Okotoks Film Festival

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 eighth 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 JAPAN. 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.