The Okotoks Film Festival is a five-day international festival held annually in the town of Okotoks. (located in Alberta, Canada just south of Calgary) We are entering our ninth year of the festival. We are thrilled to support filmmakers and give the opportunity for audiences and filmmakers to connect. Our growing festival has seen films from as near as down the street to as far as Japan and India!! We can't wait to see what you, as filmmakers, surprise and delight us with this year.

This festival is a LIVE IN-PERSON PUBLIC EVENT at the Okotoks Cinemas. We had a huge success with audiences during our unique online only festivals (2020 and 2021) and would like to create a Hybrid festival, both Online and in Person. For this reason, each film that is submitted will be asked if you would like to be considered for online screenings as well. The answers to this question has NO influence on the likelihood of your film being selected, it just lets us know how to consider your film. We will be selecting a collection of films to play at both online and in-person. Every film in our festival will get an in-person screening. We understand that many films are looking for premieres and/or are not ready for their films to be available online. We will never consider a film that requests an in-person-only screening for online and selecting that option will not reduce your chances of playing at the 5-day in-person live festival.

Workshops will be run during the festival along with a number of networking events.

Here are some of our Filmmaker Perks:
two artist festival passes, which give free access to all screenings and workshops during the festival (including the online festival).
6 tickets to the screening of their film.
invited to attend a Filmmaker Brunch on the Saturday of the Festival.
attend our opening night awards ceremony as VIPs!!
take part in our Filmmaker Instagram Takeover leading up to the festival.
Join our online speed networking event.

We are looking for films in ANY GENRE for our general screenings. We have a number of unique packages and are looking for a wide variety of genres and messages.

Each year we will be creating a short films package from a specific country (This country changes each year). This year the selected country is NIGERIA. Please submit as a Country Highlight if your film was shot in or is made by filmmakers from that country.

The two weeks of submission are FREE TO ALL SHORT FILMMAKERS. (Sept 1-Sept 19)

Submission is always free to films from the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31. If you believe your film qualifies as a Foothills Film (made in or by filmmakers from the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31) please e-mail info@okotoksfilmfestival.ca for information on how to submit.

**YOUTH SCREENING: Youth Filmmakers living in the Foothills (or with a connection to the foothills) are asked to submit their films for a unique local youth screening. Selected films will get a mentorship meeting with industry professionals. The Youth Screening will include a full gala including Red Carpet, Awards, and snacks. Youth films are any film with a director under 18.

O.F.F. also runs a 48-hour filmmaking challenge. For more information visit our website.

Mandate: Working with local and International filmmaking communities to showcase and introduce unique cultures and experiences.

Best Picture - $1000CAN
Audience Choice - $1000CAN
Best Cinematography
Best Performance
Best Art Direction
Best Overall Sound
Best Editing
Best Screenplay
Best Animation
Best Visual/ Special Effects
Best Documentary
Best Foothills Youth

• Filmmakers are responsible in securing ALL copyright clearance to film content.
• Films should be completed after Jan 1, 2020
• OFF has no premiere status requirements. Films shown prior to the festival or films online are welcome to submit.
• Films in a language other than English are required to provide English subtitles.
• Only 3 films will be watched from one director by our programmers, please do not submit more than 3 films from one director. If more than 3 films are submitted, films will be disqualified at random until only 3 remain.
• Absolutely NO pornographic or Illegal content will be tolerated.
• Filmmakers are responsible for submitted material. Make sure your screener or DVD works and that no spelling mistakes are made.
• Submissions are Non-refundable
• Submission DVD will not be returned.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kia Barton

    A wonderful little festival with some good online networking for people who can't make it to Okotoks.

    February 2025
  • Aleem Karmali

    This was a great festival to participate in! It was very filmmaker-friendly, including a screening fee, free hotel, festival passes, and even a few included meals at social events (that financial support is so helpful in supporting independent artists travelling on a budget). It was fairly casual, so got to meet and hang out with the organizers and other filmmakers at screenings and socials. They also have solid community support and great communication, a thoughtful on-stage Q&A with the festival director Katie, and my film received some press in the local media. Definitely would recommend this festival to others.

    June 2024
  • Takashi Okado

    Great experience. Thank you so very much for selecting our project as an award winner! We feel seen and appreciated for our work. Grateful we were able to share it with your community of artists.

    June 2024
  • Really great experience for our film “Hope You’re Doing Well”. Such a warm and welcoming environment showcasing some extremely talented filmmakers! This will not be the last time we attend!

    June 2024
  • Just an absolute pleasure to be apart of the Okotoks Film Festival. Despite being in Australia I still felt apart of it. Katie the festival director was so welcoming over our zoom talks. I was able to meet a variety of film makers via the meet and greet zoom room too. Can't wait to submit again!

    June 2024