenings.

Please visit our IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0004203/2021/1/

Awards & Prizes

"Official Selections" will receive:
International Online Web Fest Laurel

All winners will receive:
IMDb Award Credit
Winners Laurel
Screening on "IOWF+Play"
Promotion across our Social Media & Website.

Our Award categories are:
- Best Short Film;
- Best Web Series;
- Best Directing;
- Best Screenplay;
- Best Actor;
- Best Actress;
- Best Newcomer Actor;
- Best Newcomer Actress;
- Best Cinematography;
- Best Editing;
- Best Special and Visual Effects;
- Best Sound Design;
- Best Documentary;
- Best Animation;

nominated by a special jury and selected among all submissions from various Continents (America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania).

Rules & Terms

Rules & Terms
SHORTS and WEB SERIES

a) At least one webisode must be under 40 minutes including credits.

b) All short films must be under 40 minutes including credits.

c) Every short film or web series needs to have a teaser trailer to be shared.

d) Please note that the short film has to be terminated from January 2022 to this day for being eligible to participate in IOWF 2022 and it has NOT to be online available worldwide at the moment of submission.

e) In the case of webisodes (or Seasons), they can be already online, but they don't have to be published before June 2022.

f) To be eligible for award consideration for the 8th IOWF Awards year, a short film or web series must fulfill one of the following qualifying criteria between December 27th, 2021, and December 26, 2022.
This qualification must take place within 1 year of the film’s completion date:

1) The project must have won a qualifying award at a competitive web festival, as specified in the Short Film/Web Series Qualifying Festival List. Proof of the award could be required after you submitted the entry. The Qualifying Festival List may be obtained from the IOWF Staff via e-mail.

2) The Producer and/or Director has been already nominated in one of the previous IOWF editions.

3) One of the actors featuring the project has been nominated in at least one of the last 2 IOWF editions (2020 & 2021)

g) Short films and/or Web Series must be submitted to the IOWF exclusively via FilmFreeway.

h) Dialogue or narration must be substantially in English or the film must have English-language subtitles.

i) Before submitting your film to IOWF 2022 please read carefully and understand the regulations. Projects submitted must be the original work of the participant, ended not before January 1, 2022.
It is possible to submit more than one project, but every project entails an application fee.

​2. IOWF 2022 CATEGORY

a) Short films:
all films lasting from 2 minutes to 40 minutes can participate in this category (credits included).

European Short Film
American Short Film
Asian Short Film
Oceanian Short Film
Animated Short Film

b) WebSeries:
all web series with a minimum of 2 webisodes can participate in this category, the maximum length allowed is 40 minutes for at least one webisode.

European Web Series
American Web Series
Asian Web Series
Oceanian Web Series
Animated Web Series

d) Projects must be submitted online.
Rates for lodging are not refundable.

e) All decisions regarding the winners are final and irrefutable.
IOWF 2022 reserves the right to make any necessary changes to the expiration date of registration.

f) All films are presented in their original language. Every short/feature film or web series not in the English language needs subtitles in English.

g) By submitting the film to IOWF 2022, you confirm to be the owner of the rights of the film.
27 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kehan Miller

    On behalf of the team for “Ink And Gold:”An Artist’s Journey To Olympic Glory”, we are humbled and honoured that our film received 3 awards including Best Documentary. We cannot speak highly enough regarding Nick, Sarah, Emily and the entire team. This festival was professional and communicative with a wide selection of inspiring stories. We felt truly supported throughout the entire process from submission to selection to being Q&A panel guests to the final awards ceremony. Nick and the team facilitated much support for the festival participants and made every effort to generate conversation between and about those passionate about visual storytelling. We are looking forward to future editions of the festival!

    March 2023
    Helpful
  • Sound In Motion Studios

    It was an honor to be part of IOWF! They were wonderful and we had great communication with the host. It was amazing to be part of one of their Q&A panels too!

    March 2023
    Helpful
  • Tom Bridger

    Though our project didn't win, we were honoured to be part of such a great line-up. Festival was smoothly run and there was a great variety in the line-up selections. Hopefully see you next year!

    July 2021
    Helpful
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thanks very much, Tom! Of course we will be waiting for you, hopefully 🤞🏻in person at the LIVE event.

  • Italia Sicilia Gela

    I had the pleasure to partecipate with my webseries twice @IOWF(Yes we also won the last edition as Best Documentary :)), I always enjoy the very rich selection that give me an opportunity to find new productions and get to know inspiring filmmakers. We had a boost of visualization after the end of the last IOWF, it worked as great exposure for our work "Italia Siclia Gela". We are looking forward for the next edtion. It's all thank to Nick's great work! Iacopo

    March 2020
    Helpful
  • Michael Davis

    It was a great honor to participate in this festival, and we are thrilled you enjoyed our web series TGC: Rem. It's an excellent opportunity to get more exposure for your web series. Although I didn't get many notifications or emails during the process and had to do a bit more digging to find out what was happening, it was still a great festival to be involved with. I hope to return in a future season!

    January 2020
    Helpful