The Mzansi Women’s Film Festival (MWFF) is a platform to empower women filmmakers by showcasing films by women and about women. Established in Johannesburg in 2014, this annual festival is held the first weekend in August, Women’s Month in South Africa. The festival envisages to be the premier women’s film festival on the continent of Africa.

The MWFF’s objectives are to:
Create a reputable platform for women filmmakers to showcase their work.
Create a reputable platform to showcase films made by and about women.
Create an annual networking opportunity for women filmmakers to identify and access opportunities in the film industry.
Facilitate access to training and/or development opportunities for women filmmakers.
Create an awards event that recognizes works of female filmmakers.

Best Feature Film
Best Documentary Film
Best Short Film
Emerging Filmmaker
Audience Choice

Films must be directed by a woman, or featuring a woman in a significant creative role (only films with a female director/producer are eligible for awards).

Though we EMPHASIZE FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN or PRODUCED BY WOMEN, we will consider all films about women's stories and issues affecting women. We will not exclude films directed by men if the topic is one of significance to women.

Only films produced after 15 August 2016 will be considered AND films produced before 31 December 1999 as Classic films category.

Foreign language films will only be accepted if they are subtitled in English.

We do not accept works-in-progress and will not update a submission with a more recent cut. Please do not submit your film until it is complete.

Festival times are subject to delay or change.

If submitting more than one film, a separate completed entry is required for each title.

Accepted films will be provided with technical specifications for exhibition copies upon acceptance. All films must be available at no cost to the festival as its a not for profit festival.

Send ONLY IMMEDIATE DOWNLOADABLE link of your film/s on FILM FREE WAY platform in HD only and NOT 4K files: mov, mp4, avi or wmv.

By submitting a film, the submitter grants the Mzansi Women’s Film Festival the right to utilize any image and/or excerpt of three (3) minutes or less from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival, for general promotional purposes for the Festival .

Individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening in South Africa, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. The party submitting the film shall indemnify and hold harmless the Mzansi Women’s Film Festival from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

As Submitter of the Film, entrants have submitted and represent and warrant to Mzansi Women’s Film Festival and all parts thereof do not contravene the rights of any person or entity and that entrants own or control the Film and all parts thereof, and that the film submitted is not subject to nor threatened by any litigation.

By submitting a film, the Submitter agrees to abide by these terms, rules, and guidelines.

NB: Accepted films by the festival will also be subject to the approval of the South African Film and Publication Board ( fpb.org.za ), The Film & Publication Board regulates the media environment through the classification of content by:
* The FPB classifies all film material distributed in South Africa (except that shown on TV as broadcasters have their own regulatory body).
* Maintaining relevance to the values and norms of South African society through scientific research
* Balancing the right to freedom of expression with an obligation to protect children from exposure to potentially disturbing, harmful and inappropriate materials.
*Protecting children from sexual exploitation in media content in order to educate the broader South African society to make informed choices.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • rojin shafiei

    I had the same experience! I received an email that my film has been selected, I sent them the doc and info they needed. But after that I could not find my name and my film in their programming. I emailed them and I got no respond.

    August 2017
  • Olga Korotko

    Really was happy and proud to be a part of the festival!

    August 2017
  • I appreciate this festival's commitment to screening and giving voice to diverse women's stories and experiences. They seem to have a small but dedicated programming team, and though I had to reach out a few times to establish communication after our acceptance on FilmFreeway, we did get everything sorted out in the end.

    I can't adequately comment on hospitality or networking as I was unable to attend in person, and I did notice that in the screening schedule my film was attributed to a different director (probably due to a copy/paste mistake). I really hope this team is able to work out any issues (such as with communication with filmmakers) and despite these issues I would still submit to them again in the future.

    August 2017
  • Milka Mircic

    Same bad experience like Stefania. We got a "selected" notification by filmfreeway, but festival organisation did not answer our emails and it seems that we were not screened on the festival. We really cannot recommend this festival.

    August 2017
  • Stefania Donaera

    I received a notification by filmfreeway i had been selected so i wrote the festival organisation once to see if i could attend and there was no reply. Then i saw the programme and my doc was not included. I wrote once more to ask for clarification and... no feedback. My review is obviously very negative. Anybody deserves at least a reply .

    August 2017