IOWF® is a renowned online web festival dedicated to the promotion of short films, new media and digital arts under 25 minutes in length.
Now in its 6th year, the International Online Web Fest® has grown into an internationally respected annual awards event.
It's one of few web-fests that accept all three categories: Web-Series, Short Films, and Feature Films.

The festival’s growing reputation is built upon a commitment to discovering new and diverse voices, with 99% of the lineup coming directly from submissions.
This year, for the very first time we decided to increase our entry fees to guarantee a higher level of publicity to all finalists at "IOWF Awards".
For this reason, we decided to create a pre-selection accessible to everybody for a few bucks. This pre-selection step is called "IOWF PLAY-OFF" and if your project wins the PLAY-OFF, you will be invited to submit it to our Official FilmFreeway page paying the current fee for the "Winter Season" (Berlin), "Spring Season" (Cannes) or "Summer Season" (Toronto).

#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 your 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/ev0004203/2018/1/

Awards & Prizes

- 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 Make-up and Hairstyling;
- Best Costume;
- Best Production Design;
- Best Original Soundtrack;
- Best Original Song;
- Best Documentary/Mockumentary;
- Best Animation;
- Best Foreign Language Short Film;
- Best Foreign Language Web Series;

Rules & Terms

SHORTS and WEB SERIES:
a) At least one webisode must be under 25 minutes including credits.

b) All short films must be under 25 minutes including credits.

c) A reviewing process will take place, in which "screening committee" and life members of IOWF Advisors will view all projects entered and mark all entries 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 or 4
with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 9 (amazing), 8 (good), 7 (decent), 6 (fair), 5 (poor) or 4 (low). In each continent, not more than ten projects receiving the highest average numerical scores above 7 shall be considered further. In the event that fewer than ten projects receive average numerical scores above 7, those with the next highest average numerical scores shall be included until ten pictures are selected.
A "screening committee" member must see all longlisted films in each continent for the ballot to be counted.
Every 2 weeks the TOP-TEN productions from each continent (America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will compete on Instagram Challenges (using the poll on IG Stories) where just the best 5 from each continent will be eligible to submit "IOWF Official Selection 2020"*

d) Please note that short film has to be terminated from January 2019 to this day for being eligible to participate in IOWF 2020 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 January 2019.

f) All the projects eligible to submit and become an "IOWF 2020 Official Selection" (Season edition) will be announced every 2 weeks.

g) Before submitting your film to "IOWF Play-Off" 2020 please read carefully and understand the regulations.
Projects submitted must be the original work of the participant, ended not before January 1, 2018.
It is possible to submit more than one project, but every project entails an application fee.

FEATURE FILM:
H) All feature films accepted must be from 55 to 120 minutes including credits.

I) Keep in mind this is a new special category and only theatrical trailer or extract will be shared on social media accounts.

L) Please note that feature film has to be terminated from January 2017 to this day for being eligible to participate in IOWF 2020 and it has NOT to be online available worldwide at the moment of submission, but it can be already released on theaters.

M) All the feature film finalists of IOWF 2020 will be announced after the closure of the online seasonal period.
After that period, a maximum of 5 productions from each continent will be nominated and then they will participate in the voting period by "Special Jury" (composed by specialists in filmmaking and winners or nominees of the last IOWF editions) for the "IOWF Biennial awards".

*"IOWF Official Selection 2020" will gain some benefits that will be communicated at the moment of submission on the Official IOWF FilmFreeway page.