Welcome to the Montreal Independent Film Festival! The IMDb qualifying seasonal competition and annual festival is an innovative event with live screenings and networking events through Cinema du Parc and seasonal promotions and screenings through MIFF magazine and channel. Our annual festival is every March at the cinema. The winners of the seasonal festival go through our annual programming.

Every season, MIFF promotes the winning film projects and various artists working on independent arthouse films to thousands of artists and film industry professionals. The winners of the season have the option to screen their projects through MIFF. Cannes award winners and Oscar nominees have also joined emerging independent artists to compete in various sections of the festival.

Montreal Independent Film Festival (MIFF) has turned into one of the most popular international festivals dedicated to the cinematic language, independent filmmaking and indie artists. With thousands of entries every year, the programming committee selects film and script projects and nominates artists for various sections of the competition which also includes awards and honorable mentions of the seasonal festival in acting, directing, cinematography, screenwriting, editing, music video, experimental cinema, animation, student film, etc.  

Through MIFF magazine and channel, we offer daily, hourly and weekly screenings and promotions of independent features, shorts and screenwriters at no cost to all the official selections and nominees of the fest. Our intention is to provide the best to all independent films and indie artists working on a variety of genres. MIFF Canada has created many opportunities for independent film projects and artists to be noticed, awarded, screened and recognized in the film industry.

The festival also continues to select jury members who are assigned to various sections of the festival in each edition. The festival invites filmmakers, critics, actors, writers, composers, cinematographers and many agents and distributors from all over the world.

We are an organization committed to selecting, awarding, promoting, featuring and screening international and Canadian projects of all genres.

Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative short
Best Feature Documentary
Best Short Documentary
Best Canadian Film
Best Horror
Best Comedy
Best Animation
Best Science Fiction
Best Web Series/TV Pilot
Best Experimental
Best Human Rights
Best Environmental
Best Female Director
Best First Time Filmmaker
Best Independent Film
Best Student Film
Best LGBTQ
Best Music Video
Best Unproduced Script
Best Thriller
Best Trailer
Best Director
Best Script
Best Producer
Best Cinematographer
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Editor
Best Composer

Films must have been completed in the past 3 years.
Our annual festival offers screening to the projects with the director and a leading cast member available for the premiere in Cinema du Parc of Montreal.
We consider films regardless of their premiere status. Even if your film has already premiered at another festival, whether it screened at a physical venue or online, it’s still eligible for consideration.
Online screening is optional in the seasonal competition, and it has to be requested by the producer and is not mandatory for entering various sections of the competition due to premiere status of projects.
The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the film.
The festival has the right to use a trailer, stills, pics and posters for promotional purposes in various film magazines, social media, websites, etc.
Entry fees are non-refundable since our programmers need to evaluate each project twice.
English or French subtitles are required for foreign language films. Films in English or French do not require subtitles.
Shorts must be less than 50 minutes. All projects over 50 minutes should submit to the feature category.
The festival will only communicate with the submitter of the film project.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Brent Taiaroa

    Thank You Montreal Independent for your selection

    June 2023
  • Great Festival! Glad we were part of it this year!

    June 2023
  • I wanted to thank MIFF for the award for best Sci-Fi short for my first film (writer/producer) Future Tense (hoping to get traction for the full feature too!!). I'm honored. I can't wait for the annual screening in March 2024. It will be my first trip to Montreal (and first real trip to Canada). Can't wait!!

    June 2023
  • Philippe-Emmanuel Donzé

    A great experience! Thank you again for nominating my movie!

    May 2023
  • 羽罄 黃

    Thank you for offering this great opportunity!
    Our film SUMANAI won Best Student Film, very thankful and grateful! We highly recommend Montreal Independent Film Festival and look forward to attending the competition again! :)

    May 2023